‘Black Ops 4’ is going where no ‘Call of Duty’ game has gone before

Treyarch steps out of the traditional framework of Call of Duty titles for Black Ops 4. Where, in the past, Call of Duty games would have had a single player campaign headlining their titles, Black Ops 4 does away with the entire campaign itself. 

Instead, the game will focus on multiplayer experiences that aim to draw in newcomers while keeping veterans and fans excited. Multiplayer-centric modes, Zombies mode, and the most-talked about Battle Royale mode or Blackout, are what’s featured in Black Ops 4. These steps aren’t necessarily new, but for a franchise that is mostly played for its multiplayer and gameplay than its narratives, these are big steps that mostly make sense in today’s FPS genre. 

Taking out their single player campaign means they get to focus on one thing and one thing only: their strengths. 

We were invited to the Black Ops 4 reveal event and got to play a few of the game’s multiplayer modes and here’s what we’ve gathered so far:

 

Blackout: Battle Royale, Black Ops style

It was only a matter of time until Call of Duty got in on the Battle Royale trend.

We’ve yet to see how this will all work out. We have no details on how huge the map is exactly and how many people can be involved in a single game. What we do know however is that it will feature fans’ favorites.

Iconic Black Ops multiplayer maps and locations, playable characters, classic weapons, and land, sea, and air vehicles will be part of Blackout. (Sidenote: Let’s not be surprised if E3 2018 becomes a battle of the Battle Royales)

Zombies, zombies, zombies

A good chunk of the reveal was dedicated to its famous zombie mode. Three stories have been revealed so far for the Day 1 release of Black Ops 4. All keeping their signature wacky and out of this world styles and narratives. 

There’s IX (nine), which is set in ancient Rome and features a bizarre gladiator arena and rituals. There’s Voyage of Despair, which features an alternate account on the sinking of Titanic. Yes, you read that right. They made a zombie mode about the Titanic. And then there’s Blood of the Dead, which expands on the classic Mob of the Dead storyline featuring the Origins characters. 

Treyarch also shared that Black Ops 4 will be the most customizable zombie mode yet. They have included custom games, and new game modes, and are allowing players to change the rules, settings, and difficulty, so they could tailor the modes according to how they want to play the game. This opens up the zombie mode to not just groups of friends, but also solo players who want to experience the zombie mode of Black Ops even more. 

A Multiplayer-centric Experience

Gone are the days of narrative driven single-player campaigns. Treyarch has decided to the traditional single player campaign in favor of focusing on multiplayer modes and missions that they feel a huge chunk of their fanbase would mostly prefer. 

The developers have focused instead on creating a rich and in-depth tactical experience that focuses on giving players the chance to learn and master strategy as well as encourage higher levels of teamwork and synergy. 

This all starts with the return of Specialists. For those unfamiliar, Specialists have their own different styles of abilities and tools to bring a different level of play on the battlefield. There will be ten Specialists to begin with and Treyarch says they will be including more after the game is launched. With their return, team composition and team synergy become a huge factor in winning games. 

In terms of major changes to gameplay, Black Ops also does away with thrust-jumps, wall-running, and health regeneration, making strategy all the more important. 

That being said, doing away with the traditional single player campaign doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the narrative or the end of solo play in the game itself. Each Specialist will have solo missions that will give players more background on the story, and players have the choice to decide their own sequence. The story of Black Ops 4 will be told via the different modes as well. That being said, we weren’t able to see much of the narrative while playing the different multiplayer modes during the reveal, so as to how the story will truly be structured we have yet to see. 

All in all, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is shaping up to be one of the most talked about FPS games for this year. With these huge changes coming into play, even though much information is already out there, there’s still much to know and unpack about the game. 

With the massive success of Battle Royale games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, it will be interesting to see how exactly a huge triple-A franchise such as Call of Duty will give their own spin to this sub-genre aside from bringing in fan favorites.  

But it’s not just the Battle Royale inclusion that has everybody buzzing. Taking away the traditional single-player campaign is a risky move seeing as there’s still a good chunk of players who like lengthy single-player experiences despite the game’s replayability resting on its multiplayer modes and gameplay.

And yes, it does look gorgeous and the game is indeed as fluid and as fast-paced as ever, as expected from one of the biggest FPS franchises in the world. But the reveal event definitely has us wanting more. 

Will Call of Duty’s take on Battle Royale be the best one in the scene? Will their razor sharp focus on multiplayer gameplay pay off? How will this change the rest of the Call of Duty franchise? Only time will tell. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, will be released worldwide on October 12, with its PC release set to be released exclusively on Blizzard’s Battle.net service. – Rappler.com

 

(Disclosure: Activision sponsored the trip to the US where the launch was held.)