The latest entry into the Call of Duty franchise is here, and though they typically sell on the strength of their multiplayer offerings, the campaign shouldn't be ignored either, especially this year, where Treyarch have undeniably taken advantage of the new three-year development cycle to deliver a more ambitious (if deeply flawed) single-player jaunt. Longer, harder and more cinematic, it's an impressive shift away from the sub-5 hour campaigns of previous games, but what's really staggering about it is the bizarre existential direction in which the plot goes, unquestionably brave but at the same time bordering on incoherence. Some may praise it for its general ballsiness while others may find themselves begging for the days of a more simplistic, easy-to-follow plot, but the end result is the same regardless of your opinion: it's an incredibly strange game, from the new mechanics introduced to the complete mind-f*** that is the final few hours of the campaign. Granted it's pretty hard to actually make sense of what's going on, but on its own terms, here are 44 WTF moments from Black Ops 3's campaign...
44. Taylor Calls You "He" Even If You Play As A Woman
In the game's first mission you assault an NRC airfield in Ethiopa, and after the initial shootout, you and Hendricks come across Commander John Taylor. Hendricks and Taylor exchange greetings before Taylor turns to you and asks Hendricks, "New blood? You gonna take care of him as good as you did me?" There's nothing wrong with the line, except of course that Taylor says the same line regardless of whether or not you select a male or female character at the beginning of the game. It seems pretty sloppy for a game with tens of millions of dollars behind it to fail to record an alternate line of dialogue for women, especially considering so much of the game seems engineered around the ability to play as either gender. Sure, you could easily miss it if you're not paying attention, but come on Treyarch, did you really think you could slip that one by everyone?
43. That Awesome New Night Vision
Part of the airfield assault requires infiltrating a hotel, and upon doing so, the power is cut, plunging the place into darkness as a shootout breaks out inside. Fear not, though, because you're kitted out with night vision, but not just any night vision: this view setting allows the player to see enemies highlighted in red, while their own weapon and their teammates will appear in green. Sure, it might make things a whole lot easier throughout the game and is almost too handy when you're heading through a dark area (especially as its power isn't limited at all), but it looks super-cool and is an enjoyable addition to CoD nonetheless.