Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Reveal Channels Another Shooter

In revealing the details of its upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 it’s likely that publisher Activision and developer Treyarch were expecting lots of debate and discussion. After all, discussion about new gameplay mechanics is the first thing that video game lovers look for before they pre-order. What neither of the two companies were probably expecting before they posted the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 reveal trailer was direct comparisons to a first-person shooter exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox and Windows platforms: Titanfall.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 reveal trailer seemingly gives users a taste of both combat and multiplayer. As the video starts, we see large, futuristic looking airships all preparing for what looks like a massive military operation. A voice in the distant – presumably the protagonist of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’s story, discusses all the things that a weapon isn’t. According to him, weapons have neither loyalty nor judgment. He declares that “soldiers do” and that’s when we start seeing footage taken directly from the game.

In the first scene a player walks up to a large body of water and dives in – something that would spell disaster in most first-person shooters. Once submerged, the solider goes on the hunt, killing enemies while swimming. In the next scene we see a solider sneaking up behind an enemy and taking shooting him with a machine gun. The solider in question isn’t actually carrying a machine gun, its his right arm that’s transformed into one.

In quick order are scenes of another solider using her left arm to order some kind of small robots to attack one enemy, a giant robot seemingly at the command of the player and robots that are apparently enemies in the game.  The voice we heard early in the trailer asks how far his faction can push technology before “it pushes back.” The trailer speeds up again, with video footage from someone playing the game. A soldier jumps from wall-to-wall, leaping distances you just haven’t been able to in previous games. Another soldier sneaks up behind an enemy and knocks him about 10 feet across the level with just his arm. We see another solider jump to a ledge that’s physically impossible to reach in the real world. Wall jumping, a robotic ball attacking and another huge robot close out the trailer. On-screen lettering reveals shows the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 release date as November 6th.

Anyone who has played Titanfall will immediately pick up the similarities between what you with that game and what we can expect from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. Some of the similarities are pretty shallow, they’re both futuristic shooters for example.

Titanfall launched in April 2014 on the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs. It wasn’t a smash hit, but it’s considered by most to be the be the best first-person shooter game available on next-generation video game consoles right now.

It’s hard not to look at the two games and not think that we’re getting something that’ll feel a lot like Titanfall. Some of the ancillary extras seem similar. For example, both games apparently feature giant robots heavily. In addition to larger robots, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 appears to have human-size robots taking part in the combat. Players can run faster and jump higher than anything else we’ve seen in the series. All of that could also be said for Titanfall, which also has giant robots that players can call on, wall-running, ridiculously fast combat and robotic enemies that act as canon fodder to help less impressive players build their scores.

The two games are different in one huge way too. Titanfall didn’t have a single player campaign, whereas Call of Duty: Blacks Ops 3 will.

Activision and developer Treyarch designed the game with this generation of gaming hardware in mind. When it launches on November 6th Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will only before for Windows PCs, the Xbox One and PS4.