I don’t do Call of Duty. I don’t do online multiplayer. I don’t do betas. How the hell do I find myself participating in a bit of the Call of Duty Black Ops III Multiplayer beta on Xbox One for heavens sake?
Now, you may be sitting here asking why the hell an online shooting hater is bothering to check out the online shooting found in Black Ops III. Well, if Treyarch and Activision need someone to try and convert, then I’m the one for the job. There’s no debating that my real love of this genre comes in the form of the stunningly superb single player campaigns that used to be the main focus of the titles, and I’ll happily purchase Black Ops III for that alone. But can I be persuaded into spending more time than usual with the fiercely competitive, highly skilled, shouty-shouty online community?
Probably not, and if the beta is anything to go by, definitely not. But that’s not because it’s bad, in fact, it’s bloody good.
Showing off a small portion of the full multiplayer experience, the beta firmly thrusts the new feature of Specialists in your face. With a unique power weapon and ability to support, the Specialists feature plays a key role in combat. Which of the nine you choose is up to you and whether you plump for Ruin and his Gravity Spikes and Overdrive that he brings, go with the Outrider ready to pummel the opposition with its bolt firing compound bow, as Prophet going equipped with possibly the best new weapon, that of an electrical arc firing super shooter and flash-back Glitch to help you save the day or take to the battle as a full on War Machine equipped with a bouncing bomb rocket launcher as you go, you can be sure you’ll find each of them of a high quality. They are also all well equipped and could happily change the battle by themselves, as does the ‘new’ Titanfall/Exo-Suit super jump feature. Ever thought you were dead and buried? Just bounce yourself out of trouble with ease!
Additionally, throw enough hours into it, unlocking perks, weapons and equipment as you go and you’ll soon go about uncovering further Specialists such as Seraph, Nomad, Reaper, Spectre and the Classified soldier which become available only to the very best soldiers.
With eight core game modes all in place, you’re unlikely to get bored any time soon as all of Team Deathmatch, Domination, Demolition, Kill Confirmed, Hardpoint, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy and the Uplink modes bring something slightly different to each match up. Yes, the vast majority of the Call of Duty Black Ops III Multiplayer Beta involves shooting the hell out of the opposition as fast as you can, but the different modes at least give you a slightly different way of doing so. Or they would if I was any good as the vast majority of my time spent with the Mulitplayer Beta consisted of death, death and a little more death.
As for the beta itself, the servers seems to be hugely populated and happily holding up under the strain. Not once have I struggled for a game and not once I have been subjected to an issue from the technology in place. With that in mind, I have to say the multiplayer beta is a huge success and a great way for lovers of Black Ops to get even more of a head-start on the likes of myself.
Call of Duty Black Ops III with it’s glorious visuals and engaging sounds of war will be one of the biggest games of the year. Hell no, it’ll be one of the biggest games of the new generation with the online multiplayer side of things being forefront to its success.
Unfortunately, it just isn’t for me! Not even the kill-cams and score-streaks get me excited.
Thanks go out to Xbox for providing us with the beta code.
[…] By Neil Watton (neil363) […]