Call of Duty Beta Time
Call of Duty was an important part of my teenage years. The original Modern Warfare quickly became my most played game and I remember that I would finish my homework while I was in class so I could get home and play. My clan would wipe the floor with the other players, I miss those days. I sort of fell off the wagon and honestly haven’t played much since first Black Ops came out. During E3 this year, something about this Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 made me want to get back into it. So I pre-ordered it! This review is for the Playstation 4 version of the game.
Black Ops Beta
Getting Back Into It
It’s good to know that after an 8 year break, someone can just jump right back into the game and feel comfortable. The mechanics stayed pretty much the same, of course adding a few new things here and there and bringing the quality of the gameplay up. I have to admit, the controls felt more comfortable than they used to. First person shooters have really come a long way and it was apparent here. The controls weren’t as clunky as the first Black Ops, and the transition between different weapons was smoother than I remember. I will say that you get the frustration of not being able to reload quickly (I don’t know if that’s still an available perk, I didn’t get that far) and of course having to start with the basic weapons can be a bit frustrating, but obviously you have to work up to that.
The graphics are pretty nice. There is a good amount of attention to detail in each level and sometimes it can be a really pretty game. The snow in the Payload map is nice to look at when you’re trying not to die and Contraband has some gorgeous beach views, complete with some crustaceans you unfortunately can’t shoot. The character models are pretty simple, but they had some fun little details. The Battery chick has pink scissors and the Prophet guy has patches on his jacket that are pretty interesting. It’s fun to look at when you really want to. You aren’t really looking at the graphics though, that isn’t what the Call of Duty franchise is about at all.
My phone quality picture of the different Specialist Classes
Classes
I apologize in advance for my ignorance during this section. I’m probably wrong on this, but I don’t remember the different classes in Modern Warfare. At least I don’t remember them being things like “healer” and “tank” or the COD equivalent classes. It was interesting because I really didn’t have enough time with the game to understand the difference in each aside from the specialty items. I am looking forward to learning more though.
I played a few rounds as Battery and didn’t particularly care for her. She didn’t have the right weapon configuration at first for me, however she was the only one with grenades and I do miss those. Another I tried out was Seraph, but I didn’t feel like I was good enough at the game to comfortably use her. She’s much more tactical of a class, so I let someone else with more knowledge and skill use her.
After a few matches I found Prophet and really liked him. I got really good at the Seeker Shock Mine and used it as much as I could. Finally I got to level 5 and could create my own classes. I didn’t really get enough time to mess around much with that aspect of the game either. I only had a few hours to play this weekend thanks to work and all that fun stuff. Hopefully next time the Beta is open things will roll over and I can do more.
Loading screen before the match
Maps
There were 6 maps available, but I only really found myself playing the same three or four. My favorite map was definitely Contraband. For some reason I liked the way that one was set up and I felt really comfortable with it. Having water to swim in and use to your advantage was cool. It is not something I am used to but I enjoyed it! Another really fun one was Gridlock, it reminded me of a few maps from Modern Warfare that I loved.
My least favorite was Payload. I didn’t like the layout and found it too easy to fall trap to the campers that would sit in the silos up top and pick people off. Seaside was another fun one that felt reminiscent of old maps and had fun open areas that were risky to run through. Of course, you had those campers that sat up in the rooms to try to get those risk takers and I loved that! As far as modes go I only played Team Deathmatch. That’s always been my go-to and I really don’t care for any of those capture the flag type modes. I might be adventurous and try out more modes the second Beta weekend, but it’s not likely.
Overall, I’m really pleased with this game. I have to say I’m looking forward to actually owning a Call of Duty game again and hope that the single player mode is entertaining and worth it. If not, the multiplayer action is totally worth my time and money, at least for the time being!
Check back for a full game review when it drops October 12!
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