Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Analysis

Praise

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 was a very great game that introduced a lot of new futuristic aspects into the black ops series. In this game you have a mini jetpack where you can jump and launch higher in the air for a certain period of time. The movement of this game felt very fluent and very futuristic too, where you could easily slide and jump in the air with your mini jetpack I talked about already. You also could wall run as well and jump off of those walls to shoot and kill your enemy. You also had the look of the game where it looked more futuristic than the traditional black ops games. This game mode zombies had one of the best maps in all of the call of duty games ever called Der Eisendrache. This map was so good because you were able to get very overpowered different types of  bow and arrows which would help with the easter egg and kill the zombies faster in the higher rounds. 

This is an image representing the jetpack I talked about and it comes from https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2020/01/06/treyarch-call-of-duty-jetpacks-black-ops-5/

Overview

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is the 3rd game made of the call of  black ops series. This game has three  different modes: campaign, multiplayer and zombies. They have a campaign mode where you can play the story of the game by yourself or even invite your friends to play with you as well. They also have a multiplayer mode which consists of a lot of different modes that you can play some of which are team core or hardcore. Core is when you play a gamemode and  it takes multiple bullets to eliminate someone and you have a mini map to help guide you. In hardcore it only takes one to two shots to kill you and you do not get a minimap unless a UAV is used by someone on your team or yourself. In these modes there are the actual  playlist of plethora game modes which include team deathmatch, search and destroy, kill confirmed, domination, hardpoint, capture the flag, etc… The other mode that is in this game is called zombies which consists of a lot of different maps that you can play where you will kill zombies and do easter eggs. 

Issues

The main issue that consisted in Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is the campaign mode. This mode was very dull and boring to play. The story was very bland and did not have any excitement towards it. It was very sad to see where you had to complete this boring campaign to unlock the Nightmares mode in the game which was a new and better storyline in the game which had zombies in it. Lastly, the second biggest issue is the lag that occurred a lot in the online multiplayer mode. This lag caused the game to crash a lot and gave many error codes. 

This is an image of one of the most common error codes that players received and this image comes from https://www.reddit.com/r/blackops3/comments/5htrjv/black_ops_3_abc_error_my_brother_has_been_unable/

Strategy

The narrative designers  can make better improvements to the story by just making it more enjoyable and entertaining. Maybe they should get younger audiences’ opinions on what their next story should be about so it would be more entertaining to the majority of the audience. Another strategy is to make it so we are not forced to play the campaign to unlock one of the best, most entertaining modes in the game. I understand they want us to play the game and do not want to give everything to us but that is a game mode and I feel like we should already have that unlocked from the beginning. Lastly, simply just improve the servers. Improving the servers would cause players to have less lag and error codes given to them.

This is an image of the nightmares mode that had to be unlocked after beating the campaign and this image comes from https://attackofthefanboy.com/guides/call-of-duty-black-ops-3-guide-how-to-unlock-zombie-nightmares-mode/

Encouragement

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is a very good game and I actually had a great time playing this game. It was very different from the other traditional black ops games so it took time to get used to but it was still a fun time. There are things that need to be improved in the game such as the servers and the campaign. These things have shown to be improved in the latest black ops games. I hope that they continue to perfect these issues and give us the best product they can.    

NBA 2K23 Game Review

Praise

This year’s edition of NBA 2K which is called NBA 2K23 is a slight improvement from the prior game NBA 2K22 because in this year’s game there is more of a skill gap and you have to actually play the game to be good at it. To elaborate more on my statements this year’s version of the game has seen a vast improvement on shooting where anyone cannot just make any type of shot. You have to have enough skill to time your jump shot and to learn when to release it to have a higher chance of making it. Dribbling in the game has vastly improved as well where it is more realistic dribble styles and you cannot just simply go left to right and get open to shoot your jump shot like prior years. The mode called MyCareer has seen a vast improvement as well where they brought back quests, have brought in the rapper J Cole in the game and have various other things you can do if you just want to have a relaxable experience. MyCareer also allows you to walk into the stadium of where you get to play at and go to the coaches office to talk and to give you the option to talk to the press and do optional scrum as well. This game has little improvements but the improvements make the game more enjoyable

This is an image showing the shooting in NBA 2K23 and this image comes from https://segmentnext.com/nba-2k23-shot-meter/

Overview

NBA 2K is a franchise that has been going on for a longtime making many different NBA games using all 30 teams in the NBA. This year’s NBA 2K23 has many different modes such as MyCareer, MyTeam, Play Now, MyLeague and MyGM. The most popular mode which is MyCareer is a mode where you get to create a player of your choice going from the look to how the person plays and you are able to play through a story of your time in college and the NBA. You are also able to take the player that you create and play as to the park and play against other people who have created players in a 3v3, 2v2, or 1v1 game. You can also form a team or go into matchmaking to play a 5v5 game in a stadium setting against other people as well. Lastly you can form your own team with your friends and play another mode in MyCareer called Pro-am against other people that has created a team whether that be 3v3 or a 5v5 game. In the mode MyTeam you are able to create a team of your choice and play challenges to get cards to build your team up more. You can also play against other people who have created teams or even choose three players from your team and play a 3v3 match against people who choose 3 people off of their team. In the mode PlayNow you  are able to choose any team in the NBA and play against either an AI or against a person who may be there in person with you or online. In MyLeague you can choose any NBA team and be the coach of the team where you play through a whole NBA season with that team and can make trades, sign players or cut players. In MyGm you can be a general manager of a team and make decisions based on the team needs to help improve the team to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

This image is of the NBA 2K23 loading screen and cover and this image comes from https://store.steampowered.com/app/1919590/NBA_2K23/

Issues

There are three main issues in 2K23 that need to be addressed and are mostly towards the MyCareer side of things. The first issue is defense. Defense in the game is not very great where the lateral quickness is slow and players cannot stay with other players no matter what their level of lateral quickness in the game is because of speed boosting. One minute you can be guarding someone and stay with them then the opposing person will make one move and speed right past you and there will be nothing you can do about it. The second issue is the adrenaline boost in the game for dribblers. When it comes to dribbling in real life most NBA players do not get tired really quickly or use an adrenaline boost to speed up their movements. This makes it hard to dribble effectively but most players try not to use their adrenaline and end up only needing to use one boost because the defense in the game is so bad. The last issue is the lack of diversity with builds in the game. You can play MyCareer in the park against other people and 9 times out of 10 you will see someone with the same build as you.

Strategy

To fix the issues that I have discussed above the developers can tune the defense to make sure the lateral quickness actually matches what the user player has. The other issue of adrenaline boost can just be completely removed from the game in my opinion. I find this to be completely inefficient and useless in the game. Most people who actually dribble barely even use the boost. The last problem that i have addressed which was the lack of diversity for builds can be where every build that you can create is very effective when playing against other people online. Additionally this is a hard fix because the people who make the game cannot tell people what player to make but, they can make it to where if someone chooses to build something and they want it to do a particular thing then it can do that thing whether that be just shooting, dunking, or locking people down. 

Encouragement

NBA 2K seems like it is improving every year and that the game is so far very enjoyable. Although many people do not play NBA 2K as much as they used to in the prior years. People still buy the game and play and have fun when playing. This year’s game has seen vast improvements on skill with shooting and dribbling. Other improvements include the realism of dribbling and a better looking MyCareer mode. There are some more things that need to be improved in the game such as defense and the adrenaline boost. All in all this game is still fun to play and is an improvement from last year’s game.           

Madden 23 Review

Praise

In Madden 23 this game has brought a lot of improvements from a very disappointing year in Madden 22. I would first start by talking about the gameplay where last year the gameplay was strictly for offense and there was absolutely no defense in the game and no skills gap. In this year’s game there is a new passing system where it has a meter that can dictate the passing accuracy and passing power which gives a skills gap into the game. Another improvement seen in this year’s Madden is the new cutting mechanic for runners where they can hard cut into holes smoother and not lose a lot of speed. The defense has seen a big improvement from last year where people are not putting up big numbers and defensive players react in their defensive assignments and pass rushing. For example, in zone coverages defensive players will stay and play in their respective zones better than than the prior years. Another example includes, flat zones actually jump to pick the pass off this year instead of standing there and watching their assignment catch the ball. Man to Man coverage has seen improvement as well where cornerbacks are not getting beat off the line every play if they press their man. Pass rushing has better animations this year and is better where you can see more defensive linemen get off their blockers more frequently. Quarterback containment is better this year too where opponents cannot run out of the pocket every play and run for a lot of yards. 

This image shows the new passing meter in the game and this image comes from https://www.operationsports.com/madden-nfl-23-skilled-based-passing-improved-defensive-coverage-breakdown-via-ericrayweather/

Overview

Madden 23 is a football video game that is composed of all 32 NFL teams with all of the players in the league on their respective teams that you use to go against CPU opponents, random online opponents or even your friends. This game has a variety of modes such as play now, face of the franchise, ultimate team, the yard, superstar KO and franchise. Play now is a mode where you can choose any team in the NFL and play against CPU opponents, a random online person or your friends. Face of the franchise is a story mode where you can be a quarterback, wide receiver, running back, linebacker and a cornerback playing through the story. Ultimate team is a mode where you build your own team by getting players that are cards from packs, auction house, trade block or challenges. The yard is a mode where you can create your own character and play a 7 on 7 football game with your friends, random people or by yourself against CPU opponents, your friends or random people. Superstar KO is a mode where you can draft a couple of great players on an already built team to play against other online opponents with your friends or even by yourself. Lastly, franchise is a mode where you can be a head coach, player or even a GM and go through multiple NFL seasons getting the most realistic experience of what is done during the season and even the off-season.

This image shows all the modes in madden and comes from: https://www.psu.com/reviews/madden-nfl-23-review-ps5/

Issues

In Madden 23 as there has been a lot of improvements to the game there are still some issues that are glaring. For example, in the face of the franchise  the story in this mode is rather boring and some of the features in the modes that made the game a bit more exciting are taken out like playing in high school and college. Another example includes the lack of customization in the game where you are very limited in customizing your player and also cannot make any custom teams, stadiums and uniforms. The offensive line has been an issue and has looked a little bit worse from the previous game where the linemen do not recognize blitzes and even let people walk in on a regular pass rush. Lastly, the commentary has been the same in the game for years now and is getting very boring where I feel as though they should add new commentators in the game or at least change the lines up in the script.

Strategy

Improvements for the game should start with better AI detection for the offensive linemen so that blitzes get picked up better and that they do not let someone run right past them. Other improvements include, as I said in the last paragraph, changing the script up for the commentary announcers in the game to make it more exciting to listen to. The face of the franchise can see a better story and can add more features such as playing in college again. Lastly, there should be more to the customization of a player feature such as more hairstyles and even adding a face scan feature like NBA 2k and NBA Live has done before.

Encouragement

Even with the glaring issues in the game, Madden 23 is still an improvement from the previous Madden 22 game. I really like how the gameplay is played a lot including the new passing system. The defense took a really big step this year which I am really proud of about the game. Man to man and zone coverage is played how it is supposed to be played where the players are more reactive now. Like I have said before, pass rushing saw a great improvement as well which I loved as in the previous game it was tough for pass rushers to get to the quarterback. Overall the game has seen great improvements and is on the right track for being a great football game. I can not wait to see what more fixes they will make over time.