'Call of Duty: Black Ops 3' Is Definitely Heading Back To The Future.Paul Tassi

Paul Tassi
Paul Tassi
I’m going to take a moment to blow my own horn by recapping that on Wednesday I wrote a lengthy piece detailing why it was inevitable that the next Call of Duty installment in 2015 was going to be Black Ops 3, rather than some other sub-franchise like World at War 2. Less than 24 hours later, Black Ops 3 was confirmed in a quasi-viral campaign promising a full reveal later this month.
Naturally, I’ll be taking full credit for this, as surely Activision read my article and said “Well, that Paul Tassi is so widely respected and trusted that everyone will read that article and simply know what’s coming. We better just confirm it.” And so we have our reveal.

I’m kidding of course, and I’m sure this was Activision’s plan all along. Black Ops 3 was indeed the logical possibility given how well that sub-franchise has performed in the past for the series, and they want to give Treyarch one last crack at it to see if they can get back to their old days of record-setting sales.
black ops 3
But as I mentioned in the original article, the question for me was not if Black Ops 3 was coming, but where the series would go once it arrived. Black Ops 1 and 2 have spanned many, many different eras in American history from Vietnam to the Cold War to a near-future war that hasn’t even happened yet. Given the nature of a few of the viral teasers, many thought the game might head back to WWII for a bit of prequel action. That still may be the case, but thanks to a leak spotted by @ThaTiemsz, we know where a large chunk of the game will take place. Black Ops 3 is heading back to the future.
This description of the game is embedded in the source code of www.CallofDuty.com, and gives an official look at the game ahead of a planned announcement. There’s also a bit of new art for the game, seen above.
“Call of Duty®: Black Ops 3 is the first title for next-gen hardware in the critically acclaimed Black Ops series. Developed by Treyarch, the award-winning creator of the two most-played games in Call of Duty® history. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 deploys players into a dark, twisted future where a new breed of Black Ops soldiers emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the technology we created to stay ahead, in a world where cutting-edge military robotics define warfare. With three unique game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies, providing fans with the deepest and most ambitious Call of Duty ever.”
So unless this is the most innocuous hack ever, Black Ops will indeed be continuing the recent theme of Call of Duty moving into the future which began with Black Ops 2 and continued this past year with Advanced Warfare (albeit in an alternate timeline). We may actually be moving even further into the future than we’ve ever been as there’s no “near-future” mentioned, just a “dark, twisted future” where society seems to be evolved into a Deus Ex-style dystopia where biology and technology are fused for military applications. The implication is that this could introduce gameplay possibilities that are even more advanced than Advanced Warfare’s recent exoskeleton additions.

It is a little odd to now have two Call of Duty franchises both set in the future, though it may answer a question a lot of players have had about the theoretical next installment of the game. The addition of the exoskeleton in Advanced Warfare completely changed the multiplayer portion of the game, as it allowed players to zip around the map with augmented jumps and boosts, adding a mobility to the franchise that it’s never seen before. If a new game was going to go back to a “Modern Warfare” present day era, or back to one of the US’s historic wars, how would it be possible to keep something like that in the game and have it make any amount of contextual sense? Or would the series have to go back to being “slow”?
black ops 3 2
It seems Black Ops 3 will be able to avoid that problem. Obviously from the limited information in this leak there’s no confirmation that we’ll see similar exo-style boosts implemented, but given the time period and the mention of robotics and blurred lines between “humanity and technology,” I have to believe that there will indeed be a similar type of mobility infused into gameplay.
It feels like the era of Modern Warfare is finally at an end when it comes to the FPS scene. Halo has been in the far, far future for years, and new series like Titanfall are planted there as well. Two out of three Call of Duty sub-franchises are firmly in the future now, and I still believe that if Infinity Ward goes anywhere with their next game, it will be way, way back, all the way to WWII once more for a bit of nostalgic throwback action. Rather, one of the only franchises still rooted in the present is Battlefield, but given the lukewarm reception to both cops and robbers Hardline and BF4 before that, I’m wondering how long it will stay there. A new Bad Company installment might be the lone remaining hope for a new “Modern” present day shooter, or maybe Rainbow Six Siege if you want to count that, overlooking that it seems to be more about law enforcement than the military itself.
Not that this departure is a bad thing. I do think the concept was slowly beaten to death in the decade since the original Modern Warfare debuted. We did get some great games out of it, but there are only so many places you can go with the setting before running out of gas, and it’s no wonder shooters either want to jump back to the past or far into the future. I’m sure someday we’ll circle back around to present day shooters en masse once more, but for now, it’s clear almost everyone needs a break from the time period.
I’m excited for Black Ops 3, wherever it’s set, as I think Treyarch has done a fantastic job with the series to date. I also believe that BO3 will go on to outsell Ghosts and Advanced Warfare, even if Call of Duty’s days of shattering records each subsequent year are over.
It seems all this month we’ll slowly see more information trickle out about Black Ops 3 leading to a grand reveal in late April. I don’t expect this to be the last leak before then, so stay tuned.


forbes.

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Sandhurst's sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK? A parade outside the building at Sandhurst Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The death list that names 5,000 victims Is this woman an apostate? Voices from a WW1 prison camp The Swiss selfie scandal Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. 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The Emir of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum with his son after his Passing Out Parade at Sandhurst in 2006 Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, with his son in uniform at Sandhurst in 2006 Her Majesty The Queen's Representative His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, The Emir of Qatar inspects soldiers during the 144th Sovereign's Parade held at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on April 8, 2004 in Camberley, England. Some 470 Officer cadets took part of which 219 were commissioned into the British Army Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar until 2013, inspects soldiers at Sandhurst in 2004 Emotion doesn't always deliver. In 2013, despite the personal intervention of David Cameron, the UAE decided against buying the UK's Typhoon fighter jets. But elsewhere fellow feeling is paying dividends. 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