--The Oracle, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Black Ops 4 showcases some genuine improvements over its predecessor, Black Ops III, although it also takes a step backwards due to the absence of a traditional campaign mode. The exclusion of the campaign is a disappointing move, but Zombies is often a far deeper, more addicting experience than the campaigns as it is, and the same can be said of the multiplayer. The good news is that people who enjoy Zombies will have many reasons to relish the way that Treyarch has evolved how zombie-fighting is experienced (many of the miscellaneous screenshots featured in this review are from Zombies because it is safer to take pictures in that mode). Likewise, the multiplayer is exactly what many players expect and want from a Call of Duty game, providing its own evolutions.
Production Values
The graphics are spectacular, as one might expect from a Call of Duty title in the current console generation. I never experienced drops in the frame rate when playing Zombies, even when a legion of enemies descended upon me. Though the cheesy one-liners and comments that characters make in Zombies might get annoying after a while, the lines are delivered well. Thankfully, the quality of the audio isn't as sigh-inducing as the lines themselves! The production values are among the best ever seen on present consoles.
Gameplay
--Zombies
The developers imbued new levels of depth into Zombies. Now, one can customize the difficulty of a zombies match, as well as choose to play with AI bots as companions. They can make solo zombies games much easier! In fact, they can make it too easy; their overpowered weapons and amplified health bars render them able to carry players past wave 20 without a great degree of difficulty. There are even different modes within the same Zombies maps. For instance, now one can play in "Rush" mode, where all perks, weapons, and ammunition refills are free, but doors can only be unlocked by killing a certain number of zombies. You will have to rush (hence the title) to various positions in the maps and defend those locations, earning points in the form of yellow tokens that increase a score multiplier.
Enemy variety has also been greatly expanded. Whereas before zombies mostly possessed the same height and strength, now one must guard against much larger gladiator zombies in IX and zombies with elemental powers like fire or electricity. The larger number of basic enemy types is accompanied by the largest number of Zombies maps available at launch in any Call of Duty game: there are three maps that are accessible from the start, with a fourth granted to those who buy the DLC. One of them, a reimagining of the Black Ops II map Mob of the Dead (now called Blood of the Dead), follows the four characters from the earlier Zombies maps, while the other two, Voyage of Despair and IX, follow an entirely new cast.
For the first time, players can even edit factors like health regeneration speed, how many hits characters can take before entering last stand mode, what wave number a match begins at, which types of zombies can appear, whether or not killing zombies restores an amount of health. The drawback is an ability to earn XP from custom matches. In my case, this served as a strong deterrent to devising my own versions of Zombies. Some players might still derive a lot of fun from editing matches in order to make them particularly easy or brutal.
In addition, there are many new changes to the overall structure of Zombies. Gobblegums have been replaced by elixirs, which recharge after use, meaning you don't have to run to a machine and obtain new ones repeatedly. You also have four per match; the exact four can be customized before you launch a game. The perks in the maps for the Chaos story (which has the new characters is thus distinct from the Aether storyline with the old characters) are now tied to statues of specific deities instead of vending machines. A pre-match option allows players to choose which perks will be offered at which altar or, in the case of Blood of the Dead, which vending machine.
--Multiplayer
Also for the first time, the multiplayer in a Call of Duty game does not feature health regeneration. Instead of having their health restored after a period of waiting, players must heal themselves using an injection that can only be used at certain time intervals. The action is just as intense as ever, so franchise veterans can feel right at home in the chaotic, layered multiplayer environment of Black Ops 4. As usual, you level up weapons and ranks by making kills, unlocking new items that facilitate battlefield dominance.
--Blackout
For those who enjoy battle royale shooters, Black Ops 4's Blackout mode offers a series first that may prove fun. I did not spend much time with this mode--it can be very annoying to spend time collecting weapons only to be shot from across the map, since there is only one life per match.
Story
The closest thing the game has to a main story is the duo of narratives in Zombies. The Aether storyline introduces new elements into the classic Zombies chronology, but the maps in the Chaos storyline feature new characters who find themselves confronting an Illuminati-like conspiracy group. Amusingly, the golden masks of the group's members (one is featured in the above screenshot) in IX are quite comparable to the golden masks of the Sons of the Harpy from Game of Thrones!
Intellectual Content
Discovering/utilizing the Easter eggs in Zombies can require some serious planning, but the lack of a campaign means that Black Ops 4 simply cannot be marked by any specific conceptual themes in the way that Black Ops III is.
Conclusion
The fact that Black Ops 4 does not have a campaign certainly diminishes its appeal for many players, but lovers of Zombies and the frenetic multiplayer Call of Duty is known for will find that those respective modes are at their peak here. Ultimately, those are the players Black Ops 4 was designed for. What content is left is deep and inviting--it would be easy to spend dozens of hours slaying zombies and unlocking rewards in traditional multiplayer. While I want to see the campaign return in the next installment of the series, I can unhesitatingly recommend Black Ops 4 to people who appreciate the other signature aspects of the Call of Duty franchise.
Content
1. Violence: Zombies involves a lot of blood, with some enemies (like the tigers in IX) vanishing in explosions of blood upon being defeated. Players can shoot off the arms of zombies and blow off their heads.
2. Profanity: Scarlet, whether one plays as her or has her as a bot/companion, frequently uses variations of the word "fuck." Other characters from the Chaos Zombies maps use profanity, but to lesser extents.
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