Home Gaming Here’s what critics think of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 so far

Here’s what critics think of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 so far

4 min read
26

blops41

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out today, and Activision and Treyarch did something courageous. Like Apple removing the headphone jack from its phones, Treyarch removed the single player campaign to focus on what they did best: deliver white-knuckled, heart-thumping multiplayer. They’ve also doubled down on Zombies, and gone all in on Battle Royale, possibly giving players the best Battle Royale of the generation – or at the very least, the best militaristic Battle Royale. Sorry PUBG! Somehow, they’ve even managed to include split-screen on consoles in the Battle Royale mode.

Anyway, the game is out today, and it seems the gambit has worked. According to the reviews that are out, Black Ops 4 has indeed delivered the best multiplayer experience in the series to date. You can expect our review next week as we take the time to get to grips with everything, but here’s what reviews are saying right now:

Game Informer: 9.5/10

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 makes a sacrifice that’s sure to be off-putting to some with the lack of a campaign, but the surrender of tradition comes with sweeping and significant benefits. Blackout is the best battle-royale experience available today, zombies offers crazy customizable co-op, and multiplayer keeps things grounded for those looking for the classic core.

Attack of the Fanboy – 4.5/5

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Call of Duty feels better off this year without the single player campaign when you look at its replacement.  That replacement is more maps and modes in competitive multiplayer and zombies, as well as something that you could sink a ton of hours into when it comes to Blackout if Battle Royale is your thing.  It’s a bold move to remove something that’s been so fondly remembered and even more so when you consider that Treyarch was taking the most risks with Call of Duty campaigns, but the result is the ultimate Call of Duty multiplayer experience.

AusGamers –  9/10

Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-4_multiplayer_Firebreak_01-WM

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a pleasant surprise. While it’s lacking in any major offering for those wanting a campaign to play through, everything else is refined and iterated on in meaningful ways. Blackout is a blast, traditional multiplayer is as good as it’s been in years, and Zombies is insanity in all the right ways. Minor concerns aside, this is the best Call of Duty package I’ve played in a long, long time, and think the trade off of a campaign for Blackout — something I was more than surprised by — has been well worth it.

COGConnected – 87/100

Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-4_zombies_IX-Zombie_01-WM

One thing is for certain, Black Ops 4 is easily the best multiplayer experience we have seen from the franchise to date. With a robust line-up of multiplayer maps, 3 graphically stunning zombie experiences and featuring the best battle royale shooter on the planet, Call of Duty fans should be thrilled with what Black Ops 4 is offering. Sure, the lack of a single player mode is a bit of downer and I do feel like Activision is positioning itself to monetize the crap out of Blackout. Yet at the end of the day, Black Ops 4 is the most definitive and complete Call of Duty multiplayer experience and is primed to take a big chunk out of PUBG and Fortnite’s market share.

Gamespot – Unscored, review-in-progress

Sure, there isn’t a traditional single-player campaign, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 isn’t short on content, and its three main modes are substantial. With standard multiplayer and Zombies, it struggles to fully commit to moving forward, and the mix of old content and new ideas doesn’t always gel. From what I’ve played so far, Blackout more successfully incorporates elements of Black Ops’ past while forming its own take on trends of the present. But because each mode is deep in its own right, I’ll be spending more time with Black Ops 4 post-launch before posting my final review.

Twinfinite – 4/5

All in all, Black Ops 4 is a really solid and polished package of multiplayer goodness. As I made my way through the multiplayer ranks, I found myself thinking about the missing single-player campaign less. The number of modes and maps on offer here is staggering, and the core gameplay itself is satisfying and well-rounded for players of all play styles. Blackout is easily the biggest highlight here, and if Treyarch had to cut the single-player story in order to make this happen, I’d say it was a worthy trade.

And that’s the way we’ll be handing our own review. It may have skipped the campaign, but the three multiplayer pillars are effectively each games in their own right

 

Last Updated: October 25, 2018

26 Comments

  1. G8crasha

    October 12, 2018 at 08:04

    Still not buying it! I expect the player-base might still be a whole bunch of whining kids with mouths that need to be stuffed with soap! While the game might be an improvement over previous games (kudos to the developers), the community is still the same venomous pit (I’ve heard the conversations in some of the beta gameplay videos on Youtube)! It’s sad, because the developers seem to have done a stellar job when you look at the scores above!

    Reply

  2. G8crasha

    October 12, 2018 at 08:04

    Still not buying it! I expect the player-base might still be a whole bunch of whining kids with mouths that need to be stuffed with soap! While the game might be an improvement over previous games (kudos to the developers), the community is still the same venomous pit (I’ve heard the conversations in some of the beta gameplay videos on Youtube)! It’s sad, because the developers seem to have done a stellar job when you look at the scores above!

    Reply

    • Viper_ZA

      October 12, 2018 at 08:09

      Get it on PC, then we can jam 😛 Haven’t played CoD in yooooonks, but the Blackout Beta was a fun break from PUBG. I am sure we can mute those kiddies 😀

      Reply

    • Magoo

      October 12, 2018 at 08:19

      Ironic comment is ironic. >.>

      Reply

  3. Magoo

    October 12, 2018 at 08:18

    Don’t suppose anyone wants a bundle of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Strange Brigade and Star Control: Origins in exchange for BO4 on PC? I got the bundle with my GPU. xD

    Reply

  4. Lord Chaos

    October 12, 2018 at 08:19

    Looks like piss, smells like piss…. Is this piss?

    Reply

    • Craig "CrAiGiSh" Dodd

      October 12, 2018 at 08:23

      Taste?

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        October 12, 2018 at 08:25

        Hands it to Craig to taste
        Not putting my lips near that

        Reply

        • Craig "CrAiGiSh" Dodd

          October 12, 2018 at 08:29

          *Apple Juice* – confirmed.

          XD

          Reply

          • Lord Chaos

            October 12, 2018 at 08:42

            Must be some fermented AF apples

          • #1 Sword Art Online Fan

            October 15, 2018 at 00:09

            That’s the taste of diabetes.

  5. For the Emperor!

    October 12, 2018 at 08:24

    “there isn’t a traditional single-player campaign” – so not for me. Glad for those peeps in their target audience though!

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      October 12, 2018 at 09:25

      There’s still SP stuff though. specialist missions, and the Zombies campaigns can be played alone. Blackout even has split screen!

      Reply

  6. Admiral Chief

    October 12, 2018 at 09:52

    I notice you guys hardly ever post Lazygamer reviews?

    Whatever happened to that Lazzy bunch of misfits?

    😛

    Reply

  7. NickTheEagle

    October 12, 2018 at 11:14

    Is there local servers for blackout on pc?

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      October 12, 2018 at 13:01

      Not sure I know they are local for consoles so it SHOULD be for PC as well

      Reply

      • NickTheEagle

        October 12, 2018 at 14:32

        I need someone to confrim this because im not spending 900 bucks to play on an EU server again, ill just stick to Pubg then :(. I dont understand how there would be servers in the first place since battlenet pretty much focuses only on EU/USA/ASIA..

        Reply

        • Dresden

          October 15, 2018 at 07:22

          There was for the beta on pc. Never bought the game afterwards, so I can’t confirm.

          Reply

        • Geoffrey Tim

          October 15, 2018 at 07:46

          Reports are that yes, there are local servers on Pc – but it seems they’re nowhere near as populated as the Ps4 ones. It makes it so there can be significant wait times for matches.

          Reply

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