Activision’s reveal for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 last week has a lot of people excited for a good reason: The game has a lot to offer for all types of players. Ever since the release, Activision has been pouring out a lot of information regarding the game, especially the new Zombie mode which will have its own story.
The latest installment in the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise is a possible game changer because Activision is yet again readjusting its formula and going in a new direction. One of the main things people are excited about for Black Ops 4 is the new Battle Royale mode ‘Blackout’ coming to the game. Blackout will combine the fast-paced combat mechanics of Call of Duty with Battle Royale, giving a totally unique Battle Royale experience to players which will be “truly Black Ops” according to the creators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooyjaVdt-jA
However, Battle Royale is not the only major change coming to Call of Duty. In a decision that upset many fans, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will not have a single player campaign. Some of the most famous Call of Duty games in the past got their fame through the amazing story their single player campaigns told. However, times have changed since then and the number of people willing to play online multiplayer has exponentially increased. Therefore, putting all resources into multiplayer is understandable.
Does this mean players who enjoyed the story aspect of the game should not buy it? Absolutely not. Activision has also totally revamped its highly popular Zombie mode in Black Ops 4 and instead of just fighting off waves of zombies, there’s a story this time which leads players to different adventures. So, even though there won’t be any single-player campaign this time, Black Ops still has some sort of story to play.
Similar to its predecessor, Black Ops 4 will have four characters that travel across time to fight an evil cult, where of course, they will fight off waves of zombies. The zombie mode this time around is divided into three unique maps, each with its own story. The three maps are The Nine, Voyage of Despair, and Blood of the Dead.
Voyage of Despair is set on the Titanic, the trailer for which shows the four heroes on a mission when suddenly things go wrong and they have to fight off a horde of zombies. It seems like all three locations will be similar in nature, but with their own mini-stories. The Nine is a particularly interesting place because it is set in a Roman battle arena. Players must face zombies here using swords, axes, and spears, which is a lot different than what fans are used to with zombies. Lastly, there’s Blood of the Dead, which contains several references to old maps from previous Black Ops games, die-hard fans will be able to pick those up pretty fast.
Since there are four characters, you can either play locally with four of your buddies or online as well. However, if you don’t have either, you can play with bots instead and you can also use any of the 100+ mutations in the game to bring changes to player skills or zombies. You can also create custom competitions for other players to try. If you don’t want to play zombie mode this way and prefer the traditional style, then that’s also available. According to Activision, “Zombie Rush” is the mode for those looking to play traditional zombies as this will be a “simplified” version of it.
Of course, there will be players who will not prefer online multiplayer, or Blackout (even if it may be a minority), which is why the single-player campaign was so important for Call of Duty. The Zombie mode is one thing that keeps the non-multiplayer players from leaving the game but even that becomes stale after a while. Unless a person bought DLCs, the Zombie mode for Black Ops 3 became quickly boring unless one played locally with friends. It had lost its charm online as there were a lot more games coming out that caught people’s attention.
Therefore, in order to prevent the Zombie mode for Black Ops 4 from becoming stale, the mode will also have a somewhat seasons type of system which will feature different events per season. Zombies will feature seasonal events known as Callings. It will also have daily, monthly and yearly events so if you’re a fan of Zombies and aren’t interested in the multiplayer that much, this is good news.
Furthermore, Activision promised that it’ll churn out frequent updates in order to keep the game fresh and exciting for players. Whether or not this promise is restricted to only the Blackout mode remains to be seen, but it’s safe to assume given that we will have Callings that they’ll do something for Zombies too.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has left many people excited, and there are only a few months left until the release. This time around, the game is releasing a month before Call of Duty games usually come out i.e. November. Instead, Black Ops 4 will be available on Xbox One, Ps4, and PC (via Blizzard’s Battle.net service) on October 12th this year. You’ll also be able to get an early crack at the game as Activision has announced a beta for the game as well. However, the dates for the beta are undecided for now, it’s likely that the beta will come out just a month or two before release. Exact details should get announced soon, possibly at E3.