I know I’m not alone in having a history with the Call of Duty games over the years! There were so many nights playing hours of Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops on Xbox Live that were some of my best memories in gaming and will be with me for the rest of my life! I feel the franchise has been stale since the Xbox One and PS4 came out, and I fell off for a few games. Black Ops 4 was one my biggest surprises of 2018 and it gave the series the adrenaline it needed to get back in the conversation as top FPS game. Blackout alone could be the mode that did it but the multiplayer was great too! It has a bit of a Destiny feel to it and I love me some Destiny! Now, having said all that, it’s been out a while and needs some updates and to cut ties to some old bad habits.

In a gaming landscape where games like Overwatch and Fortnite exist, games have to keep up with them and sometimes straight-up copy them. I do think that Black Ops 4 hit a ton of positives, but stumbled a bit and they are a tad behind with content. This list will focus on issues I have with the game that need to change going into 2019. It sold very well so I know a ton of people like it and that’s why these changes need to happen, to keep them liking it!

25 Confusing Main Menu

I’m all in favor of making the main menu of a game super simple, but it can be so simple that it’s confusing, and that’s what we have with this game. The main box to Zombies, Multiplayer, and Blackout will take you to a specific game-type instead of just to the menu of that mode. To go to that mode, you need to go to the tab under that and it’s confusing for no reason. I like the look of the boxes, but just make them more straight forward!

24 Specialists Need To Feel Different

I know that CoD needs to feel like CoD, but it would be nice if playing individual specialists felt more unique. They all have different special weapons and equipment, but I want them to have different play styles.

The basics of gameplay are the same with all of them.

I’m not saying that this game needs to play like Overwatch, but just minor things could change. Like, give them the ability the use their equipment in a few different ways instead of just one.

23 Microtransactions…

Well, this is a game in 2019, so we all know that it has microtransactions! They are totally cosmetic, but they still exist and they have kinda put them in your face. You can buy Call of Duty points to get certain skins, even a red dot for a gun, or you can speed up the leveling process to get skins or calling cards. The option to buy them is on-screen anytime a preview of the stuff is on-screen, and that’s unfortunate. They don’t ruin the experience, but seeing them go away would be for the best.

22 More Weapons Across All Modes

They pitched this game as something they want to keep going past 2019, and if that’s the case then they need to start getting more weapons. It has a decent amount now, but with every new piece of content, they need to have some new weapons.

Kind of like when Destiny 2 has new content.

As long as they keep the content coming and they update this game, then it can go for a while. It’s slipping a bit at the moment, though.

21 Zombies Are Lame In Blackout

I honestly don’t get why zombies are a part of the Blackout map. It sounded cool at first, but seeing it in action just makes it a whole thing that isn’t worth it unless you get the ray gun. The huge beam of light, and fighting the zombies just makes them a huge “hey I’m over here” spot. Unless you drop at Asylum, then there are never enough for them to be a big threat, so it’s not for that. I hope they make those spots something different in the future.

20 No Campaign

This is honestly a good and bad thing. Even if I didn’t get into the multiplayer of the Call of Duty game that year, I always played through the campaign and they were always just dumb fun. I thought they made a lot of smart decisions in WW2 and I hope that this was a one-off and Black Ops only thing. On the other hand, it was really smart to have a battle royale mode and make the game online only. Zombies is the closest thing they have to a campaign.

19 More Customization In Blackout

As fun as Blackout is to play, it really needs to have more customization options. An aspect that makes Fortnite and PUBG so popular is that you can fully customize your character and make them feel unique.

You can choose male/female or one of a few Black Ops characters when you unlock them.

It just seems odd to have so much limit in this mode when this is the mode that having microtransactions would make sense. I do have a feeling this will change, but as of now, it’s very limited.

18 More Unique Vehicles In Blackout

When you play a game of Blackout, you will notice that there are a decent number of vehicles to use but after a while, it would be nice to have some more options. I’m not saying that it needs to be Battlefield 4 and give us jets but… on second thought, yeah, I want jets! Yeah, they would be stupidly hard to control, but man that would be so much fun, and that’s what I want out of a Call of Duty game! I doubt it happens but you never know!

17 They Need To Consider Free To Play

I know that it’s a big ask for a company like this to make something free, but them making Blackout free would be a huge step! It was one of the most talked about things in gaming in 2018, and giving it out to everyone would be such a win for them! They could litter that thing with so much stuff to buy and it would be fine then! I know that Black Ops 4 is a great deal for all you get but people like me will hardly touch zombies so it would be cool if they did this.

16 Not True Boots-To-The-Ground

One of the big selling points they made about this game during its reveal was that it was going to be boots-to-the-ground and well… it kind of is. You can’t run on walls or anything like that, but you’re still flying around the map.

Each specialist has a Destiny-like move that is not grounded.

I actually like these moves in the game, but Call of Duty WW2 was truer to this promise. I know it’s a turn off for some and I get why.

15 Blackout Needs A New Map

This game has been out for a few months now and people have been playing on the same Blackout map since the beta, so it’s about time for a new one! I get that these maps are huge and they’re probably a big thing to make but still, the same thing all the time gets old.

This series has always been about variety and this mode needs to be as well.

I’m not expecting a new map with every DLC that is planned, but a few more by the end of 2019 is going to need to be a thing.

14 Specialists Training Is Lame

I mainly did the tutorials because there is an achievement/trophy tied to it, because I wouldn’t have finished it otherwise. The initial training is fine, but what you do after is basically play a multiplayer game with the character. You earn stars by doing it on harder difficulties and that’s about it. You do get some cutscenes to show who these characters are but they are kinda lame. They look really pretty though, and some are incredibly tough! You do have a Black Ops character from the past yell at you while doing them though, and it’s legit funny.

13 Most Expensive Battle Royale Mode

We touched on putting Blackout out for free, and a major reason for that is because it’s currently the most expensive battle royale game to get. You have to get the full game to get the mode, and it seems a bit much now that it’s been out a few months.

They did sell an Action Pack on PC with just Multiplayer and Blackout over the holidays.

Call of Duty really is in an interesting position right now. They have an awesome mode, but a lot of people don’t want to buy the full game just to play it.

12 A Simple Zombies Mode Would Be Cool

I remember when zombies was first introduced in World at War and it was simple but so much fun to play. It was literally just a house and you had to keep boarding it up and you took out zombies. This mode has turned into Destiny raids at this point, and I just don’t have any interest in playing anymore. I know that’s unpopular, but having a simple mode for people like me would go a long way. I know those days are gone, but I can dream!

11 Multiplayer Needs A Competitive Mode

One of the reasons Halo 2 was so competitive was because there was a rank next to your Gamertag, I miss those days. Destiny 2 added a competitive mode to their multiplayer, and I think Call of Duty should do the same.

It would be a totally separate game mode.

The closest thing they have now is Search and Destroy but it has the same XP and rewards as the base multiplayer. It would do things for eSports and have a mode for hardcore people to play.

10 Gun Skin Unlocks Need Altering

I have had an issue with how to unlock weapon skins in the Call of Duty games for a long time. I get that it needs to be a chase, but the way you unlock the base level ones has always been getting headshots. Now, once you get to the upper tier ones, you have to do other things, but I’d like to see those other things with the base skins. I hardly see people talk about this, so this could very well just be a me thing, but I don’t care for it.

9 Updates Are Too Big

I haven’t played the PC version so I can’t speak to that one, but the PS4/Xbox One versions had a 50gb day-one update. I know that games now have a huge install but that’s as big as some other games.

So that put the game at over 100gb day one.

Halo 5 was over 100gb after being out a few years, so I guess when 2020 rolls around Black Ops 4 will be over 150gb. The base PS4 Pro and Xbox One X have 1tb of storage and that gets full fast!

8 The Games Need To Connect

In getting rid of the campaign with this game, it has kind of been disconnected from the other Black Ops games. The same specialists were in Black Ops 3 but I don’t see any advancement in them as characters.

I get most don’t care about lore with these games.

It would be cool if they had lines of banter like in Overwatch, especially if they are going to keep going with these characters. I’d just like the games to connect in some meaningful way better than they do now.

7 They Need To Have More Specialists

If this game is going to be around for a few years, then they need to start adding more characters to play as. I know that ZERO was added recently and they need to keep it up with that.

There are 11 specialists to play as of now.

I look at what Rainbow Six: Siege is doing with adding characters, and that’s more what I’d like to see. They need to be meaningful and not thrown in, but there needs to be a few a year as well.

6 It’s Still Call Of Duty

It seems like a simple thing to say that a game still plays like all the previous games in a series but I do think it’s an issue for Call of Duty. Just take the other big franchise that Activision had with Destiny. Destiny 2 plays completely different than Destiny 1 and that was on purpose. For them to be this many games deep into this franchise, you’d think they would play totally different than they did 10 years ago, but not really. It’s become too much of the same with the gameplay.