Play Call of Duty: Black Ops III on PS4 for Free This Weekend

No pre-order necessary

by Sammy Barker Sat 22nd Aug 2015

Call of Duty: Black Ops III PS4 PlayStation 41

Not sure what to do with your weekend? Activision's arranged a little something for you: Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The multiplayer beta, which has been running for a couple of days already, has been opened up to the public today, and you'll be able to join in on the action for free. You can download the client in North America through here or in Europe through here. Alternatively, you can just search for it on the PlayStation Store.

As reported earlier in the week, the beta comes with access to a bunch of modes and maps, and will also allow you to trial the new Specialists system, enabling you to pick a protagonist that suits your personal playstyle. The online server stress test is set to close on 23rd August, so make sure that you're fast out of the blocks if you want to participate. Will you be giving the game a go? Aim down the sights into the comments section below.

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
BAMozzy
Sat 22nd Aug 2015

Already been playing thanks to pre-ordering. I know its a Beta but I do have a few 'issues' with the game. Grenade toss is very weak and the amount of Flinch is ridiculous too. It means that you can't take out the campers and head glitchers very easily as staying on target is difficult. I also have a few issues with the way the game performs - it doesn't seem very consistent at the moment. Some times guns seem to kill almost instantly and at other times, you get lots of hit-markers. Some of this may be down to the lack of players and therefore quite a long distance between players in the lobby but these things do make the game very frustrating to play at times.
On the positive side, the movement is great and feels very easy to do. Visually the game looks great too and the specialists do bring something different.
Personally I hope they reduce the Flinch significantly (basically give everyone 'Toughness') - It will lead to better gun-fights and easier to take out the campers/head-glitchers too as well as increase the grenade toss. I think it would be more befitting a tough, strong augmented 2065 Super-soldier. I hope that the consistency with the way the game plays will come with more players and better lobbies. If not there is always Zombies and the co-op campaign and Star Wars: Battlefront for my Multi-player fix...

2
Victor_Meldrew
Sat 22nd Aug 2015

Noticed it was a ailable this morning, I've downloaded it for a Sunday romp

3
WARDIE
Sat 22nd Aug 2015

Only just noticed that its now open thanks to Push Square. Thanks for the heads up guys
Anyone know what time they're going to be keeping the servers running until? Im hoping its midnight tomorrow.
As long as I can get a good couple of hours of actual gameplay I'll be happy. That should be enough time to decide if I will be picking it up on release.

I only play the Call of Duty games for around 3 months after launch as it always seems that people start to mod or exploit it, which is a serious put off for me.

4
gingerfrog
Sun 23rd Aug 2015

Still not playing it's been downloading for hours, it's not my provider I'm running off 50mb fibre, I hope it gets extended
Edit. I'm a 5 minute walk from the v festival unless virgin is diverting it all that way. Also can't sleep really hot and music loud, not sure if I'm annoyed I'm not there or annoyed I'm not playing bo3

5
BAMozzy
Sun 23rd Aug 2015

@WARDIE As someone who has played all CoD's and have all DLC since CoD4, I can say with certainty that no CoD since W@W has been 'hacked/modded' etc. MW2 had people that exploited certain perks and combinations (One Man's Army, Danger Close, Noob tubes...) However since then I can't think of any game that has had those problems - on console at least.
CoD has had increasing developer support to 'fix' exploits and ban people attempting to 'cheat' the game and its mechanics. Its certainly not something that concerns me.

6
Gemuarto
Sun 23rd Aug 2015

LOL, I am playing this and see quake 3 engine =). How can they make game on ps4 using quake 3 engine =))). This is ridiculus. I never played cod mp before, so this is surprising for me.