In just over two weeks, Call of Duty – Black Ops 4 will be released. I have seen many different views on this game, and I would say for the most part that most people are excited for this game. I, however, am not one of them. I was able to participate in both the multiplayer and Blackout beta on PC. This game may be completely different on consoles, but I have heard that people tend to prefer the PC version of the game. The main reason I am not excited for this Call of Duty, is that I don’t get the feeling that this is a Call of Duty game. I know that sounds weird but it feels like Treyarch saw what other companies were doing successfully and wanted to incorporate that into their game. On the multiplayer side, it seems like they took Black Ops 3, Rainbow Six, and Battlefield and just turned them all into one game. You have deployable gadgets like Rainbow Six, a slower time to kill like Battlefield, and then some of the same characters have been recycled from Black Ops 3. It seems like all of this effort was to make it into a more competitive FPS, but that is not why I play Call of Duty. The deployable gadgets are kind of cool to use but are pointless in certain game modes like Team Deathmatch. The longer time to kill is terrible as I no longer want to just play solo. You can no longer win 1 vs 2 fights as you take so long just to kill one guy. Call of Duty has always just been that game where you just go around shooting the other team with not much thought or strategy, and incorporating this time to kill takes that away. I think the only reason this game will sell plenty of copies and make millions of dollars, is because of Blackout. Zombies has always helped Treyarch games as there are plenty of zombies fans out there, but Blackout will be the key selling point. Did I enjoy Blackout? Yes, I thought it was fun and I could see myself putting in around 100 hours of gameplay. I say 100 hours as I only put 110 hours into PUBG and I enjoyed that much more than Blackout. Blackout is in this weird little niche. I don’t think Blackout will ever surpass Fortnite or PUBG. Fortnite is free, kid-friendly, and the least demanding out of the three titles. PUBG is the definition of a battle royale and is the most tactile and intense out of the three. Blackout is the most expensive out of the three. The one positive thing that Blackout has going for it that neither of the other two do have, is the neat little gadgets you get to use. Getting to use motion sensors and little RC cars is new to a battle royale. Getting to use helicopters is also new, but the map is too small so I didn’t need a vehicle for most of the time. You also have to land where pretty much everyone else does, otherwise you won’t get enough gear that is decent enough to win you a gun fight. I think after a month or two, everyone will go back to PUBG or Fortnite. Even though I think Blackout is more enjoyable than Fortnite, people will return to it as that is just the popular thing to be playing right now. I think people will go back to PUBG as it is more tactile and realistic when compared to Blackout.
Tech and Games 