Blacks Ops 4 is asking you to rethink what you know about Call of Duty. Eschewing a traditional campaign to favour a more robust and expansive online experience, Treyarch hasn’t been afraid to question convention for this year’s instalment of the multiplayer shooter. In addition to the return of Black Ops 3’s Specialist classes, the studio has introduced a new Gear feature, manual healing mechanic, and mixed ballistics system to add further layers of strategy to Call of Duty’s familiar back and forth firefights.
With the added components and more deep-rooted augmentations, there’s a lot to learn, especially for new players who might be enlisting in Call of Duty for the first time this year. Thankfully, there’s no better people to ask for help than Treyarch’s Studio Design Director David Vonderhaar and Senior Executive Producer Jason Blundell, who have offered some of their best advice for dominating the food chain in Black Ops 4’s multiplayer mayhem.
Play as a team
Black Ops 4’s multiplayer has a real team spirit bubbling underneath all that bullets and bombast, with an expanded class system that ensures everyone has an important role to play during matches. “I have a really good time playing Black Ops 4’s multiplayer even as a player who sucks” admits Blundell, “as I can still be helpful to my team either spotting enemies with Recon’s Vision Pulse ability, or using Firebreak’s Reactor Core for crowd control without even having to use my gun. It lets me feel like I’m doing something useful other than just being a bullet sponge!”
Remember to heal yourself
In a new first for Call of Duty, Black Ops 4 now has a manual healing system, so players will have to press a button for a quick jab of medicine in-game, instead of waiting for their lifebar to automatically fill up. According to Vonderhaar, this transforms everything players have come to expect from a Call of Duty game. “It’s such a small change if you think about it, but that small change in the fast paced world of the Call of Duty competitive scene has massive consequences. But that’s exactly why you do it, because you have to evolve the series and create new opportunities in the game’s combat, and that’s what the healing mechanic does for Black Ops 4.”
Don’t underestimate the support classes
Vonderhaar also points to the addition of support classes, Specialists with unique, team-focused abilities, as an example of Black Ops 4’s wider accessibility as a multiplayer game. “There’s now opportunities to play and experience the game without being amazing at aiming and shooting your gun. A Specialist like Crash can heal and resupply people, and while you can still have fun with him solo, he’s perfect for players who want to help out without having to constantly get kills.”
Of course, even Treyarch’s own advice only scratches the surface for what’s possible and viable in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s multiplayer, and new play styles and strategies will surely emerge as more players get to grips with the game’s suite of added systems and features. But Vonderhaar and Blundell know what they’re talking about, so new players would be wise to keep their words in mind come launch day.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases on October 12 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
