At some point in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, you'll ask yourself the question: "What's it all for?" Maybe it's while you're machine-gunning your way through a horde of nameless minions. Or as you explode the inner cores of killer robots with the power of your mind. A feeling washes over you. All the ripping flesh to ribbons, the maiming without mercy; it starts to feel a bit like busy work.
That's not to say it's boring. Black Ops III is set in 2065, 40 years after Black Ops II, and it's predictably pessimistic about humanity's fate. The plot is a cacophony of future fear, covering everything from the rise of AI and human augmentation to the use of chemical weapons and ever-increasing Government surveillance.
The feeling of being in a Blade Runner-esque dystopia only intensifies in the bouts of violence breaking up your lessons on the evils of computers. Cyber Core abilities fitted to your character's mind become crucial. Overrun by a battalion of troops? Send robot Fireflies their way to set them alight. Turrets pinning you down? Use Remote Hijacking to override their controls.
Everything about the game is huge. Besides the main campaign, there's a horde mode, and various other add-ons. Bonafide movie stars Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham and Ron Perlman lend their voices to the game's zombie mode, which takes place in a undead-ridden city mercifully free of robots. Some of the set-piece battles feel almost open-world in their scale.
