Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Review

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Release: January 1, 1970
Publisher:
Developer:
Genre: XBox One Reviews
PEGI:
Comments:

 

Comment

Call of Duty is going online with the latest release in the franchise, and three major modes are being heralded here in lue of a standard single player campaign. To offset that, the game has standard online Multiplayer, Zombie Mode, and of course the brand new battle royale style mode, Blackout. But does this work without a single player experience? Let’s dive in!

Multiplayer Is King

Multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is King, and not only is it the core of this years release, but it is also some of the best multiplayer Call of Duty ever released. With lots of equipment, perks, and maps to explore. there is never a dull moment when going online with friends. Gone is the automatic health regeneration, so players will require more skill to maneuver their way around the battlefield and help propel their teams to victory. Lack of regenerating health makes those tense situations so much more fun to play, albeit at times annoying!

There are a good number of maps, but they are fairly small and linear in scope, so after a while map fatigue is likely to set in. That being said, it also allows players who dedicate their time to this mode, to better understand each map available, the key strategic points you’ll want to hold during the the game, and more. Whether going as a lone wolf as part of a larger team, or squading up with friends, the strategic elements are better than ever  before, and are aided by the introduction of Specialists, that can excel in specific things.

Balanced weapons also make any load out feel worthwhile in some situation. While everyone will ultimately gravitate to specific weapons and classes, it’s good to know that if your team is lacking in a key area, being that person can net you as many kills, and make you as effective, as if you were using your preferred weapons.

Zombies are Coming

Back again is the classic Call of Duty Zombie mode, which is bigger and better than ever before, with the inclusion of some light environmental puzzles and a story to boot! Set across a number of varied maps – fighting in the sinking Titanic, stranded on Alcatraz, or within an arena that only opens up after a bit of time – Zombies was more enjoyable for me this year than in past iterations of the franchise. Like always, killing zombies is incredibly satisfying, and building fortification works as well as it ever has.

But there is a draw to this years release that is unlike anything before, and I’ll be coming back again and again to take on hoards of zombies, something I’ve never really done in the past.

Blackout

The most anticipate – and potentially contentious is you ask the PUBG crowd – mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is Blackout, a battle royale style game that ultimately crowns one champion, and one champion only. While Fortnite still seems to have the monopoly on this genre of games, the marketplace for more ‘realistic’ battle royale experiences is now becoming more crowded. While the game play is still over hte top and fun, the realistic graphics in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 easily trounces the offerings in PUBG, the current ‘champion’ of this space.

While many have called Blackout a rip off of PUBG, I look at it as a major improvement. Overall, as gamers we are looking for the best experience, and if Call of Duty is offering me something other companies aren’t, I don’t care how close the similarities are (as long as they stay within the legal realm), I’m going with what is better. And right now, Blackout is far superior in almost every way.

This years Call of Duty offerings is writing a brand new chapter for the franchise, and this isn’t entirely a bad thing; sales so far have been fantastic, and despite weighing heavily on the online components, there seems to be little outcry from fans, or even critics, of the franchise. The rhetoric all along might have been 100% accurate: Call of Duty fans are looking for a fantastic multiplayer experience, and if the development team can make that the best in the business, and ultimately sacrifice something like single player to do it, then so be it.

That was a pretty big gamble, but a gamble that seems to have paid off in spades!