“Black Ops 4”, the newest addition to the “Call of Duty” family, is the fresh take on an old game series that Activision desperately needed. This review is only going to focus on the online multiplayer of “Black Ops 4,” as I haven’t touched the Zombies game mode yet. “Black Ops 4” was released this October and it is the return to 2010 that I didn’t know I wanted. But that doesn’t mean that this is the same old dog doing the same old tricks.
“Black Ops 4” has changed with the times, and it’s done it in such a way that doesn’t feel like it’s ripping off the main features of an actual innovative game. Instead, “Black Ops 4” feels like a fresh and unique game that is also a natural extension of the Call of Duty franchise. It has kept the old “Call of Duty” goodness and adapted itself to the modern era with the specialist system and non regenerating health, these additions make it the best “Call of Duty” game since “Black Ops 1”.
Doing away with the generic “Titanfall” vibes of the previous game, “Black Ops 4” only keeps the good additions of the previous game which was the specialist system and does it’s best to not only emulate the hero system of games like “Overwatch” and “Rainbow Six Siege” but to build off the hero system of the previous game. It accomplishes this by having unique characters you can be and only allowing one player at a time be a certain character. This system is a good adaptation of other games systems and “Black Ops 4” does the rarest thing a “Call of Duty” game can do: take an already existing system used in other games and expand on it. Unlike in “Overwatch,” you can choose your two abilities when you create your class.
One other change that I really like in the newest “Call of Duty” is that health no longer regenerates automatically. As a veteran of the franchise, I have long wished for this change and I have finally got my wish, and it’s awesome. No longer can you hide from the fight as you regenerate health, now you have to either sacrifice one of your abilities slots to get health regeneration (which is a painful loss), or you have to play a more careful deliberate game. Another change that I’ve really enjoyed was the amped up damage that guns and abilities now do. I was worried that the amplified damage would negate the health regeneration changes and make “Call of Duty” the arcadey kill fest that previous editions have been in the past. I was wrong; instead of making the pace quicker, I found I was playing in a more careful style of play than I have ever played in a “Call of Duty” game. All in all I really enjoy the additions that “Black Ops 4” has added to the “Call of Duty” formula. “Black Ops 4” is finally the “Call of Duty” game that has taken me back to the halcyon days that I spent in my room blasting “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha, chugging Mountain Dew and destroying noobs in “Black Ops 1.”