Every year, the studio developing Call of Duty tries something new to shake up the familiar formula.

Sledgehammer Games, for example, wanted more speed and verticality, so Advanced Warfare had jetpack-like Exo suits. Treyarch’s plan for Black Ops 3 doesn’t sound as revolutionary, and until you play the game, it might not make any sense.

“ They're taking the shootiest shooter around, and... adding more shooting.

They’re taking the shootiest shooter around, and… adding more shooting. That’s not cynicism; it’s genuine astonishment.

When I visited Treyarch to see Black Ops 3 in action, the developers kept using the phrase “guns up.” Boiled down, it means no matter what you’re doing, you’re going to have full control of your weapon.

“Guns up” goes hand-in-hand with the game’s expanded movement mechanics, like wall running and reverse powersliding. In Black Ops 3, you spend a lot of time not on the ground. If you couldn’t effectively control your weapon during all those crazy maneuvers, you’d probably keep your boots on the dirt, which would render many of the game’s more fun mechanics pointless. Thus, guns up!

Loading

Because Black Ops 3 is set in 2060 (only a few years after Advanced Warfare), I don’t think “new coat of paint” is the right phrase here. Instead, seeing as it’s now possible to zip around like a slippery gerbil, “new coat of grease” is more fitting. Nowhere is that more evident than in multiplayer, so that’s where I’ll start.

And dont’ worry, campaign and zombies details are on the way too.

Multiplayer

“ Does Black Ops 3 have Exo suits? No, it does not.

black ops 3 world reveal screens 8 IMAGES

“ You no longer play as generic soldiers.

Ruin’s weapons are Gravity Spikes, which allow him to leap through the air and slam down on his target with an area-of-effect shockwave. His power, Overdrive, greatly accelerates all movement for a short time.

Seraph’s (my personal favorite) weapon is the Annihilator, a huge, high-caliber revolver that kills enemies in one shot and has penetration rounds. If you can line up two enemies, you’ll take them both out. Her ability is Combat Focus, which triggers a bonus multiplier to score steak points.

Outrider’s weapon is the Sparrow, a compound bow with explosive bolts. Her ability is Vision Pulse, which expands out from the player, tagging all enemies’ locations and allowing you to see them through walls.

Reaper is a killer robot. His weapon is the scythe, a minigun that emerges from his arm. His ability, Glitch, allows him to flash back to wherever he was a few seconds ago.

Campaign

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way first. Does Black Ops 3 have Exo suits?However, we’re not going back to Call of Duty: Ghosts either. There is a thruster pack on every character, but it feels different from what I played last year.I know this might sound weird, but it helps me to think about it mathematically. Movements in Advanced Warfare’s Exo suits are very sharp and aggressive. If you start at point A, boost to point B, then boost to point C, that entire path would probably look like a sharp angle.In Black Ops 3, you can boost to points A, B, C, D, E, F, and G in the same amount of time, and the result would look more like a curve. You have subtle control now. You can tap the boost button repeatedly to course-correct, for example, or turn toward an hole in a blasted-out wall.Black Ops 3 is about chaining movements. The following scenario is entirely possible: you can sprint, vault over cover, jump onto a wall, run along it, kill someone while wall running, notice an enemy on your radar, jump off, boost into the air, spin around, land on the ground, initiate a reverse powerslide, and kill the player who was running behind you.The next big point is one that makes the MOBA player in me very, very happy. You no longer play as generic soldiers. Before a match begins, you pick a unique character, each with his, her, or its own unique power and weapon. You can only pick one though (the power or the weapon), and each is treated like a miniature score streak.Though Treyarch is still tweaking things, when I played, I felt like I unlocked my weapon or power about as often as I unlocked a UAV.Specialist aren’t tied to loadouts, so you can’t change them in the middle of a match. Pick wisely.

Black Ops 3 is set in 2060. 35 years after the drone strikes in Black Ops 2, the world’s leaders have developed DEAD (Directed Energy Air Defense) systems, which make air superiority useless. Military strength shifts back to “boots on the ground.”

DNI (Direct Neural Interface) technology gives soldiers complete control over their physiology. It also allows them to integrate with computer systems, including enhanced cybernetic limbs. For a squad of Black Ops soldiers, DNI allows them to communicate and coordinate faster than ever before.

At the beginning of the game, a Black Ops team is sent to a CIA site in Singapore. For the first time ever, contact with them is lost. What follows is the largest leak of military intelligence in history. This is where the campaign begins.

Loading

While I wasn’t told much else, I did get a good look at a few big changes. New powers, called “Cyber Cores,” can be customized by the player and used in any level. Rather than having cool abilities that can only be used at certain times, you can now use the powers you want, when you want.

A few examples are “immolation,” which allows you to set a target on fire with a flick of the wrist. Another is “remote hijack,” which lets you take command of vehicles and robots (like drones) and use them against their allies.

Treyarch wanted the four-player online co-op experience to feel great, not tacked on. So the campaign levels are built more openly to accommodate a larger number of players and allow different tactics. If you’re playing alone, however, Treyarch says you shouldn’t be overwhelmed because open areas are built with multiple smaller “routes” in mind that feel more precise and focused.

Aside from more guns, another benefit to playing four-player co-op is T-mode. If one player can see an enemy, that enemy is tagged for allies, regardless of whether they have vision or not. It encourages you to seek high ground and split up to cover more area.

Zombies

Treyarch stayed tight-lipped about Zombies, though they did say it’s going to be bigger than it’s ever been. Zombies in Black Ops 3 will have its own storyline and a full XP-based progression system.

Aside from those details, I saw an image of a zombie holding a card decorated with weird symbols and imagery. At the top of the poster was the phrase “Only the cursed survive.” Mysterious.

Black Ops 3 doesn’t feel as different from Advanced Warfare as Advanced Warfare did from Ghosts. That’s not a bad thing at all; it just seems like Call of Duty developers are entering a refinement period like the one we saw after the original Modern Warfare.

Players who pre-order Black Ops 3 will have access to a multiplayer beta on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. No beta date has been announced yet, but when it’s released, try out the fast-paced Black Ops 3 for yourself and let us know what you think of the new mechanics. And, as always, for more on Call of Duty, stay with IGN.

Brian is an Editor at IGN. You can follow him @albinoalbert on Twitter.