Prima Game of the Week | Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Why You Should Play

• Hundreds of hours of horde-killing fun across three maps in Zombies.
• Hours of intense, battle royale action the Call of Duty way.
• Smooth gameplay, movement and gunplay across three main modes.
• Tons of customization options for weapons, gear and classes.

Call of Duty continues its reign as one of the biggest first-person shooters of the year and this time around Activision and Treyarch have upped the ante quite a bi in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Gone are the days of single player campaigns, replaced now with more zombies and an all-new battle royale mode that brings the best of the Call of Duty series together in the most intense and action-packed battle royale experience available right now.

Story isn’t gone forever, though, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 still has a ton of hidden details for players to find and unravel. Whether you enjoy spending hours solving Easter eggs in Zombies—which has three maps to start off with this time around—or if you’re a fan of the normal game modes like Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch and Free For All, there’s plenty to do in Black Ops 4 as you head into the holiday season.

Gameplay

Like any Call of Duty game, Black Ops 4 focuses heavily on being a reflex-based first-person shooter, or a twitch shooter as many like to call it. Getting the drop on your enemy is important and having the fastest reflexes will help you go far in your quest to survive the onslaught coming your way. There’s three different ways to play this time around, though, including an all-new game mode that’s sure to help turn the battle royale genre on its heels.

If you enjoy the standard Call of Duty experience, then Black Ops 4 has plenty of multiplayer game modes for you to dive into. Whether you enjoy staples of the series—like Search and Destroy, Kill Confirmed, or Team Deathmatch—or if you’re looking for something new like Heist, there’s plenty of keep you busy in your quest to reach the top of the leaderboards and prove yourself among the Call of Duty community.

Looking for a more intense and action-packed experience? Or just feeling that battle royale itch at the back of your mind? Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduces a brand-new game mode to the mix, bringing the world of Call of Duty crashing into the Battle Royale genre in a unique and fast-paced experience that’s easily one of the most enjoyable—if not frustrating—battle royale experiences we’ve had the chance to dive into. It’s everything you love about the Call of Duty world but packed into a battle royale experience. What’s not to love?

For many, though, multiplayer and battle royale are that big of a draw. Instead, they’re more content to spend their time kiting zombies around and solving obscure Easter eggs in the various zombies maps that release with each new iteration of the series. This time around, though, Treyarch isn’t playing games and they’ve included three new maps with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which should give zombies lovers more than enough fun and action to keep them busy for a while. You can also get your hands on a fourth map, if you’re willing to pick up the Black Ops 4 Season Pass. Love zombies as much as we do? Make sure you check out our guides for helpful info like how to Pack-A-Punch in Blood of the Dead.

Visuals and Performance

There isn’t really much to touch on here. The visuals are on par with any Call of Duty game that’s been released in the past couple of years, and the performance overall is solid without any big hiccups. We’ve spent a large portion of our time with the game playing in on PC and haven’t noticed any big issues while running the game on the highest settings. There’s a ton of settings you can toy around with if your system is older, though, which means getting good performance out of Black Ops 4 shouldn’t be something that is difficult to achieve. If you do find yourself having issues, make sure you check out our guide on how to increase FPS in Blackout, which is the hardest hitting mode when it comes to performance.

The only issue we ever really noticed was in Blackout—the battle royale mode. It can usually take a few moments for the game to completely load in the map (some of the textures are slow to load), which isn’t unexpected considering it is the largest map that has ever been included in a Call of Duty game. The issue resolves itself very quickly, though, making it less of an issue and more of just something to keep in mind when you hop into a Blackout match.

Game of the Week

When it comes to Call of Duty, Black Ops 4 has easily earned itself a place high among the ranks. Not only does the game offer a splendid and enjoyable first-person shooter experience, but fans of the zombies mode have more than enough to keep them busy while they wait for the first piece of DLC to drop. There might not be a story, but the inclusion of Blackout more than makes up for what is missing. If you’re looking for an action-packed FPS experience, then Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the way to go, easily earning itself a place as our Prima Game of the Week.