Video Game Review

    I have a lot to say about the fourth installment of the Black Ops series of Call of Duty games.
I'll start by saying I got into to Call of Duty games back when Modern Warfare 2 was the latest game. I've always enjoyed first-person shooters but never really liked the war stuff until then. When I sat down with a group of friends and we'd face off against each other in two versus two matches I sincerely had a lot of fun.
    The game felt much more realistic than other games in its genre. Halo, for example, was a popular game at the time but I never enjoyed how much life you had, I remember unloading whole magazines into enemy players and having to reload four or five times not because I was missing my shots but because they had so much shields. What I enjoyed about Modern Warfare was that if I saw an opponent before they saw me, I could shoot them and get the kill before they even knew where I was. That added a lot of strategy to the game, positioning became much more important.
    I know this is a review of BO4, not Modern Warfare, but I say all this to express just how disappointed I have become with this game series. I did enjoy Black Ops 2, for what it's worth, but most of the Call of Duty games that have come out have been declining in quality. This seems to be the same with Black Ops 4. The creators are desperately throwing in elements from other popular games in an attempt to stay relevant but they're failing to keep the game even and fun. They added a survival mode similar to Playerunknown's Battleground (PUBG) where you drop into a large world with no weapon and only have one life, last man standing wins. While this is somewhat fun, it's blatant pandering and mimicry that left me greatly unsatisfied.
    The standard multiplayer modes I used to love have been stuffed filled with chaotic killstreaks and overpowered abilities that guarantees to have players screaming at their tv's in frustration and anger. Once one team starts to gain a slight advantage the playfield shifts in balance and the losing team barely has any hope of having fun, let alone winning. If constant bombardment of missiles from the sky and enemy UAV telling them your exact position isn't enough, they've added new abilities that can electrocute enemy players. This means that while you run around trying to play, every so often your character gets shocked and freezes in place as electricity bounces around lighting you up and making you an easy target for anyone nearby.
    For reasons I can't explain, I have continued to play the game, but I assure you I am not having fun. The only thing that keeps me going is frustrated determination to make at least a few enemy players suffer the same excruciating fate as I have so many times. Each time that a match ends I couldn't care less which team won, I'm just elated that the round has finally come to an end. I would not recommend this game to anyone with aggressive personality or anger issues, nor to anyone who considers themselves a "gamer." I give Call of Duty Black Ops 4 two thumbs way down.