OK so you might be wondering why I have given the game a 7 if I believe it to be a flop well that is a good question. All of which will hopefully be answered within this review. So without further ado let's get into it.
What A Great Campaign...
Ok so the one thing this game lacks that a lot of people have taken to heart is a campaign mode. Personally I never really got into the campaign and to be perfectly honest I haven't really touched what this game has replaced a campaign with. Specialist HQ, this mode allows you to play against bots in a particular setting to unlock back stories to this games specialists. It isn't too bad but I can't get into it.
So if you were thinking of playing Black Ops 4 with the intention of going through a solid 6 hour campaign you will be severely disappointed. So what other modes does this game have that make it enticing?
Something That Resembles Multiplayer
This is where the game stings a little, for me anyway. This game like all other Call of Duty games requires an internet connection to play the game the way it was intended and with the lack of a campaign unfortunately that makes this game 100% online.... Unless you are into the whole offline LAN game play. The game comes with an array of different modes, see what I did there? Yeah that was pretty bad... Anyway these modes consist of your stereotypical Call of Duty game. TDM, FFA, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy etc etc. However this game does have a bunch of new modes that focus more on team work and I have to be honest I absolutely despise them because this so called Team work the game speaks of comes in the form of specialists. So let me get them out of the way right now.
Specialists in this game are all overpowered in their own way and some of them just have exceptionally stupid mechanics that guarantee at least 1 kill(I am looking at you K-9 Unit, Also you as well Tempest). So anyone going for nukes be forewarned. A lot of these overpowered mechanics have and will be further addressed I am sure but at the moment the game feels more like the true beta in terms of multiplayer.
So what is actually good about this game? Well I am glad I asked because for me personally there is one mode that although isn't perfect, has a lot of replayability and a lot of entertainment to be had.
1 v 88 or 100 or Something like that, I think I blacked out.
Yes this game has a Battle Royale mode named Blackout. This mode pits you against either 88 players or 100, at least in this build anyway. The game mode has 3 options: Solos, Duos or Quads. In the current build of the game Solos has a 100 player count while Duos and Quads have an 88 player count. This is constantly being tweaked with one of the options having 100 players and the other 2 having 88. So what exactly is Blackout? Well for those of you who like myself, have no interest in Fortnite. Blackout is a Battle Royale. Players are thrown into a Helicopter and can sky dive to a location on what Treyarch and Activision are priding themselves on as the largest Call Of Duty map ever made and it is. Your object is to to be the last person/team standing and you must do whatever it takes to achieve this.
I do have issues with this mode though. As with all Battle Royale games that I am aware of, players drop completely unarmed and have to search for "loot" that is spread out all over the place in this massive map to get themselves decked out in powerful gear to help them fight their way to number one by eliminating all enemy players. This is where I get quite a bit annoyed with this mode. Due to the fact that anywhere between 88 and 100 players are joining, the servers take a relatively big hit. This causes for some gun fights to appear very one sided and can lead to some frustrating as well as inconsistent kills. In my personal experience I have had moments where I kill people in a few bullets then I have other times where I almost empty and entire clip and I end up dying instead. Of course Armor plays a part in this but in saying that I have had times where I could absorb a fair few bullets with level 2 armor and then I have had times where I die in 4 bullets with level 2 armor.
This will be tweaked throughout the life cycle of Black Ops 4 but I cannot be optimistic at this point as it is too inconsistent to really be confident enough to push forward in encounters. I love being in the action.
Next I want to touch on the looting in this game. The game offers an easy and effective way to pick up items that lay on the ground however this is all random loot and as much as I love being in gun fights I really hate the idea of having loot based on luck. I do understand why this is the case as people would just land at a spot that has overpowered gear. But I hate luck as I never have any.
What Do I Do To Get Anything
This section is going to be short and it is really only to talk about how hard it is to unlock skins and characters within Blackout and how slow and time consuming earning customizable items are. This game uses a 'Tier Progression" system where you are guaranteed loot. This is time based and equates to a hell of a lot of time to unlock everything. Thankfully and I do hope I come off as sarcastic, Activision have a premium Call of Duty currency to help speed things along. Not a fan but I understand the profit to be made. Just wish it wasn't as compulsory to buy COD points.
In Blackout they have characters you can unlock that require in game missions and unfortunately the game doesn't tell you how to unlock these characters until you pick up an item in game or randomly complete a task you weren't aware of. Also not a fan as some of these missions are exceptionally situational and I really don't see myself trying to unlock these characters.
Final Thoughts
Although exceptionally repetitive in nature Call of Duty Black Ops 4 will keep you entertained when you have nothing else to do. The inconsistency in gun fights leads for a lot of frustration but when it behaves the game can be kind of fun. The lack of a single player campaign may turn a few people off the game but it wasn't a big deal for me. Multiplayer is a miss for me and I really do not enjoy it at all in this current build of the game. Blackout is refreshing and helps you escape from the intensity that multiplayer forces upon you. Though Blackout is inconsistent it can also be very fun to play depending on if you are alone or with friends.
If you have been weighing up on whether you should buy this game I would personally tell you to hold off until it is on sale but in saying that when does Call of Duty really ever go on sale.
7/10
Usually I write pros and cons but in this case I don't believe there are too many pros and the cons outweigh the pros for me.