The Battle Royale mode for Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is picking up a lot of steam leading up to its release in October. The Battle Royale mode in Black Ops 4 is known as Blackout and it features players surviving in a large, open-space filled with weapons and vehicles. Well, if you thought that Call of Duty having a Battle Royale Mode was off-the-wall cool, you're probably going to be even more excited to know that the mode will also feature zombies. Yes, that's right... this is going to be a Battle Royale mode where you won't just have to worry about the other players trying to shoot you down or run you over, you'll also have to contend with the walking dead.
Game Informer is reporting that in order for Treyarch to fully separate itself from the rest of the competition, there is the inclusion of zombies in the Blackout Mode. The AI-controlled nemesis will populate the maps as players attempt to kill off their competition and become the last man or woman standing.
According to the article, the zombies will not be present as wave-based foes like they're typically depicted in the first-person shooter series. In the previous games players would defeat a wave of zombies and then have to wait until the next wave appears, which features bigger or more difficult zombies popping up.
These zombies will be scattered throughout the Black Ops 4's maps, with Game Informer noting that they can be both a "boon" and a "pest" as you attempt to navigate and get the drop on your foes.
It's a very interesting way to approach the inclusion of something new to the Battle Royale genre for home console gamers. Games like Daybreak Game Copmany's H1Z1 was probably one of the first to retain zombies in the Last Man Standing mode, with players attempting to kill each other off while the undead hordes swarmed the map.
This also forces players to stay on the move, especially if the zombies have been given node-finding to scour and breach typical hiding spaces used by those who like to camp. In fact, a large part of the frustrations of navigating Battle Royale maps is finding players who like to stay hidden and wait for near the end of the round in order to get the kill and survive.
With the inclusion of zombies roaming about this will surely throw a wrench in the plans of most campers.
However, on the flip side, I do wonder how much disruption the zombies will provide for those who like to snipe? It's one thing to keep campers on the move but it's another thing to ruin the game for snipers.
I suppose as more information spills out for the beta tests and hands-on impressions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 we'll find out exactly how much of a role and how big of an impact the zombies will have on the gameplay. You can look for the latest Call of Duty to release this upcoming October for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
