Here’s Your First Look At Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Chaotic New Vision of Multiplayer
This time around, developer Treyarch is looking to the future while keeping its boots firmly on the ground, so to speak. The primarily multiplayer-focused game, which will not be getting a traditional single-player campaign, has a ton to offer by way of new mechanics and familiar aspects taken from prior games.
The name of the game for Black Ops 4 is near-future modern combat, as it takes place between the events that happened between Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3. So while there will be some types of future tech around, don’t expect the kind of crazy, out-there tech we’ve seen in other Call of Duty games. As an aside, there won’t be wall-running or thrust jumping to have to contend with, which should give the game a more “grounded” feel — literally.
For Black Ops 4, class-based characters known as Specialists will be making their return from Black Ops 3, with their own sets of unique abilities that you can carry into battle with you, including a new field medic named Crash and a trap master named Torque. A selection of returning Specialists will be available as well, should you want to utilize them in combat.
In addition to character-based changes, Treyarch is introducing smaller and more meaningful tweaks to the UI as well as the “guns up” approach, essentially meaning that players will still be able to go in, guns blazing, at any time even while throwing grenades or performing other actions. There’s also the “fog of war” to contend with, which will go a long way toward keeping enemies hidden, until you can reveal them by attacking them or they give themselves away.
Weapons will be getting a much-needed overhaul as well, with altered animations and attachment systems, with unique selections for each gun. There’s also a new attachment called an Operator Mod. If that’s a lot to get used to with all the tweaks and changes made to the core gameplay experience, imagine how different that not healing automatically will feel. You’ll need to instead do it on your own when you feel like you’ve got time to do it, which should add a strategic layer to combat. Will you seek out cover and heal or will you risk falling? That choice is yours.
There’s so much more to discover beyond that, and you’ll be able to do just that when the game launches later this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC this October 12.