Each experience uses roughly the same mechanics, with some differences based on context, though it can be confusing when a power up is a potion in IX but a soda in Blood of the Dead?įinally, there is Blackout. There are some customization and ability collectibles that you acquire through something that looks suspiciously loot box-y (not seeing any microtransactions, though, at least not yet), that can be equipped and consumed, some of which are persistent from round to round. While each map is smaller, overall it feels like a lot more content, and for the first time in years it feels like I might be able to get through the storyline without having multiple expert zombie slayers on my team (there’s only so many times you get revived before they realize you’re more trouble than you’re worth). IX and Voyage of Despair are both completely new, but Blood of the Dead is a reimagining of the fan-favorite Mob of the Dead from Black Ops II, with a return to Alcatraz. While the last couple of games had huge convoluted maps with extensive hoops to jump through to progress through the narrative, Black Ops 4 has three different experiences, each with a much more manageable scale. If you’re a Zombies fan, there’s a lot to love about this year’s Call of Duty. Whatever story Treyarch was trying to tell, it was just too overwrought and convoluted for the manner in which they told it (Really makes me wonder if what I saw was what remained of a scrapped campaign narrative…) The training sequences are incredibly thorough, however, leaving me more and more impressed with each character and how they balance and complement each other, my only wish is that there was something similar for Zombies and Blackout, those two modes could use a little more explicit direction and method of training. Once I got to the end of the narrative, I was honestly just left confused. While I love the individual stories, the team narrative is chopped up into 10-15 second bits that, when alternated with the others, just aren’t long enough or memorable enough to make much sense as I unlock the cinematics. There’s a backstory sequence for each specialist, as well as an overarching thread that outlines how they became a team, with callbacks to previous installments of the Black Ops series. Essentially a training mode not only for each specialist in turn but also each multiplayer game mode, you’ll find the only cinematic sequences on the disk outside of Zombies in this section. While I definitely miss the campaign mode this year, there is some narrative action in Black Ops 4 by way of the Specialist HQ. Honestly, it’s the closest thing to Counter Strike I’ve played in years, and I hope it catches on with the COD community. Even if your team doesn’t nab the bag of cash in one round, you still get enough from each kill you rack up to up your game in the next. ![]() On the first round everybody starts with only a pistol and each successive round you can purchase weapons, mods and upgrades that persist from round to round (unless its a consumable, like a grenade). Each round your team has to beat the other team to a big bag of cash and get out via the extraction point with the cash alive. While many of the familiar game modes such as Kill Confirmed and Team Deathmatch are, of course, back, there is one mode in particular that stood out to me- Heist. Barreling through maps at high-speed not only doesn’t feel necessary like it has before, it can be much more deadly, with tripwires and turrets potentially lurking around any corner. Team-based modes especially benefit from this, owing to how the specialist abilities complement each other. ![]() This combined with the manual health management feature has the welcome effect of making matches less twitchy in nature, slowing things down enough for a more tactical playstyle to emerge. There’s still room for some customization with classes, though, and once you unlock them you can build loadouts in the familiar style according to how you play.īlack Ops 4 pulls a lot of elements from Black Ops 3, but tones things down a bit, leaving out the wall running and more vertical elements of that game. While I wasn’t originally a fan of the specialist concept, thinking I would miss the extensive character customization features of years past, hitting that character selection screen for the first time evoked memories of fighting games and arcades, replacing my concerns with hints of nostalgia. While a lot of the focus in Black Ops 4 has been on Blackout, I’d argue that Treyarch has delivered one of the tightest multiplayer experiences the series has had in years. Multiplayer is the bread and butter of the Call of Duty franchise, and arguably the core feature of each yearly installment.
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