by Enrique Guiterrez

Following the recent Battle Royale video game trend, Call of Duty enters its 15th year of continuation with the never-before-seen “Blackout” Battle Royale mode.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduces a battle royale mode called “Blackout” to join the over-populated battle royale community. The new game mode has brought the attention of many streamers and players that do not usually play Call of Duty. Blackout has gained popularity and interest since its announcement and is going to change people’s view of Call of Duty for a long time.

Treyarch released a beta for those who pre-ordered Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 early. Those people have the opportunity to play the new game mode earlier than anybody else. The beta was live for Playstation and Xbox starting September 10th and ended a week later on September 17th. The beta was live for PC gamers September 14th through September 17th.

Blackout has 13 marked and named locations on its map where you may land. These 13 points of interest are: Estates, Construction Site, Hydro Dam, Train Station, Asylum, Turbine, Array, Firing Range, Rivertown, Nuketown Island, Fracking Tower, Factory, and Cargo Docks. The map has many little locations that are not marked on the map but are still available for the player to access and to land at. The map has many open areas, and if you’re not lurking from building to building, you’re a sitting duck waiting to be shot at by enemy players.

Blackout introduces the first ever controllable vehicles as transportation. There are four vehicles that players are able to drive around the map. These vehicles are a Cargo Truck that can hold up to three players in the trunk, an ATV that can hold two players, a boat that can hold two players, and a helicopter than can hold five players in total. These vehicles were made to transport yourself and your team. The player has the option to play solo, duo, or quads (Squads) in the Blackout game mode.

Throughout the beta, Treyarch has been productive and introduced new content throughout the week. Blackout’s player limit was increased throughout the beta, beginning at 80 players and ultimately increased to 100 players during the final hours of the beta’s release. As there is no campaign or story mode yet revealed in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Treyarch is heavily focused on this mode and multiplayer in general for this year’s release. 

Another change is going to be the health system, especially in the Blackout mode. Players have 150 health and can attain medkits, bandaids, and armor. Player armor has been controversial throughout the beta due to the amount of bullets needed to eliminate someone. Another controversial item was perks. Perks are scattered around the map as consumables that affect a player’s play style during the match. Thus far, there are only seven perks available: Paranoia, Looter, Consumer, Skulker, Outlander, Iron Lungs, and Stimulant.

Character skins and other customizable player items give Battle Royale games an identity. In Blackout, there are 20 different characters you may choose from to play with. These 20 players are from the Black Ops storyline, Black Ops Multiplayer, and Black Ops Zombies characters. During the beta, all characters were available. At full launch, these characters will need to be unlocked via challenges and certain tasks.

What makes Blackout special compared to all the other battle royale games is the nostalgia that players receive when playing. A player who has kept up with the Black Ops series will remember the old maps, weapons, and franchise characters that have been brought back for this mega-release. Treyarch stepped up their game and are bringing a whole new fun in the games’ multiplayer platform. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 will be available on all platforms October 12th, 2018.