Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)

FPS - A multiplayer-focused FPS that eschews a traditional single-player campaign in favor of several multiplayer modes.

PROS:

++ Zombies. Easily the highlight of this entry. I don't think it trumps BO3 by any means, but I really enjoyed the new changes. There was a ton of options for customization (perks, elixirs, talismans, starting weapons, special weapons, equipment) which really opened up different ways to play Zombies. The aforementioned Special Weapons are a great new addition that gave the players a "trump card" in dire situations. But it's not just the player's loadout that can be customized, but even the zombies experience itself. With "Custom Mutations", you can tweak the zombies experience to your exact liking. Here are just a few notable things you can tweak: difficulty, min/max movement speed of zombies, how much point to start out with, option to open all doors from the beginning, how much health the player has, health regen speed, etc. There are dozens of settings that can be tweaked that can either help beginners or challenge zombie veterans. And the ability to add bots was greatly appreciated. It's a plus that the bots are great and overpowered because it will help those who are beginners to the mode. Not everything about B04 zombies was a plus though, namely the fact that they removed the longstanding perk "Juggernog" and the fact that many of the new perks are quite useless. Overall, I enjoyed the three available maps: Blood of the Dead, Voyage of Despair, and most notably, IX. I was able to play these maps with my brother through split-screen and we had lots of fun which is what matters in the end.

++ Gameplay. The new gameplay centers on the new Specialists who each have two unique powers/traits. There was enough variety among the Specialists that I enjoyed trying them all out. But even outside the new Specialists, I really enjoyed how smooth and fluid the core gameplay was. Shootouts still felt fast-paced even if double-jumping and other advanced movement were excluded.

++ Good tutorials. The tutorial did a great job of teaching the game. It breaks down how each Specialist plays and what their specialties are. And it's useful for getting to know the new maps, familiarizing new players with the common game modes, and the different scorestreaks available for use. Also, the tutorials try telling a story, but it is quite forgettable and not worth trying to understand.

CONS:

-- Lack of campaign. Maybe I'm in the minority who enjoy the campaigns more than the multiplayer, but not having a campaign really lowers this game in my books. BO2 and BO3 didn't have the best campaigns, but at least they had one.

-- Dead multiplayer. Usually I wouldn't count this as a con, but because the whole game hinges on its multiplayer offerings, having a very small player base really hindered my enjoyment of the game. I tried multiple times but was never able to get into a single Blackout match. Normal multiplayer still had a playerbase, but none playing the modes that I want to play. Without multiplayer, you only really have zombies. If you don't like zombies, all you have as a solo player are the tutorials and the option of playing matches with bots (which provides some fun).

No campaign this time, only multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies.

I get that Black Ops 3 campaign sucked, but that doesn't give an excuse to get rid of campaign.

Multiplayer is multiplayer. I always enjoy playing multiplayer with bots. Getting all the guns will be a grind, but it's not as bad as Black Ops 3 loot boxes (you can trade loot boxes for a guaranteed weapon you don't have)

Blackout, the battle royale before Warzone. I like the Alcatraz one, it has a respawn system. Not much else to say.

Zombies, ahh, poor zombies. The story did not go too well after Black Ops 3. The maps are kinda hit or miss (Ancient Evil hit real good, Alpha Omega probably not). It's still fun, and the difficulties are back. Poor Blood of the Dead, it didn't deliver fans' expectations.

Overall to me, this was 2 steps back with no campaign and Blackout.

I already own 2 of the 3 titles for July's PS Plus on disc. (Albeit they've been in my backlog ever since purchasing 😅)

Resulting in CoD: BO4 being the remaining title. As it's a multiplayer only title, do I download sooner rather than later to reduce the number of my backlog? Or do I forget about it and download it when servers are due to be wound down? 🤔

Only just discovered this website so haven't been really tracking my progress. I have been playing since the game came out round about mid October and was a little surprised at no campaign!?!?

Anyways really digging the specialists now (Battery, Crash and Prophet in particular) and have sort of made a dent in the specialist missions but I still need to complete most of them on every difficulty and will hopefully do some of that on my next playthrough.

I have been focusing more on the multiplayer, currently at level 41 I think. Currently my favourite class has to be the ICR 7 with the MOG shotgun I think it's called? On the ICR I use Reflex sight with laser sight, quickdraw and grip, it's currently at Prestige 2 level 10 I think. I use Dead Silence with an acoustic sensor and the Gunfighter perk that lets you put extra attachments on your guns idk what it's called but its good so idc. I've been using Prophet a lot more recently because of his shocker thing (didn't realise how simple it was to get kills with that but it's pretty overpowered btw) and I like the seekers too for a kinda easy kill. I was using Battery for a bit for the war machine and Crash when I was really trying to level up because he gives more XP so that's the kinda order it goes in for which specialist I use if they're all taken. If those are all gone then I'd probably use Nomad, I'm not a big fan but I like the dogs. The game modes i play more are hardpoint and domination but heist seems to give a little bit more XP. I HATE ICEBREAKER WITH A PASSION BTW AND CONTRABAND. Summit is pretty good, that throwback, Frequency and Arsenal are nice and Militia's good too. Scorestreaks are kinda irrelevant cos I die after one kill but anyways, I use RC XD, UAV, and Hellstorm I think? Honestly if I got a streak big enough for a sniper's nest i'd be loving life but aw well. Also using the Panther camo on my ICR so idk if that's relevant.

Will most likely play tomorrow and probs update this bc hopefully prestige and get some specialist missions done, and NO I DONT PLAY ZOMBIES IF UR WONDERING its literal pants i hate IX but I'm probs gon need to play it at some point if I wanna complete the thing to 100%. I'm gonna bounce bc it's 3am and i'm gon watch tokyo ghoul so bye ppl.

Let’s nip this in the bud, the game feels very lazy. Coming from the overflowing content of Treyarch last hit in the Black Ops series, BO3, this game fails to provide enough content for the £50 price tag.

The main game consists of 3 (and a half) game modes: Multiplayer, Blackout and Zombies (specialist HQ is just kinda there). Of course, the game is missing the staple Campaign and seriously lacks from this deduction. Without a full story, how can a player affiliate this game to even be in the black ops universe, except for the fact specialists (returning from BO3) are in it as well as Woods (main character from BO1) popping up in the specialist HQ. Without the campaign, the game feels empty, providing the new Blackout mode as it’s ‘replacement’ I guess.

Blackout

The call of duty take on the battle royale system, Blackout, provides an expansive player count where soldiers fight to the death on a nostalgia filled battleground. In all, it’s actually quite fun. The vehicles mechanics are solid, the layout of the map is logically, bringing some of the best maps back, ‘firing range’, ‘stronghold’ and ‘verrückt’ just to name a few. Playing solo can be a chore but playing with friends can be a lot of fun, bringing a tactical charm to the series. My main gripes would be lag issues and the empty parts of the map. These could easily be filled with small maps from the franchise. It’s solid but I can’t see myself playing this mode regularly over the next few years. 6/10

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is the beacon of the game, providing a new health system which makes gunfights more skill based. The new specialists are decent, expanding from BO3 cast with new faces like Ajax, a shield wielding solider with a 9-Bang at hand. Gun counts seem lower than before, with only 2 shotguns at the go. The maps are good too, providing new favourites: Seaside, Icebreaker and Morocco. However, there is also a series lack in original maps with four returning from past Black Ops games with out the layout changing at all. With the little content in this game, this lazy addition feels pointless. If you are to add old maps, why not add even more? Boosting the map count to 20? Multiplayer is very good but the maps for what they are, seem lackluster with a smaller roster than past titles. 9/10

Zombies

Oh dear, the zombies. I’ve loved zombies ever since Nacht Der Untoten on WaW, with its haunting atmosphere, to BO3 with its mystical Gorod Krovi, fusing Dragons with the zombie storyline without feeling out of place. The new zombies has changed the formula completely, adding custom classes, changing the gobblegum system and having the player choose the only 4 perks they can buy on the map. Custom classes and 4 perks are bad. It’s gets rid of the pick up and play nature of the mode. The new perk machiens have no personalities unlike the missing Juggernog, Speed Cola and Double Tap counterparts. Perks have changed names for no reason, making the immersion weird as there is no reason for Electirc Cherry to be named Electric Burst, no characters refer to this either. The maps are ok, with Voyage of Despair being the least inspiring. A map based on the titanic should be emotional, grasping and interesting but I feel lost on the mass of a map, with multiple layer which look the same. IX is the stand out, showing the new Chaos cast in a fantastic colosseum, fighting the hordes with the new wonder weapon and traps. Blood of the Dead is interesting, I looked forward to this map for so long, but with the new changes I felt no nostalgia for the map and it just felt clunky. The removal of perk machines really hinder this map as it’s what many associate with the game mode. Classified is available in the black ops pass, and is a brilliant addition. Unlike BOTD, nostalgia thrives in this map, taking you to each layer through the elevator with the older cast sayings some of the funniest lines I’ve heard. Overall, the zombies formula changed for worse and better. Jug was obviously overpowered, but without this and the ability to buy more than 4 (let alone choosing them and not having unique perk machines) makes the game unbearable, especially with the dog rounds, christ there spawning is awful. 4/10

I’ve given the game a 2/5 simply because BO3 felt like the definitive Black Ops Game, providing players with Multiplayer with a great array of maps. Campaign with although a weird storyline, it was interesting and explored the era it was based in. Zombies which provided the great Der Reise remaster (The Giant) and Noire inspired Shadows of Evil. Not to mention other game modes: Freerun, Dead Ops 2, Nightmares. As well, the game had a full soundtrack from all the 3 games, ready to play in the main menu. Paint job was also fantastic, you could actually paint the other side of the gun! To go from this Goliath of a game to BO4 is one of the biggest steps down in gaming I’ve ever seen. Remember this is just my opinion, I’m sure the multiplayer will keep me occupied, but this is a £20 game at best.