Buttonmashing with Butterfield 3

What the christ is this?
by Activision

by Ethan Butterfield – Contributor

Hey everyone! This week I’m reviewing Call of Duty: Black Ops 3… because why not? Sure, every other reviewer is doing it, so why not be like one of the mindless drones and throw my hat into the ring. I have to say though, despite harsh criticism from the gaming community about how Call of Duty is the same game every year, this game pulled it off. It made everyone’s expectations even lower than before.

I didn’t think it was possible, but yes, Black Ops 3 is so bland and uninteresting that it honestly feels like watching paint dry would be a more entertaining option or actually doing my reading during Reading Week? I played through the story on co-op with a buddy of mine and we both agreed that the ending was pretty lacklustre. This isn’t a point in its favour as far as my continued interest in the brand. The only reason I bought the Black Ops games was for the story, 1 and 2 had great stories. Stories that featured manipulation, brainwashing and over-complicated, yet surprisingly, realistic motivations for the villains. Black Ops 3 throws that out the window and goes ‘What’s Skynet? This isn’t Skynet, this is a completely different rogue, A.I.-based villain bent on global domination.’ I’d say spoiler alert, but if you didn’t see something like this coming, then I’d suggest a different OP-tical brand.

How about that multiplayer, though? Well, to be truthful, I couldn’t really care less about online multiplayer; I believe a game should be judged by its story and gameplay mechanics and how the two complement each other. But, in order to save my credibility as a reviewer, I’ll mention quickly how the multiplayer is. Meh. Probably the reason you bought the game. Next paragraph.

I suppose it’s time to mention some more positive things about the game. One thing I really liked was the upgrade system and how you could choose between Chaotic, Control or Neutral. I OP-ted to go for chaotic while my friend went with control. Both methods seemed pretty useful, which is nice to see; at least they weren’t just features crowbarred in for the sake of having features. Another thing I enjoyed was the character customization and the fact you could play as a female if you so desired. Something I believe has been a long time coming in this series. The last thing I found really interesting was the “Nightmare” campaign, where levels of the actual campaign are rearranged and have enemies swapped out for zombies; it’s actually pretty fun if you’re like me and into the whole CoD: Zombies thing.

Well, there it is. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is an overall meh game with an overall meh feel to it. Now, I’m not going to say “don’t buy this game” or any of that jazz, because there are features in it that make it fairly interesting. What I will say is that, although a game is considered a commercial success and gets 8/10s across the board always make sure to check it out for yourself. Thanks for reading! Shameless self promotion, check out my other articles with the title ‘Buttonmashing with Butterfield!’