
It only feels like yesterday that we were tapping away on pre-release stories for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but Call of Duty: Black Ops III has now deftly double-jumped into the headlines. We already knew a fair amount about the first-person shooter courtesy of leaks, of course, but now we can drop some official intel on the forthcoming PlayStation 4 sequel. Is it shaping up to be a meaningful successor to Sledgehammer Games' divisive futuristic foray? Here's everything that you need to know right now.

You can play the campaign with pals
Those of you that have been keeping close tabs on the Black Ops story will perhaps be pleased to know that Call of Duty: Black Ops III will continue that plotline. The game's set in 2060, approximately 35 years after the events of its predecessor. Essentially, the tale goes that world leaders have developed a new defence against air strikes, which means that all combative focus has been placed on ground troops. Fortunately, new technology has been developed to give these troops the upper-hand, including cybernetic implants.
The takeaway, then, is that you'll be controlling more capable personnel than ever before – and you'll be doing so with friends. The entirety of Treyarch's latest campaign will be playable in four-player co-op, and levels have been designed to accommodate this sizeable change. You'll be able to pick which gadgets you go out into the field with, and will even be able to tackle missions in whichever order you like. There will be routes through the stages designed for those playing solo, and these will also augment plenty of variety, as you'll be able to tackle the same missions in several different ways.
The game's only confirmed for PS4 thus far
While a PlayStation 3 version is still possible, Treyarch's admitted that it's only working on the PS4 and other new-gen formats right now. Last year, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was farmed out to High Moon Studios, and the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron developer worked on the last-gen editions. Activision's reluctance to comment on a potential PS3 iteration suggests that that's most likely to be the case this time, too.

Become a multiplayer specialist
One of the biggest changes to Call of Duty: Black Ops III's competitive multiplayer component: you'll now play as specific characters, known as Specialists. There'll be nine of these in the final game, with four announced thus far, and each will come equipped with a unique weapon or power. You'll only be able to pick one of these to take into battle, however, so you'll need to make plenty of difficult decisions before you even get out on the field.
The characters confirmed so far are: Ruin, Seraph, Outrider, and Reaper. Ruin comes equipped with a couple of Gravity Spikes, which he can smash into the ground Destiny-style in order to do damage. That's his weapon, but his power enables him to move more quickly. Seraph, meanwhile, can pick between a high-calibre revolver weapon and a Combat Focus power, which increases her score streak points. Elsewhere, there's Outrider, who has a bow weapon and Vision Pulse power, allowing her to see through walls, and Reaper, a killer robot, who comes with a minigun embedded into his arm and a teleportation power. Phew – did you get all of that?
Zombies will rise from the dead
It's become a Treyarch title staple, but, yes, zombies will return in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. According to the developer, it's building a separate campaign for this part of the game, which will have its own XP-based progression system. Details are scarce at the moment, but we do know that this portion of the package will take place in a "totally different setting", and will adopt the following slogan: only the cursed survive. Interesting.

You'll be able to move more freely than ever before
Exo-suits aren't making a comeback, but rocket jumps are – sort of. Call of Duty: Black Ops III will enable you to feather the boost button to glide wherever you want to go – but that's not all. There'll be no limitations on sprinting now, so you'll be able to get about maps lightning fast – and you'll be able to run across walls, power-slide, and even vault over cover while you're doing it. The idea is to create a much faster experience.
The twist is that, no matter what you're doing, you'll always be able to fire off a few rounds from your weapon of choice; whether it's mantling objects or soaring off ledges, your finger will forever be nestled on the trigger. Treyarch says that it's building all of the game's maps around this new style of play, but it remains to be seen whether it will be able to marry these complex manoeuvres with the series' historically accessible action.
Pre-order for access to the multiplayer beta
You'll get your first taste of multiplayer sooner than usual, as Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be the first entry in the series in quite a while to land an online multiplayer beta. There's no word on when this will take place just yet, but Treyarch claims that it wants to get the game into players' hands earlier than ever before, and so, it will be playable at E3 in a couple of months' time.

You'll be able to customise the look of your weapons
Part of the fun of Call of Duty multiplayer is showing off, and the series has gotten much better at allowing you to do that in recent years. But while features such as custom sights and emblems are all well and good, the Gunsmith promises to evolve the very idea of firearm personalisation. At its heart, this will allow you to tailor your weapon with different attachments – from barrels to suppressors and much, much more – but it promises to go even deeper than that.
Essentially, you'll be able to deck your gun out with different paint jobs, using simple shapes and tools to create custom-built imagery. With up to 64 layers available per side, the potential for creativity seems high here; want a Mountain Dew sticker on the stock of your AK47? Well, now you'll be able to make one. It's unclear whether you'll be able to share these custom designs with friends a la ModNation Racers, but that does seem likely. After all, not everyone has the time to spend an entire afternoon painting virtual weapons.
Are you impressed by what you've read about Call of Duty: Black Ops III thus far – or do you feel that its reveal has been a little underwhelming? Ready up in the comments section below.
How would you rate Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s reveal? (41 votes)
- Amazing, I’ve already pre-ordered my copy
- Meh, I want to learn a bit more
- Rubbish, I think I’ll be skipping this release
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Comments 24
@iDangerMouse_ I belive there's an image of a Season Pass voucher doing the rounds. No word yet on whether Xbox will get timed exclusive maps, but we do know that the press played the PS4 version.
Step in the wrong direction for me. While AW was a breath of fresh air, I cant see myself investing the money and time into, what i can only describe as, a spin off.
The last COD game I put any real time in to was the first Black Ops. I enjoyed it but this looks nothing like that...
"as long as these dumb chumps keep pre-ordering, who cares what kind of crap we churn out on a yearly basis? ohhh yeahhh kahhching! love how much BS we can get away with in this awesome corn puppin' industry! whahahahaha WHAHAHAHA MUAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA cough cough satan, is that you? oh wait haha its me"
@Splat agreed. Aw while a breath of fresh air was too advanced for my taste, which is something I had against blops 2 as well. When it comes to multiplayer shooters I prefer to stick with the relative modern weapons, or history. Unless it's an unreal or quake type shooter.
Point 2 is deliberately misleading. You say only confirmed for PS4, but then say PS4 and other current gen formats, therefore you try to mislead people in to thinking it's an exclusive, regardless if you only mean that it doesn't have a last gen port.
The last game wasn't bad, compared to the crap fest the last few have been, so I'll be keeping an eye on this.
All the new movement is designed to put the emphasis on shooting rather than on the movement mechanics. Its back to the ground in general despite the mention of thrust jumps and wall running. Whilst doing any of these you still have control over your weapon. You can thrust slide and turn round and shoot the person behind you for example. Swimming is on some maps and you can shoot whilst doing this too. If you hip fire your movement isn't slowed so much but you can also ADS and move slower or Swim faster but not shoot - Its like using 2 hands to swim so can't shoot, 1 hand to swim, 1 hand to shoot (hip fire) - normal speed. No hands to swim, 2 hands to shoot (ADS) slow speed. According to Drift0r, If you play like its Black
Ops you will do well but the added movement is helpful to get around the map and into the battle. Its designed to take away things like ladders but not be ridiculous like AW is.
The 'Specialists' of which there are 9, are only 1 part of the MP experience as you can still have your usual create a class type system. I believe though that if you opt for a specialist class for a match - you are stuck with it for that match but can then change to a different specialist or one of your custom class slots. You could be in an MP match with all, some or no specialists. By all accounts though this plays a lot more like Black Ops 2 than Advanced Warfare. Maps have that traditional CoD 3 lane type flow and not the chaotic, get shot from anywhere and everywhere of AW.
All the things we know and enjoyed about Treyarchs CoD are back - things like Theatre Mode but now they have added more like a 'Gunsmith' which allows you to customise your weapon and add custom 'paint jobs' to various parts on top of the camo's you can unlock. This is a 64 layer emblem editor type system and you can apply 3 (I believe) different ones to specific parts like left and right side.
Treyarch must be confident, after all this is the first CoD for many years offering Beta access. I have a lot more confidence in this years CoD because its a Treyarch game. Not only the MP but also a Campaign with 4 player co-op and create a character which is in the cut-scenes too and of course Zombies too!
Sounds interesting, but that trailer wasn't that much cop.
Ww2 shooters - what's happened to them? These games dont feel like war at all - more like a grown ups game of tick sponsored by the gadget show.
Must admit I'm slightly intrigued by the co-op story and the way you can choose which missions to play. With some sort of good progression system, that could be quite fun.
well I'm glad they are still keeping the futuristic weapons theme, if that wasn't in there I most certainly wouldn't be grabbing it because advanced warfare is the first Call of Duty and I have ever not gotten bored with after about a month or two so long as they keep their gadgets in and the story is pretty good I'll give it a shot! no I do want to see if there will be any sort of difference between this and AW!
Sounds just like what i'm NOT looking for.
@themcnoisy I just want a war game man this game doesn't sound like what I want at all, I just want a good solid FPS'ing war game, no super powers, no see through walls, no flying tanks...just war lol.
However (sorry for repeat posting) the coop sounds pretty cool i'll be smashing that out with 3 friends for sure as this will be my first COD purchase for like 3 years, the coop is definately a step in the right direction, as for multiplayer though, meh i'll stick with hardline (which I don't particularly rate to highly either).
@Crimson_Ridley That's not true at all. People have said this before, but I'm not going to change my stance on it: we will never, ever talk about which other platforms a game is releasing on, because we just assume our readers are only interested in the PlayStation version.
It doesn't make sense for us to say: "Game X is launching on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Wii, iPhone, Android, PS3, and PS4." It's not about being misleading - it's about focusing on the information that's relevent to our site.
Dont care about double jump, wall running or power sliding. Give me waw2, old style weapons, dog kill streaks and please slow the game down! you have to inject urself with pure adrenaline while simultaneous snortting copious amounts of poppers just to stay in the top 3 every game. Anyone else think of anything they would rather see?
@get2sammyb I understand your viewpoint and why you report like you do but it is a little misleading. 'The game's only confirmed for PS4 thus far' is not accurate as you say further in the article but the fact this is in Bold stands out and makes it appear that this is an 'exclusive' or at the very least the only confirmed platform released. With the Xbox exclusivity and 'rumour' that was in another article that CoD would change allegiance, it also makes it seem as though it has. It's not just on this article but others too that indicate footage is PS4 but often is PC or Xbox which again could be misleading - For example 'Here's your first look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on PS4' - the footage may not be PS4 but the title makes it seem that it is.
I am not on this site specifically for Playstation versions of every game as I also have an XB360 and XB1 to go with my PS3 and PS4. The chances are that with a game like CoD and its ties to Xbox, I am more likely to buy the XB1 version. It doesn't mean that I am not going to read the articles on here as I like to get the views and news from various sources. The information is still pertinent to me regardless of the choice of console I buy a specific game for. I know I am not the only one as I see a lot of names on PureXbox and know quite a few have multiple consoles. Therefore a sizeable number of readers are not interested specifically in a PS4 version but the game in general.
Like I said I understand your point of view and reasoning but I do think there is a certain amount of journalistic accuracy and shouldn't be misleading. In the case of that particular bold heading, I am sure there are alternative ways to say that the game is only confirmed on PC and Generation 8 consoles so far without making it sound as though the only confirmed platform is PS4 (which is inaccurate and misleading regardless). One thing I respect above all else is 'honesty' and breaches of that undermine the integrity of the person. Like I said I know there are alternative ways to have said this without promoting other versions on a PS site. Its still relevant but more importantly accurate and not misleading. If you had put 'The game may not be coming to PS3' as the heading for example, its more accurate and far less misleading.
(Treyarch's admitted that it's only working on the PS4 and other new-gen formats right now.)
It's about time and hopefully the game is being created for the new gen consoles only, otherwise the game will suffer like some other games that have already been released. It's the reason Far Cry 4 was Far Cry 3.5 the dev's ( Ubisoft Montreal) admitted this themselves, (Far Cry 4 was weighed down by PS3 and Xbox 360 presence). Game's like The Witcher 3 would be impossible or be a totally different game if it had a PS3/360 version, but seeing as its COD it'll more then likely have a PS3/360 version, its all about the $$$.
@BAMozzy I didn't see the harm as the subtext clearly tells the story. This is also clearly a playstation site and why should any of the writers offer any insight into a different brand? Ive found this site to have integrity and the writers are big gamers at heart something other "multi-platform" game sites should learn from. I think you are reading to much into it.
@themcnoisy thank you for explaining it to him I was too lazy.
@themcnoisy Its more down to how misleading the language used is. I am not saying they need to include the fact that Multi-platform games are also available on other systems but the headlines and sub-headings are misleading and inaccurate.
For example 'Here's your first look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on PS4' indicates that the images and video are directly from the PS4 version of the game. Without the extra 'on PS4', its still relevant but not misleading or inaccurate (as the images/video may not be 'on PS4' version). If the video/images are of a 'lesser quality/resolution than the PS4 version, people can very easily be mislead into thinking the game looks worse than it does.
'The game's only confirmed for PS4 thus far' is again inaccurate and misleading because it has been confirmed for more than 'only' the PS4. Saying 'the game may not be coming to PS3' or 'no indication or confirmation of a PS3 version' has a similar meaning but is far less misleading. I don't expect a PS site to say that the game is coming out on 'x', 'y' and 'z' consoles just for the sake of accuracy but there are other ways of phrasing things without being inaccurate or misleading and without the need to mention other consoles.
In both of these examples, I have not mentioned other brands but in both cases, they are far less misleading.
Incidentally saying a game is also confirmed for other next gen formats - even if mentioned more specifically is certainly not offering 'insight into different brands'. The written word is far more open to interpretation than the spoken word as it has no emphasis on certain words which can change a sentences meaning.
@BAMozzy I can definitely see your point, but the sentence I see is its on ps4 not ps3 or vita. I like the article, it includes everything the survey asked us about. We have a quality round up of the game in one place followed by a survey. Dont be so harsh the whole article is really good in my opinion.
Just because you interpret something that way doesn't mean everyone else will. The sentence itself states that the only confirmed platform is the PS4 - although we know Sammy is referring to the only confirmed release within the playstation family its not what it says. As you see, its open to interpretation. It could be more confusing due to the article about CoD moving to PS the day before. The alternative, 'The game may not be released on PS3' for example still basically says the same thing, is technically more accurate and not as misleading. It also is in keeping with Sammy stance on not talking about other platforms too.
Like I said when the site uses video's/images that are not from the Playstation family, its wrong to say this is what the game looks like on PS - it's probably better to just to leave off the 'on PS4'. It still gives the information relevant but is not misleading people to believe the video/images are taken straight from a PS4 - Its still not changing the sites stance on their policy to not mention or talk about other platforms.
Surely its better to be factually accurate and not misleading.
I am not being 'harsh' - just showing why there is 'confusion' and why it is misleading and how it could be amended within the sites own policy to avoid this. I have not said they should mention the fact that the videos/images are taken from a different platform or that they should mention that (in this case) the game is also coming to XB1 and PC. Call it constructive criticism at most as I am trying to show why these are misleading and constructively showing that there are alternative ways that are factually more accurate, less misleading and still fit with the sites own policies.
Treyarch keeps them zombies pumping they way they know how and we'll have a good time everytime
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