Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Story A Clean Break, Play As Male/Female Blank Slate

Treyarch has chosen to keep Call of Duty Black Ops 3’s story close to its chest deliberately, but that does not mean they have no surprises in store.

This time, you get to choose to play as male or female, a fresh break from the legacy of the Mason family from the first two games. You do not even have a prepared background like you would have in the Mass Effect games. Black Ops 3’sprotagonist is a total blank slate, and this apparently ties in to the story.

Less of a mystery is why Treyarch chose to keep the story secret. In an interview,  campaign director Jason Blundell was forthcoming about how they spoiled too many things in Call of Duty Black Ops 2 in their trailers. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for the trailers to have teases, but this was a case of a really cool setpiece being given away for free.

While Black Ops 3 won’t be as connected to the other Black Ops games as the first two were to each other, there is a continuity between all three games thematically. The first game was man against man; an internal struggle for Alex Mason. The second game was man corrupts machine, as villain Raul Menendez hacks a set of drones to lead attacks against the US, and allows the power to control him.

Finally, Black Ops 3 will be machine on machine. Diehard fans will recognize the progression of ideas throughout the series and how Treyarch has chosen to close it down.

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 will be released on November 6, 2015 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows.