AusGamers was recently given early access to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by way of a traditional review event. What we walked away with, was a sense the series has finally made a triumphant return, and once again it's happened at the hands of Treyarch.

Our man on the ground, Toby Berger, spent countless hours across the games numerous modes and fell in love with all of them, all but forgetting there used to be a campaign in there somewhere too, but that with this much option it really just doesn't matter.

The omission of a traditional single-player campaign was surprising when it was initially announced earlier this year, but in its place is something that I found to be of much more value: Blackout. Call of Duty’s take on the Battle Royale genre is different enough to make it not feel like a direct rip of PUBG or Fortnite, and instead manages to find a balance between the hardcore, militarised focus of the former with the arcade-like nature of the latter.

So yeah, while a 100-person Hunger Games-styled deathmatch may not be the most unique of premises after the genre took off in 2017, Treyarch has managed to expertly blend in the best elements of classic Call of Duty gameplay with a game mode that feels fresh and fun each time you jump in. Further to this, the sprawling map — which includes a handful of notable areas from previous Black Ops games and World at War — is excellently designed, with Nuketown Island and Asylum particularly fantastic renditions of classic areas from Treyarch’s previous games in the series. I am curious, though, as to how the mode will change overtime, and am a bit worried that it may become stale if the map doesn’t change or there aren’t extra maps added post-launch.

Click here for our in-depth Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review.