Love them or loathe them, beta tests are only becoming a more important part of the development process as the years roll on. For online juggernauts such as Destiny, Evolve and now Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III, the pre-emptive vertical slice allows developers to stress test various gameplay systems and servers, before collating the results and pinpointing any potential flaws or bugs. At least, that’s the idea.
For Black Ops III, it appears the shooter’s recent beta is already beginning to pay off dividends, after the studio took to PlayStation Blog to detail the numerous design tweaks that are currently being implemented as the high-octane sequel nears its November due date.
Covering everything from the Rejack perk to the overpowered Blackhat equipment, the community left no stone unturned in its early analysis of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and Treyarch is taking strides to ensure that the final build is better off for it. Kill Cam and Final Kill Cam will also receive a slight change so as to fully explain how exactly you died in the battlefield, while weapon balancing – a common fixture after any beta test in the first-person shooter genre – will be carried out in the build-up to launch.
For the full play-by-play breakdown, be sure to check out PlayStation Blog, where Treyarch throw the gauntlet down on the technical minutia of Black Ops III. As an example, it’s understood the studio has “improved the feedback that you have downed your target by including the red ‘kill marker.’ This marker will subtly grow in size with each subsequent hit, turning red upon dealing lethal damage as added reinforcement to confirm the kill.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will dive, leap and wall-run its way onto PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on November 6. It’ll launch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, too, but without a single-player campaign.