Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: Everything you need to know

Every year brings us a new Call of Duty, and this year's edition returns to the first-person shooter's strongest recent sub-series with Black Ops 4. This October, Activision and Treyarch will release Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the latest entry in the long-running sub-series of shooters which began as World War II and Vietnam period pieces before branching off into near-future sci-fi. For Black Ops 4, the companies build on the success of previous games, but with a few new tricks to make it feel like a true sequel. From the multiplayer to the (lack of) campaign, here’s everything you need to know about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on October 12.

BLACK OPS GETS BATTLE ROYALE

It was heavily rumoured over the last few weeks, and now it's official: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will follow that Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) money and add a battle royale mode.

Blackout mode, as it's called here, takes place on a map 1,500 times larger than any previous Call of Duty multiplayer locale, delivering a free-for-all battle to be the last player standing. You'll fight across land, sea, and air, and the game will pack in memorable characters from across the entire Black Ops franchise. The terrain will also incorporate familiar areas from past multiplayer maps, which is a really neat twist.

Treyarch didn't show any actual footage of the mode; we have to imagine this mode is still fairly early in development and it's a big new challenge for them to tackle. It certainly sounds compelling, but we're also sure to see a lot more battle royale-like modes and games before the year's up.

Classic maps and multiplayer modes return

Among the multiplayer maps available in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 are five classics from throughout the series’ history. These include Jungle, Summit, and Firing Range from the first Black Ops, Slums from Black Ops 2, and Nuketown, which was introduced in the first game and has subsequently appeared in all sequels. The first four maps will be included in the game at launch, while Nuketown fill follows a short time after.

Brand new maps coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 include Frequency, a fast map taking place at a listening station, the tropical Contraband, the Spanish Seaside, and Payload, which is located at a missile defense station.

Multiplayer modes include returning favorites like Hardpoint and Domination, as well as the objective-based Control, which tasks teams with either attacking or defending two points in a similar manner to Overwatch.

The Pick 10 system used in other Black Ops titles and Advanced Warfare makes its return to Black Ops 4, giving you total control over how you customize your character to fit your particular playstyle. In addition to changing weapon attachments, grenades, and equipment, and perks, a gear option is also available – this gives you passive boosts to things like total health or your hearing, rather than another ability to pull out in a tough spot.

Read More : Complete Blackout map guide : The best drop locations in Black Ops 4 battle royale

YES, THE CAMPAIGN IS MISSING IN ACTION

For the first time ever in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 doesn’t include a traditional single-player campaign. In place of this, the universe – set between Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3 – will be introduced through small solo missions that also give you a chance to try out the specialists you’ll be using in competitive multiplayer. You’ll learn about their backstory in these missions, but it’s not meant as a replacement for the campaign.

In an interview with Game Informer, Treyarch’s design director David Vonderhaar and co-studio head Dan Bunting explain that their choice to not include a campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is because it was always meant to be a multiplayer game. Their focus in development was on replayability so they created modes that players can revisit for years to come as opposed to a campaign that is more of a linear, narrative-heavy experience that wouldn’t have much longevity.

Signature weapons

Read More : "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" adds Signature Weapons for dedicated players

To keep player’s interests piqued and give those who already play every day an opportunity to progress further, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has introduced new guns called Signature Weapons. These cosmetic deviations have the same stats and work just the same as the standard versions of the guns. The difference is that they sport stunning designs that can be enhanced more through completing a series of specific challenges. After finishing all the challenges, you’ll earn the Masterwork weapon, a sign of prestige and the object of other players’ envy.

THE SPECIALISTS

At launch, there will be 10 different specialists to choose from in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s competitive multiplayer mode, each bringing unique abilities and tricks to help accomplish your objective or take out a particularly difficult enemy.

• Ajax – A Breacher with a ballistic shield and tactical 9-Bang grenade.
• Battery – A Demolition expert with war machine grenade launcher and cluster grenade.
• Crash – A Healer with a TAK-5 medical kit and assault ammunition pack.
• Firebreak – An Area denial with flamethrower and reactor core.
• Nomad – A Nature-lover with a dog and tripwire-equipped explosives.
• Prophet – A Hunter with a tactical rifle and player-seeking shock mine.
• Recon — An Intel operator with vision pulse and sensor darts.
• Ruin – A Rusher with a “grav slam” attack and grapple gun.
• Seraph – A Tactician with a high-caliber revolver and deployable beacon.
• Torque – A Defender with barricade and razor wire.

COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER

Once again the star of the show, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s competitive multiplayer mode gives you plenty of options for battling it out against other players, and it mixes in classic series elements as well as a few changes that will completely alter how you approach combat.

HOW TO GET INTO THE BLACKOUT BETA

In order to gain access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout beta on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you have to pre-order the full version of the game. Participating retailers should have given you a code that can be used to enter the beta, while PC players do not have to pre-order it to gain access.

The Blackout beta first opened up as a PS4 exclusive on September 10 and will also be available to Xbox and PC on September 14. The beta will conclude on September 17.

ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 leans more heavily into its Zombies mode than any other game in the series, with three separate Zombies campaigns available at launch.

Blood of the Dead is a new-school take on Mob of the Dead from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and takes place in Alcatraz prison. Portals are opening due to the influence of Richtofen and his other, while undead swarms the island penitentiary and threaten to destroy our heroes before they have a chance to discover the secrets hidden in its laboratory.

Voyage of Despair is set on the doomed Titanic ship in 1912 and finds our heroes dealing with a supernatural threat far worse than any iceberg as they search for a mysterious artifact.


Perhaps the most bizarre of the three launch-day Zombies campaigns is IX, which takes place in Ancient Rome. It has an Army of Darkness vibe to it and, because of its time period, it won’t include any guns. That’s right — there’s a Call of Duty game mode that’ll see you using swords and bows. It’s a crazy world we live in.

As with past Zombies modes, you’ll be able to play Black Ops 4’s cooperatively online and in local split-screen. Weapons like the Hammer of Valhalla and the Scepter of Ra should give you enough killing power to take on nearly any undead threat, though you’ll probably still die quite a bit.

You’ll have more options for customizing your Zombies experience this time around, as well. The perks you find in the maps’ Alters will be chosen by you in advance, and you can give your Mystery Box prize to a teammate instead of using it for your own character.

PC REQUIREMENTS

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be available on PC exclusively through Battle.net, and Treyarch and Activision have revealed the PC specifications you’ll need in order to run it. They include:

• CPU: Minimum Intel Core i5 2500k, Recommended Intel Core i7 4770k
• GPU: Minimum Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB, Recommended Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
• RAM: Minimum 8GB, Recommended 12GB
• Disc space: 40GB.
• OS: Minimum Windows 7 86-Bit, Recommended Windows 10 65-Bit

RELEASE DATE, SPECIAL EDITIONS, AND PLATFORMS

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out on October 12 for Xbox one, PlayStation 4, and PC. Several different versions of the game will be released, including the Digital Deluxe Edition, featuring bonus items, currency, new Zombies experiences, multiplayer maps, and exclusive Blackout characters. The Pro Edition, meanwhile, features its own bonus items and currency, as well as maps, Zombies modes, and Blackout characters.

The heavy-hitter is the Mystery Box Edition, which includes the titular box as well as lithographs, patches, a comic, FigPins, a Zombies puzzle, a PopSocket, a steelbook, and the maps, modes, and characters offered in the Digital Deluxe and Pro editions.

IT'S ON BATTLE.NET ON PC

We already knew that Black Ops 4 would launch on 12 October, but here's something new: the PC version will arrive on Activision's own Battle.net digital platform instead of Steam.

Treyarch plans a bunch of PC-specific tweaks, including 4K and HDR support, an uncapped framerate, support for ultra-wide screens, and extensive customisation features. None of that would seem to require using Battle.net, but hey, that's what Activision is doing.

Of course, it's also coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and will be available through the usual retail and digital channels for those consoles. Expect a private beta test sometime before October, which you can gain access to by pre-ordering on your platform of choice.