Black Ops 4 Zombies

Overall:

BO4 Zombies is not your typical zombies game. It is a logical progression from BO3 but if you haven’t
played zombies since BO1 or BO2, like me, you would be thoroughly confused the first time you opened
up this game. Pretty much everything is different, there’s new perks (a lot of them), elixirs, talismans,
and supers. A huge leap from where the game started with just a handful of perks and none of the other
aspects but as someone who enjoys the whole zombies mode, this is honestly the only thing that got
me back into COD.

Black Ops 4 in general:

So BO4 has 2 other game modes, blackout and multiplayer, which may get their own reviews later but
this review will focus on zombies. Like I said earlier, this mode is the sole reason I even purchased the
game. I had fallen off COD ever since Ghosts. Never was a fan of BO3 and didn’t even pay attention to
the other games. Therefore, whenever I heard that Treyarch was scrapping the campaign entirely to
introduce yet another Battle Royale to the market, I had no interest in this game at all. I felt as if
Treyarch had been going down the wrong path for a couple of years and this was them selling out and
plunging off the cliff. I still believe this was the wrong move on their end but honestly, do not regret
buying the game for what they have done with zombies.

Storyline:

There are two storylines in the zombie game, Aether and Chaos. Aether is a continuation from the
previous games and continues off the main zombies story from BO3. It follows Richtofen and his crew
to the Pentagon and Alcatraz, which are both remakes of previous games. However, both maps are
pretty important to piece together the storyline that Treyarch likes to give us bits and pieces to keep
us in suspense and confusion. The other storyline is a new storyline to zombies and follows all new
characters. I will not go into detail on explaining either storyline because it would take to long and there
are plenty of people who have done it way better than I ever could.

Maps:

At the time of writing this, there are currently five maps. Three of which come with the base game and
two add-ons. We’ll start with the base game maps and then move on from there. Starting with Blood
of the Dead or BOTD for short, BOTD is a remake of Mob of the Dead so it takes place on Alcatraz.
This map features Richtofen, Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai which is the Aether crew at this period in
time. The map is similar to Mob of the Dead as it features essentially that entire map with added
sections. The first map in the Chaos story is Voyage of Despair which follows Scarlett, Diego, Bruno,
and Shaw. These are all new characters to zombies. Voyage of Despair is set on the Titanic after it
struck the iceberg. There are different rooms in the boat as well as ice on the deck and flooded areas
underneath. The map is extremely tight so you’ll have to spend some time finding an area you feel
comfortable training in for higher rounds. IX is the next map in the Chaos story and is set in the
Roman empire in a gladiator ring. You start in a typical colosseum and have 4 different paths from the
start room. One for each perk tower Ra, Zeus, Odin, and Danu. Each tower correlates to the God that
they represent and each tower converges in on the Temple with several other side rooms. Training is
done pretty easily in the starting room and the rest of the map can take some time to memorize. The
first add-on map is Classified which is a remake of five. This map features the Aether crew as they
have somehow ended up inside the Pentagon. The only notable difference is the fact that Pack a
Punch is located at the beginning of Groom Lake. This map was available with the digital deluxe
edition of the game and not a separate DLC. The first DLC map is dead of the night. It takes place at
a mansion during a party gone wrong and has several different areas including a cemetery, a
laboratory, a wine cellar and plenty of other smaller lounge rooms and bedrooms. This is another tight
map that may take some time to get used to. This is also the BO4 “celebrity” map as it follows Gideon
Jones, Christina Fowler, Jonathan Warwick, and Godfrey. This map is set before Voyage and seems
to give a little insight into the beginnings of the Chaos story.

Perks:

There are quite a few perks with some notable ones missing. Two of the biggest missing perks are
Juggernaut and Speed Cola. Juggernaut isn’t necessary as the base health of the game is the same
as if you were playing with Jug. Speed Cola is just entirely out of the game other than a few boosts
from pulling supers. The perks that are included are:

TimeSlip - Reduces the cooldown on your equipment and lowers the wait time on both the box and PAP

Quick Revive - Nothing new, revive and regen faster than normal.

Depth Perception - See nearby enemies through walls and get a small notification on unseen enemies when they get close

Staminup - Same as always, run faster and longer.

Dying wish - Instead of going down after losing all health you go berserk increasing melee damage and being immune with 1 health. Does have a lengthy cooldown between uses.

Stone Cold Stronghold - Standing still creates a defensive circle which boosts damage and

armor.

Victorious Tortoise - While holding a shield, you block damage from all angles and when the
shield breaks, it explodes.

Deadshot Dealer - Just a new name for Deadshot Daiquiri, gives you aim assist and reduces sway and recoil

Bandolier Bandit - Increases weapon capacity.

Winters Wail - When hit you emit a freezing blast which freezes nearby enemies. Holds two
charges then has a cooldown period.

Mule Kick - Carry a third weapon

PHD Slider- Slide to build up a charge and when charged, slide into an enemy to explode.

Secret Sauce - Grants a random perk not assigned to any of the 3 other perk machines. 

Each perk, once unlocked, can be assigned to one of the four perk machines. This allows you to strategically place certain perks at certain parts of the maps. For instance, you can place the most important perk near your train spot or at the beginning so you can unlock it sooner.

Elixirs and Talismans:

There are far too many to go into detail on each one so we’ll only get into the general idea. Elixirs are
temporary buffs that give the players an advantage like teleporting directly to a downed player,
keeping all perks when downed or spawning in points. There are different rarities of elixirs with the
most common being unlimited uses but the others needing to be acquired with limited uses.
Talismans must all be acquired and have limited uses. Talismans generally give the player a heads
up going into the game like spawning in with an AR, starting the game with your super level three or
guaranteeing the first box pull to be an LMG. Elixirs have 4 slots per game and have a cooldown
between each use. Talismans can only be used once a game and are consumed at the start of the
game.

Supers:

The supers are a special ability that allows the player to have a special item in the game that gives
them a huge advantage toward enemies. This is extremely useful in a tight sport or fighting a
mini-boss as it allows you to do increased damage to any enemy. The supers do have three different
levels with each one being a little better than the previous. Supers are leveled up by getting kills and
are charged by getting normal kills or by picking up a Full power drop.

Conclusion:

In my personal opinion, BO4 zombies is the only saving grace to this game. Multiplayer just doesn't
interest me anymore and the whole battle royale thing just seems like a sellout. However, as much as
I did not want to buy this game I was convinced to just to play zombies and it was money well spent.
Also, I can't really be upset about there only being one mode that I'm interested in as there are other
AAA companies that would shamelessly sell this game as three different games and charge the same
amount for each part. Therefore, after spending $100 on this game I feel pretty satisfied and if you like
playing zombies I would absolutely recommend this game even if that's all you play.