Initial Deployment in Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta
I was pretty pumped to get some hands on time with the new Black Ops 4 Battle Royale mode. I played quite a few rounds over the weekend to really get a feel for what was going on. Having played a lot of Fortnite I already knew how things were likely to go down. We would be deployed from the air with some form of parachute, and then glide to a landing spot and start to scavenge for weapons.
Battle Royale game-play is generally fast paced. Your 1 life may be over before it starts and you might find yourself in an endless loop of load screens if you don’t catch on quick. Battle Royale’s are a dog eat dog world of fast paced shooter action.
Don’t let all that scare you off though, Battle Royale’s are the hottest up and coming game mode these days. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE is playing them… except the people who aren’t.
The beta weekend had anywhere from 80 to 100 players being thrown onto an open map. Players could que up solo or with friends, but I tended to play solo most of the time. I was pleasantly surprised by the ability to fly a helicopter, drive a truck and even swim. Did I mention that they have weapon attachments just laying around? You can find and equip different scopes and barrels for your various guns.
Driving a giant truck and attempting to run people over was probably the highlight of my game time. It could’ve been the poor aim of my competitors, or my savvy driving skills that made it hard for them to shoot me while I rampaged across the terrain. Either way, I had a pretty good time with the vehicles in this game.
(For those wondering, the vehicle choices and handling are not quite up to battlefield standards.)
Black Ops 4 Beta was extremely well received.
I have yet to hear anything bad about this game. Every review I read is positive, and every person that I talk to has had good experiences. I’m predicting that this new Black Ops is going to to well. The game plays well and it feels well made. I didn’t run into any issues in the time I played. I was playing on Ultra or Max settings on my home PC.
One question that I have is how this game will be doing a year from now. Other games, like Fortnite and PUBG, do not have sequels. They just come out and continue to get new content, but Call of Duty games come out annually. So will there be a new $60 Call of Duty Battle Royale game to buy every year, or will they go back to a traditional style of play and just keep this one as their online battle royale. This is a pretty big question, and one that the devs may not have even solved yet.
Another interesting tid-bit, which might warrant it’s own article and discussion, is how influential Twitch Streaming is on the gaming industry. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was at the top of the charts all weekend long.
I suppose time will reveal how Black Ops 4 will do. I am betting that it will be a successful new addition to the battle royale gaming community.
