With another year, comes another Call of Duty title – this time with the return of the Black Ops sub-franchise. While the lack of a single player campaign may turn some fans away, there's still plenty to look forward to. Here are five reasons we reckon you should be excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
Blackout
Here it is, the big one. Prior to Fortnite, the Battle Royale genre was led by PUBG. A janky mess that slowly evolved into a less janky mess (on PC at least), PUBG is still played by millions, even with its cartoon-ish competitor's meteoric rise in popularity. Never one to leave money on the table, Blackout sees Activision jump into the genre with both boots on the ground.
So could we see a new champion? Blackout is more fluid than PUBG and available on PlayStation. Compared to the arguably more "child friendly" Fortnite, it's grittier and more mature. It also makes smart changes to the Battle Royale paradigm – imagine fighting off adversaries only to succumb to a group of zombies that have snuck up on you, or using a helicopter to get the drop on a sniper. There are a wealth of possibilities to be explored in Blackout.
Sweeping changes to multiplayer
Spawn, shoot, kill, die, spawn, shoot, kill, die. If you're anything like us, this gameplay loop will be familiar to you. Black Ops 4 shakes up the series' running and gunning with a persistent health system – no more ducking behind a box and miraculously feeling much better. You'll need to heal manually, adding a new consideration in the midst of a firefight. You'll have to earn every killstreak, and ensure you finish off enemies lest they heal up and come back at you.
While you're killing and dying all over again, your XP will also unlock new tiers of attachments with more dynamic changes to the weapons they're applied to. For example, one grip may improve your recoil, but its levelled variant may negate it entirely.
A laser sharp focus
With the removal of the single player campaign, Treyarch have been able to incorporate more into Black Ops 4's multiplayer than any prior game. With 15 maps at launch, ten specialists to choose from (each one capable of adding an Operator Mod to weapons), and a 'Solo Missions' area to hone the skills of each, there is plenty of strategy and longevity to be found outside of the usual Prestige climb.
Zombies
With Treyarch being the first Call of Duty developer to sneak those pesky undead into its game, you'd be right to expect big things from Zombies this time around. On the disc at launch, there's not one, not two, but three Zombie campaigns, each wildly more varied than the last.
One takes place in an Ancient Roman arena, while one takes place on a boat you may have heard of called The Titanic. Finally, there is a remake of Black Ops II's excellent 'Mob of the Dead' included, too.
Boots on the ground – mostly
Much was made of the addition of boost jumps in Advanced Warfare back in 2014, but with the subsequent Black Ops 3 and Infinite Warfare iterations drawing more ire from the fanbase, Treyarch have followed last year's WWII in removing jetpacks and boost jumps.
That said, Black Ops 4 seems to strike a decent balance between realism and fantasy. You may not be wall-running, but you can wing-suit down onto a moving vehicle in Blackout, or grapple-hook Batman-esque across a street with a shotgun in hand in Multiplayer.
What are you most excited about in Black Ops 4? And will you be picking it up even without a single player campaign? Keep your boots on the ground in the comments section below.
Comments 39
Disappointed one of the reasons wasn't "test out your broadband speed with the required 50GB day 1 update".
no single player campaign not a bit intrested
Dont have any more time for these games no singleplayer. Im even burned out with liveserviceeee stuff it sucks up all your time. And makes me play a lot less different games which is a waste.
CoD always really baffles me; how can a game franchise be practically hated by the general consensus and critics alike yet it languishes in the top 10 charts pretty much right until Easter :/
The article sounded a bit like one of those 'advertorials' to me, sorry
Find it funny that the health system going back to a non-regenerative system that every fps game used years ago is a 'new' feature.
not interested.word up son
5 reasons to be excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
1: Less numpties playing games I play to flock in their droves to Call of Duty.
2: see point 1
3: see point 1
4: see point 1
5: see point 1
i can think of 0 reasons to be excited over COD.
It's still a no from me. Fps makes me sick, but the bigger problem here is the experience and the mods you get from experience. It'll have a pay to upgrade mechanic for sure. It's a definite pass from me.
I can actually say I am not excited for BO4. If I want a MP Hero Shooter I have Overwatch. If I want BR there is Fortnite if I want Zombies (which I am not a big fan of CoD Zombies) there's other Zombie games out there.
This just seems to me like CoD is throwing mud at a wall and see what sticks. Instead of coping other games gameplay they should have stayed with what made them popular.
At least I have Battlefield V this year.
Reasons to boycotts:
1. No single player
2. No single player
3. No campaign
4. A once glorious series becoming nothing than a meme
5. The ads. Yes, they’re bad enough to do it.
Oh yes. Remove any single-player. Add in a battle royale mode. BE EXCITED, PEASANTS!
One reason to not be excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4:
It's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
Even though I bought - and mostly enjoyed - last year's CoD (WWII) I just can't seem to get that excited about this year's CoD. I think it's a combination of factors; Too many other good games to play at the moment, the mandatory day one 50gb "patch", the lack of a single player campaign, and last but definitely not least...RDR2 is only weeks away now.
@ironcrow86 that's a bit inaccurate tbh. Sure COD is always ragged on by people like us, so called "hardcore" gamers who keep up with the news daily and bury our heads in forums but to the general public its an annual event to look forward to. As far as the critical reception they typically are in the 7.5 to 9 range every year so the critics seem to enjoy them.
No directing this towards you personally, just wish that it stopped being "cool" to hate on anything popular. It's OK to not like something popular but the it's the same crap ever year on every gaming site. Kinda tiresome.
Celine Dion boss fight in the Titanic Zombies campaign or no buy
Think you might be posting on the wrong side to think anyone is excited.
@ironcrow86 Because the Internet is the vocal minority. If comments on sites like this reflected reality, you'd see freakin' Dragon Quest 11 putting up Grand Theft Auto numbers and Fortnite would be the greatest flop of all time.
Communities like this are literally a teeny, tiny, minuscule portion of the actual gaming market. We're not representative of the industry at all.
@get2sammyb and I'm so grateful and that's why I hang out with other like minded gamer-weirdos.
The CoD gamer community is toxic, so no thanks.
I've never bought a CoD game. I enjoyed the campaign of Modern Warfare but even that was borrowed off a mate. Too shooty and shouty for my tastes.
@get2sammyb I thought COD was started to decline in year to year sales though? I know it’ll always sell well, but I thought there were declines. I could just be thinking of annual AC before Origins though.
3 reasons I could care less about Call of Duty or Battlefield:
Resident Evil 2 remake
Kingdom Hearts 3
PS Mini
I’m not a fan of this or Battlefield. I own a few versions of both, and probably have a total playing time of 5 hours between them all. In fact, the ones I do have will be my first deletes to make room for Red Dead Redemption.
@Flopsy Lol mate, that brought a smile to my face, so thanks for that . Compared to the yearly recycled crap, which is CoD, that book sounds really interesting.
1. No.
2. No.
3. No.
4. No.
5. No.
So sad what my favourite cod ever (black ops 1) has turned into.
3 reasons not to be excited:
1. No single player
2. 50GB day one update
3. After buying the game, pay again to actually play it
@RainbowGazelle all FACTS......
A lack of a single player campaign kept me from buying it. A mandatory day 1 50gb patch kept me from renting it.
@Jaz007 Still sells better than virtually every other game, though. Although I do think this one is being overshadowed by Red Dead a bit.
It’s... a Call of Duty game!
And that’s it... not much else to say...
@get2sammyb @Jaz007 Call of Duty has been the number one selling game every year for the past 5 years I want to say. The only year it wasn't number one was the year GTA V came out. Even Infinite Warfare the least liked CoD game sold really well, granted not as well as other CoD games but it outsold both Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 combined.
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
@get2sammyb That may be the case but i still rather anything else. 😁
mo campaign no buy roll on battlefield
No single player, no thanks. Getting pwned by teens will just lead to many rage quits
3 reasons not to be excited.
1. Not a sequel has no campaign
2. Crap servers microtransactions galore
3. More cash cow rubbish from Wackfivision
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