Hello Call of Duty fans! This year we're trying something new: because Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's modes are so different, we're reviewing them separately, followed by our overall review and score. You can read more about the review plan here. This part covers the entirety of Black Ops 4 – be sure to check out the individual reviews next.

“ Blackout is nothing short of the most enjoyable battle royale I’ve played to date.

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“ The result of Blackout's cornucopia of loot is a map littered with appealing variables that each offer unique gameplay opportunities.

Spray and Pray

Every IGN Call of Duty Review 44 IMAGES

“ Time to kill on PC varies from instantaneous to the outer limits of reasonable based on a number of different factors, but for the most part feels functional.

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The monumental highs of victory and crushing lows of narrowly losing in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout are experiences I've had in other battle royale games before, but the road to these memorable moments highlight a significant leap in gameplay fidelity and polish for the genre. Call of Duty’s responsive and forgiving gunplay, nimble movement, and creative but practical equipment fit beautifully into the trendy last man standing format. It’s not just a one-way street though, as the dynamic battle royale setting provides some much-needed variance and consequence to Call of Duty’s at times superficial combat loop. I did experience and see others have some technical issues that warrant concern, but when it’s running smoothly, Blackout is nothing short of the most enjoyable battle royale I’ve played to date.The only place where I feel depth is sacrificed in order to facilitate accessibility is the woefully under-featured inventory. Only one weapon is displayed at a time and you shockingly can’t drag or reorder items at all on PC. I’d like to be able to reposition equipment for easy access, as well as smoothly drag attachments from one weapon to another instead of awkwardly dumping them all on the ground. You also can’t open your inventory and then pick up items based on their proximity, which makes looting an enemy’s corpse and moving at the same time a bit clunky. There are a few nice touches, though, like the ability to pick up ammo without filling up valuable inventory space, but PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still miles ahead in this department.Blackout does, however, absolutely nail the concept of interesting loot. Its arsenal is rich and varied and leaves plenty of room to develop a taste for unlikely personal favorites on your way to acquiring objectively powerful weapons like the Paladin. In addition to the appearance of every primary and secondary weapon found in multiplayer (with the exception of the combat knife), there are weapons from Zombies like the Ray Gun, MP40, and the GRAV. Gold-tinted guns like the “Titan Operator” are scattered across the map and come equipped with a full set of attachments. Then there are perks, which offer fun and useful temporarily buffs like the ability to move silently or hear the sound of far-off enemy footsteps. But the star of the show in Blackout as far as loot is concerned is equipment.Not only is each piece of equipment fun and practical but together they keep encounters with other players feeling fresh. The grapple gun, for instance, can be used to instantly gain a vertical advantage, escape from an otherwise hopeless situation, or even close the distance to pull off an unlikely revive. Landing a well-placed sensor dart in the final circle felt almost as good as firing the game-winning shot. And the inevitable late-game barrage of flashbangs and grenades you know and love from other battle royales can even be thwarted with a well placed “trophy system” straight out of Jager’s kit in Rainbow Six Siege. The result of this cornucopia of loot is a map littered with appealing variables that each offer unique gameplay opportunities.Black Ops 4’s gunplay – and not some other mechanic – takes center stage in its battle royale experience. The responsive and forgiving “hitscan” feeling that’s synonymous with the series is intact at close ranges, in spite of Blackout using a projectile-based damage calculation system complete with bullet drop and travel time. As a result, landing a distant headshot with a sniper rifle is remarkably satisfying. Though the recoil is supposedly predictable, I couldn’t discern any consistent pattern on weapons like the Rampart 17, Spitfire, or Titan -- overall, I feel the recoil is more random (albeit much less pronounced) than it is in PUBG. Time to kill on PC varies from instantaneous to the outer limits of reasonable based on a number of different factors, but for the most part feels functional.The increase in effective HP conferred by the famously durable level three armor proved to be a non-issue in my experience, mostly because Blackout offers both the details needed to inform my strategy, and the tools necessary to execute it. Unlike Fortnite’s shields, armor is visually and audibly readable before a fight begins. And as such, I usually had no problem figuring out how to overcome this advantage with the equipment and weapons I had on me. The puzzle of adapting to change and succeeding in spite of a disadvantage is the essence of why I enjoy battle royales so much. I do, however, take issue with the fact that an enemy’s armor is almost always destroyed in the process of killing them. I had no problem restocking my ammo, healing items, and equipment reserves while looting a slain foe, but if I wanted armor I’d have to look elsewhere. And in order to realistically keep that armor until the later stages of a match, I’d have to avoid a fight. If defeated enemies instead dropped whatever armor they had on at 50% durability this wouldn’t be an issue. But in its current state, I feel like being punished for partaking in my favorite part of Blackout: the combat.Duos and quads offered some of the most memorable moments I experienced in Blackout, but also presented the most technical issues. Getting all of my friends into the same lobby on PC proved to be a consistent struggle. The invite features would frequently either disappear after being accepted, or present the receiver with a “lobby not joinable” or “NAT type issue” error. Grouping up to a full squad of four often devolved into a round robin of “who's lobby can everyone join without an error?” These problems can be solved by port forwarding, which isn’t too difficult to do, but it’s worth noting that this is an unexpectedly involved fix for a game as big as Call of Duty in 2018.The connectivity issues can persist into a match, too. A few of my squadmates suffered disconnects or crashes almost every game until they were resolved by a fair deal of troubleshooting. Some PC players have reported crashes in Black Ops 4 caused by equipping a certain weapon skin, skipping the intro cutscenes, or by conflicts with Microsoft services, older graphics drivers, and antivirus software. I personally experienced a recurring crash on startup that was resolved by scanning and repairing Black Ops 4’s file. From what I can gather, neither the severity or breadth of these issues are that out of the ordinary, but for the Blackout mode specifically, any amount of instability is a big deal in the absence of reconnect functionality. The inability to rejoin a match already in progress is a sorely missed feature from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.If my squadmates disconnected, it meant that the entire squad could either forfeit the match instead of leaving our teammate behind or, if the match had gone on long enough, the odd man out was relegated to the lobby until we had finished.But when no one disconnected, quads and duos were remarkably fun. Here, Blackout's vehicles proved to be an unexpected treat. For a series not known for its vehicles, I was absolutely stunned that the flatbed truck and helicopter offered such a smooth ride-along experience. With a friend driving, you're free to move, jump, and shoot in the bed of the truck without the usual hitching or desynchronous experience that this might cause in many other games. Similarly, the helicopter can be a massively fun change of pace if can you manage to keep it in the air for any significant amount of time.In addition to the substantial thrill of winning, Blackout boasts additional rewarding Easter egg-like challenges in the form of fun and frantic character missions. Unlocking Crash, for instance, involves finishing a match with 15 healing items in your inventory, in addition to finding the mission to begin with. Recon’s mission, on the other hand, forbids you from taking any damage from the collapsing circle. I absolutely love these challenges as they threw an extra layer of complexity on the already daunting prospect of winning a match. Furthermore, sporting these skins tells the story of their acquisition to those around you, and that story is something other than “I paid for this.” Though victory is not a prerequisite for most, unlocking a character and winning in the same match felt incredibly good.