Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

We are now officially barely a day away from the full reveal of Activision and Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, but it seems like that’s too much for some people, who are simply too impatient to wait. Instead, we are being treated to a smattering of leaks. So many, as a matter of fact, that I doubt anything will be left as a surprise when the game does end up being revealed tomorrow.

But all these leaks are demonstrating one thing- Activision and Treyarch have something special in the making here. What appears to be a highly detailed Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 informational pamphlet (or is it a magazine feature?) seems to have leaked, and it gives us the nitty gritties on this year’s upcoming blockbuster.

For starters, the game will feature a new movement system. EXO suits themselves may or may not be returning (the trailer that we got a couple of days ago seems to indicate that EXO suits won’t be as much of a focus this time as augmented bionics will be), but the core philosophy behind them certainly will- the text in the images describes a new “momentum-based chained-movement system” that will allow players to traverse the map in continuous motion using thrust jumps, slides, and mantling abilities, all while remaining in control of your weapon at all times. It sounds, essentially, as though the verticality of Advanced Warfare is being traded for some momentum and inertia on a horizontal plane.

The level design will reflect this new movement system too, addressing one of the chief complaints of Advanced Warfare – that the maps were not designed around the new maneuvers that the EXO suits promoted. Instead, this time around, we will see maps built from the ground up to accommodate and promote both, traditional movement strategies, as well as ones predicated on the new movement systems.

Character progression has also changed- the Specialist system will allow players to highly customize their own characters, offering weapon and character XP, and different upgrade paths, meaning that much more versatility, individuality, and replaybility.

This also carries over into the design of the single player mode. The single player modes may have seen the most dramatic change the series’ campaigns have seen since Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare in 2007- the entire campaign mode has been designed to be played co-op with four players. In a first for the series, you can also do this online. The gameplay has also changed from the series’ traditional on rails linear grounds to arena based maps, allowing for different approaches to each encounter, and further replayibility. And since this is Call of Duty, cinematic cutscenes will also be a thing in Black Ops 3. If all of this wasn’t enough, players will also get to choose their own loadout in the single player mode.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 multiplayer gameplay screenshot.

And there’s the Zombies mode. This is a Treyarch developed Call of duty game, so of course it will have Zombies (the mode originally debuted in Treyarch’s first proper game in the series, 2008’s World at War). Black Ops 3’s new Zombies mode will revolve around a new story, and it will have a “full XP-based progression system.”

Essentially, it sounds like Treyarch and Activision are going all out. With Infinity Ward being a shell of their former selves, and Treyarch having broken new ground for the series with their last three games, it seems they are taking their role of innovators for the Call of Duty franchise very seriously indeed. I can’t wait to see how it all pans out.

Thanks, Long_Sensation.