In November of 2015, gamers worldwide celebrated the long-awaited releases of several video games from major franchises. The games, “Star Wars Battlefront,” “Fallout 4” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops III,” were received with astonishing praise from critics and players alike.
“Star Wars Battlefront” is the third game in the “Star Wars: Battlefront” series. The game is a first- and third-person shooter based around the “Star Wars” universe. It’s less of a sequel to and more of a reboot of the original two “Battlefront” games.
“I had fun with ‘Battlefront,'” senior Drew Bender said. “The game looks beautiful, just beautiful.”
“Star Wars Battlefront” was released on November 17, more than ten years after the release of “Star Wars: Battlefront II.” Of course, it is not a coincidence that “Star Wars Battlefront” was released exactly one month before the new movie “Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens” is set to.
“It’s hyping me up for the new movie,” Bender said.
Despite its praise, the game is not perfect.
“Improvements could be made,” Bender said. “I miss the single-player story missions that I could do with my siblings.”
“Fallout 4” is the fourth installment in the “Fallout” series. As the title suggests, “Fallout 4” takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where the earth has been completely scorched by nuclear bombs.
“It’s a good game,” sophomore Jacob Douglas said. “It’s sort of a mix between a shooter and an open-world game.”
“Fallout 4” has received extensive praise for its detailed map and progressive game-play.
“‘Fallout 4’ is a triumph,” senior Jack Watts said. “The world is so vast and detailed that no matter how long you play there’s always something new to find.”
Finally, there is “Call of Duty: Black Ops III,” the twelfth “Call of Duty” game and the third in the “Black Ops” subseries. For many gamers, the “Black Ops” games are definitive of the “Call of Duty” franchise. They are known for their intricate campaigns, distinguished multiplayer modes and the “Zombies” game mode, in which the player fights hordes of zombies in increasingly difficult rounds.
“The gameplay is revolutionary to the franchise,” senior Jared Sink said. “It takes the problems with ‘Advanced Warfare’ and ‘Ghosts’ [previous C.O.D. games] and makes them strengths of the game.”
According to Sink, the multiplayer is to die for but the campaign leaves something to be desired.
“It has fast-paced, high-risk high-reward multiplayer with new additions like the class system,” Sink said. “The campaign is average. It brings back the classics of ‘C.O.D.’, but overall it is basically the same, boring, six-hour play-it-once campaign.”
As for “Zombies,” it seems as if the game designers have run out of ideas.
“‘Zombies’ is surprisingly average,’ Sink said. “It takes old tactics from maps like ‘Mob of the Dead’ and ‘Origins’ and reuses them, and while the upcoming storyline is impressive and the gameplay is always exciting, it’s nothing new to players.”
So how does “Black Ops II” stack up against the other two “Black Ops” games?
“It’s probably the worst of the three “Black Ops” games,” Sink said. “It’s just not that great and it seems to have no true relation to the other two. The franchise is dying and I think it will see the end within the next three years.”