Like clockwork, the Call of Duty franchise has been a fixture of the first-person shooter genre with yearly installments for over a decade. And every year, the debate over which games in the series have stood the test of time rages on. So our in-office Call of Duty fans have once again pooled their collective thoughts to decide which entries deserve to be in the Top 10 spot.
This list is not based on IGN reviews scores, but they have been taken into consideration (check them all out in the slideshow below) along with overall quality, lasting impact, cultural influence, and complete presentation.
With that in mind, here are our picks for the greatest Call of Duty games of all time.
The Romanoffs’ first two episodes premiere Friday, October 12 on Amazon. Following this, there will be a new installment each week. This is a spoiler-free review of the first two, “The Violet Hour” and “The Royal We.”
Amazon’s new anthology dramedy series, The Romanoffs, is the kind of abstract “show about everything and nothing” that one can assemble, and get away with, if – say – you have the clout of being the creator and showrunner of Mad Men.
Yes, it’s been three years since Mad Men sold its last ad and Matthew Weiner is back with an engaging, but ultimately formless, quirky movie festival disguised as a streaming series. In The Romanoffs, the only connective tissue between the episodes is that someone in the story is (or thinks they are) a descendant of the Russian Romanov dynasty. The family’s last remaining Czar-connected members were famously executed by the Bolsheviks in the summer of 1918.
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Soulcalibur VI brings the weapon-wielding parry and thrust mechanics of the series into the 4K era. Soulcalibur VI is built in the Unreal Engine and adds a new “reversal edge” counter to the gameplay for more strategic fighting.
Soulcalibur VI also includes Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series in the PS4, Xbox One and PC editions, regardless of which version you buy.
There are three different editions of Soulcalibur VI: the standard edition, deluxe edition, and collector’s edition.
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Plug and play retro consoles have come a long way. We still have the simple consoles with the composite video cables you can buy pretty much anywhere, but the NES Classic introduced a whole new class or boutique, collector-quality retro consoles that output through an HDMI cable. The fact the original mini, the NES Classic, was so hard to find for so long, and eventually inspired a second, much more plentiful run, shows there is enormous demand for these.
The adorable mini Super NES and NES aren’t hard to come by anymore, and the PlayStation Classic can still be picked up at some retailers. The very cool C64 Mini is the first competent retro all-in-one computer console, and it just came out and can be scooped up, too, so you can finally see . Here’s a quick guide to getting your hands on your favorite retro all-in-one console.
Fallout 76 is looking like it’s going to be a ton of fun with your friends in the open world filled with new monsters and discoveries. After getting some hands on time with 76 we learned a whole lot about how the moment to moment action is going to play out, how crafting has changed and how the new camp system is going to function. So we put together a handy list to prepare you for your Fallout 76 adventures!
1) You can access Photo Mode at any time from the main map, which lets you choose from a variety of filters, poses, borders, and you can even remove your character from the shot.
2) Loading screens can display your Photo Mode pictures.
In statements on a blog post and on Twitter, Wendig, who was writing for Marvel’s Shadow of Vader comic book series, as well as an unannounced Star Wars book, opened up about the firing, which he says was due to “vulgarity” and “negativity” on social media.
So, here’s a thing that has happened – I just got fired from Marvel. Taken off issues 4 and 5 of SHADOW OF VADER, and taken off an as-yet-unannounced SW book.
Not content to let the annually busy fall season see any dull moment, Sony has been changing up the PlayStation 4 quite a bit over the last few weeks. PSN ID changes, a cross-platform play beta, huge updates to PS Now, and more changes have been announced in the last few weeks.
It’s a surprising rush of tweaks to a console so late in its life cycle, but it’s a trend that many fans have taken notice of over the last few days. And while each announcement on its own has come as a surprise, taken all together they seemingly show quite clearly how PlayStation is setting itself up for the PS5.
Netflix continues to bombard the digital media sphere in 2018, releasing a reported 676 hours of original movies and television series in Q3 alone.
Per Variety, the milestone is “more than double the amount of Netflix originals launched in Q3 2017 (289 hours) and up 50% from 452 hours in Q2 2018.” The data was gathered by Cowen and Co, a diversified financial services firm.
The report also gave us a look at the streaming provider’s growth as a company, with a heavy emphasis on acquiring new international subscribers, which could amount to 4.35 million. The numbers offer valuable insight into why Netflix is investing so heavily in non-American original programming, with series like Germany’s Dark and India’s Sacred Games, to name a few. Netflix is playing a global streaming takeover game, and so far, it appears to be working.
Battle royale style games took off in popularity last year thanks to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and reached new heights with Fortnite. Now, the Call of Duty franchise has hopped onto the fray with Black Ops 4‘s new Blackout mode. If you haven’t experienced battle royale for yourself, but plan on hopping into Black Ops 4, this is for you. We’ll run through some of the basics of the mode and cover the ways in which Call of Duty puts its own spin on it.
Battle Royale 101
First off, you can enter matches either as a lone wolf (solo), with a partner (duos), or a team of four (quads); you’ll be matched with up to 100 players who choose the same group size option. Every player gets flown over the map in the same trajectory–visualized when you pull up the map–and it’s up to you when and where to drop. Exiting the helicopter has you deploying your wingsuit, and you can glide horizontally to go further out or look straight down to drop faster.
The overall goal is to be the last player or team standing since everyone has one life, which makes combat encounters much more tense and risky compared to traditional Call of Duty multiplayer. Now more than ever, you should be aware of your surroundings; that or have a teammate watch your back. Also keep in mind that you can revive squadmates if they fall, but be sure to do so before they bleed out or take more damage from enemies.
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Black Ops 4 Blackout Perfectly Fits Between Fortnite And PUBG
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Another basic ingredient of battle royale is the impending pressure of a deadly circle closing in on the battlefield. Every match has the circle contracting on a random area of the map, and it gets smaller as the match goes on to force remaining players into combat. If you get caught outside the circle, you’ll take damage until you can get into the safe zone.
A Huge Map To Traverse
Blackout’s map is much larger than any previous Call of Duty map since it has to accommodate 100 players. However with size of the map, it also induces a slower pace; so expect plenty of downtime between encounters. This change of pace may take a while for Call of Duty veterans to adjust to, but it also feeds into the high-stakes nature of combat in battle royale games since one small mistake can cost you an entire match.
There are 14 concentrated areas in the Blackout map, many of which pay homage to past Black Ops maps. For example, Nuketown Island, Estate, and Array will look and feel similar to the multiplayer maps they’re named after. The in-between of these main locations is interspersed with smaller towns and groups of buildings that can have valuable loot. But vast forestry and open fields make up most of the terrain, so be on-guard when traversing between locations as firefights may break out at any moment.
The full map in Blackout mode.
Luckily, vehicles litter the map. An ATV doesn’t provide much protection but it can get up to two players around from point A to point B fairly quickly. The cargo truck fits up to five players and doesn’t leave the squad as vulnerable, but it moves pretty slow. Getting through the river that splits the middle of the map is quite easy with a zodiac boat, which holds up to four players. And unlike most battle royales, Blackout features air transportation via the helicopter that has five seats total. That’s not the only means of air travel, though; you can deploy your wingsuit by sprinting and jumping off a building and holding the jump button.
Loot Your Loadout
You start each match without anything in your inventory and must loot all your equipment–a stark contrast to Call of Duty’s tradition of letting players customize their loadouts. You’re allowed to carry two weapons and have to scavenge for the proper ammo type for each as well. The following is a list of all the weapons available to loot in Blackout:
Tactical Rifles: Auger DMR, Swordfish, ABR 223, Essex Model 07
Sniper Rifles: Koshka, Paladin HB50
LMGs: Titan
Explosives: War Machine, Hellion Salvo
Zombie Weapons: Ray Gun, Galil, MP-40, Zweihander
Attachments are crucial for getting the most out of your weapons. A reflect sight or 4x scope will come in clutch for nailing precise shots with ADS, and a grip or stock will help control your recoil, but you need to scavenge for those items and get them onto your gun. Zombie weapons add a twist to combat, which can be found in zombie supply stashes after killing AI-controlled zombie hordes at certain locations in the map, like the Asylum. Even the sillier items find their way into Blackout, like the Ray Gun, Monkey Bomb, Acid Bomb, and RC Car (though it doesn’t explode). Look out for blue beacons that shine in the sky as this indicates stash locations where you may get your hands on these rare items.
Inventory management in Blackout mode.
You’ll also have to loot armor in Blackout; there are three levels and each one provides better protection (level 3 armor is the only one that’ll protect from headshots). Backpacks open up five additional item slots, which comes in handy later in a match as you loot more useful equipment. And it goes without saying that stocking up on health items is important, too; first aid and med kits heal 25 and 50 health, respectively. Trauma kits will fully heal you and tack on an additional 50 health temporarily.
Be on the lookout for supply crates that randomly drop onto the map throughout the match; you’re likely to find high-level loot, but creates a hotspot for preying enemies.
The Perks Of Call Of Duty
In another interesting twist, Blackout’s take on battle royale also brings in the familiar Perks system, which act as consumable items found across the map. Each perk has a specific effect, usage limit, and duration. While some may be more useful than others, it’s important to know what your equipped perk does as it can make the difference between life and death, especially in their most effective situations. The following is a perk list and what they do:
Brawler: Increases melee damage, gain 50 health for each melee attack landed. (Usage: 1, Duration: 4 mins)
Consumer: Health and consumable items activate 50% faster. (Usage: 1, Duration: 5 mins)
Dead Silence: Silent movement and less noise when opening stashes. (Usage: 2, Duration: 4 mins)
Engineer: Reveal all nearby vehicles and enemy equipment. (Usage: 2, Duration: 4 mins)
Iron Lungs: Steady aim with scoped weapons and underwater breathing time increased. (Usage: 2, Duration: 5 mins)
Medic: Health items and team revives replenish more health and with faster activation. (Usage: 2, Duration: 4 mins)
Mobility: Movement and weapon switch is faster, fire and use items while sprinting, move fast while reloading. Fall damage negated. (Usage: 2, Duration: 5 mins)
Paranoia: Audio cues for when you’re targeted by an enemy via ADS. (Usage: 2, Duration: 4 mins)
Black Ops 3 introduced Specialists, unique characters that provided a variety of ways to play the game with their own attributes and abilities–akin to a hero shooter. While you can choose to play as a certain Specialist in Blackout, the equipment that was once tied to them are now items found in the field. Those abilities–such as the razor wire, mesh mines, and grappling hook–are hard to find, but they can give you a significant advantage when used in the right situation.
Tips
Those are the basics when it comes to playing Call of Duty Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode. Battle royale veterans may know how the rules work, but the equipment system and map are still things that need to be experimented with and explored on your own. The most important thing to do is to play more and more matches to get a feel for how Call of Duty’s take on battle royale flows. And now that you know what you’re getting into, take the next step and check out our Blackout beginner’s guide.
