Treyarch has unveiled a brand-new mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 called Heist. Heist in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a bit similar to a game mode of the same name in Battlefield: Hardline. In Heist, two teams of five players must locate a bag of cash and successfully deliver it to an extraction point. The interesting twist here is that, on top of limited lives, players get knocked out in Heist and can be revived before they’re completely dead. This mechanic is inspired by the game’s Blackout battle royale mode. Progress in Heist also works differently from any of the other modes. You can’t use any of your existing loadouts. Instead, everyone starts with a pistol and must work their way up to more powerful weapons, perks, gear and so on. This is done by spending cash, earned throughout the round, on any of several available upgrades. Ammo and health are limited, too, but you’ll be able to resupply by picking up ammo and health packs scattered all over the map. Last night’s Treyarch livestream, an archive of which can be seen below, showed a glimpse of Heist as the developer explained how it’s going to work. It looks like the mode will offer a lot of avenues for experimentation, as one player is seen using only a pistol and choosing instead to spend cash on armour and other perks. Heist joins six other game modes this weekend in the Black Ops 4 beta on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Watch on YouTube Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out October October 12 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.<doc-sep>Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s beta has kicked back into action, and this time it is on PC and Xbox One as well. I jumped into the Battle.net version this afternoon to try out the new Heist mode, which is Treyarch’s twist on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive formula. But that’s not the only game Black Ops 4 is reminiscent of — the game is also taking cues from other popular and successful shooters like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege and Blizzard’s Overwatch. Black Ops 4 still feels like a Call of Duty first and foremost. When it launches on October 12 on PC and consoles, you won’t mistake it for any of those other games. Treyarch is obviously borrowing ideas from the competition, but the foundation is still a million miles closer to Black Ops II than Rainbow Six. In fact, I’ll just say that I don’t think it feels anything like Siege even if I see the inspiration in some of the design. So instead of changing the feel of Call of Duty, Treyarch seems like it is just borrowing ideas from other franchises to make something that is still familiar to fans while also offering up something fresh. But let me give you some examples of where you’ll see echoes of those other games in the design of Black Ops 4. The Heist mode is the most obvious one-to-one from another game. It is a round-based competitive mode where players must retrieve a pile of money before the other team and then take it to a rendezvous with a helicopter at a random spot on the map. The mode features a shop system where you earn money by damaging other opponents, surviving, and winning rounds, and then you use that accumulated wealth to buy better weapons, armor, and equipment for the rest of the match. That should sound familiar to Counter-Strike players, which uses that system in its standard competitive mode. I won’t pretend to know if that came from some other shooter first, but most people should know it from Valve’s military shooter. Again, Heist still feels like Call of Duty more than anything else, but you cannot mistake the effect that Counter-Strike is having on the series at this point. The comparisons to Siege are not about a mode and instead relate more to the mechanics. Sure, Black Ops 4’s specialists will remind you of Siege’s at a glance, but the similarities are subtler than that. Black Ops 4 is a tiny bit slower than a standard Call of Duty, and the time-to-kill an opponent (TTK) is longer. That gives the action a more deliberate pace where you feel like you can take your time to approach a corner while slowly aiming down sights. You will never do that as much in Black Ops 4 as you do in Siege, but I definitely was having success in this Call of Duty using skills I’ve learned in Rainbow Six. Heist, with its objective and lack of respawns, heightens those similarities. When it comes to the characters, Black Ops 4 mixes in ideas from both Siege and Overwatch. Like in Overwatch, you are building up an ultimate the entire match that you activate by pressing “Q.” And then you have an ability on your “E” key that is different depending on your character or class. These include a dart that senses enemies who walk by and a grappling hook. You’ll find analogues for a lot of the ultimates and the special abilities in either Overwatch or Rainbow Six. Of course, I am only playing the beta, and we are still waiting to see Call of Duty’s battle royale mode Blackout. When that is in the game, you can add PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite to the list of inspirations. And I’m OK with that because Activision and Treyarch in particular have shown that they know how to refine an idea and make it their own.<doc-sep>
Developer Treyarch has unveiled Heist, a brand-new mode for Call of Duty Black Ops 4, which will be making its debut as part of the game's latest beta on Xbox One, PC, and PS4. As it happens, there's very little time to wait until Black Ops 4's latest beta gets underway. This, the second beta weekend for PS4 players, and the first on Xbox One and PC, kicks off today, August 10th, at 6pm BST/10am PT on all platforms. It comes to an end on August 13th at 6pm BST/10am PT. On consoles, you'll need a pre-order to play. Do note, however, that things are operating a bit differently on PC; those that have pre-ordered the game get a 24-hour head start and can play from today, while absolutely anyone can participate from tomorrow, August 11th at 6pm BST/10am PT, as part of the battle.net open beta. More details on how to get involved can be found on Activision's blog. Black Ops 4's latest beta will include Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Search and Destroy, and Control modes. So far, so familiar, but new this week is Heist, which Treyarch describes as a balance between a party game and a deeper, more tactical competitive experience. It sets two teams of five players the task of locating a single bag of cash then transporting it to an extraction point, and lasts multiple rounds. In Heist, health and ammo are limited, players only have one life (although they can be revived when initially downed, as in Black Ops 4's new battle-royale-style Blackout mode), and existing loads-out are forbidden from play. Instead, all participants begin with a lowly pistol, and can use the cash they rake in to purchase more powerful gear, weapons, and perks during a game - which should offer some tactical flexibility. Treyarch's second beta will also introduce a raft of tweaks and changes across all areas of play - including spawns, movement mechanics, and weapons - based on feedback from last week's PS4 beta, as is more thoroughly discussed in the developer's latest livestream above. You'll also find some Heist footage around the 21-minute mark. And if you need a reminder, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches on October 12th on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.