5 Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Free Up Some Hard Drive Space

If you were browsing around the internet yesterday, chances are you saw the news of Black Ops 4’s rather insane day one update that fans picking up the physical copy will require. Even if you’re buying Black Ops 4 digitally, you’re still going to need to ensure you’ve got enough hard drive space on your system in order to download and install it correctly.

A digital copy of Black Ops 4 requires at least 50 GB of free space on your hard drive. There are certainly games that take up more space on both systems, but if you’re still rocking one of the original PS4 or Xbox One consoles with a 500 GB hard drive, Black Ops 4 will take up a good chunk.

However, if you’re picking up a physical copy on PS4, you’ll need upwards of 112 GB of free space for an “optimal install experience.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, but we can only assume having this amount of free space will allow the game to install that little bit faster. Plus, you’ll have a 55 GB day one patch to install on both PS4 and Xbox One, so just keep that in mind.

Speaking of…

Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Get Preloading or Check Your Store Opening Times

Due to the massive day one update required for physical copies of Black Ops 4, some UK retailers have been given the go-ahead to sell the game a little bit earlier. This is with the hope that players can get the update done and dusted ahead of the game’s official launch… or at least a fair share of it.

Though we’ve yet to see any official announcement of something similar happening in other territories, a fellow staff member here at Twinfinite contacted their local GameStop in North America and was informed they could pick up the game at 9pm rather than the usual midnight.

As such, it might be worth contacting your local store if you’re picking up physical. Just in case you can shave precious hours off your wait time for hopping into the action.

Regardless of your platform of choice, Black Ops 4 should be ready to preload by now if you’re buying digitally. PC players can begin preloading Black Ops 4 via BattleNet, and the game is now available to preload via the PlayStation and Xbox stores respectively. Get this going as soon as you can.

The sooner you get the preload going, the better chance you’ve got of it being installed and ready to rock as soon as the unlock time rolls around.

In case you’re unsure of the unlock times for Black Ops 4, it’ll go live at local midnight times around the world.

Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Stock Up on Monster for That Double XP Goodness

Ultimately, this method of preparing for yourself for Black Ops 4 depends on whether or not you (or anyone you know) likes Monster Energy drink. As we’ve seen with past Call of Duty titles, Activision and Monster have partnered together once again to give out double XP codes with certain promotional cans of the soft drink.

Each code can grant you one hour of double XP per day for a maximum of 40 hours in total. Double XP can help ease the grind up to level 55 so you can prestige and start all over again.

Even if you don’t like the stuff, if the double XP is too tempting and you know someone who does like it, you can potentially arrange some sort of deal. Chances are these promotional packs will sell fairly well, so you might want to go and stock up. Besides, all that sugar and caffeine is sure to help keep you wired for those late-night sessions, should that be your jam.

A completely optional way to prepare, but one that’ll no doubt be taken up by those looking to level up the fastest they possibly can. 

Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Play Some Zombies and Multiplayer, and Get Yourself Up to Speed

There’s no real better way to prepare for Black Ops 4 than to make sure you’re well accustomed to the way Call of Duty titles play. The same can be said for each of the different game modes within Black Ops 4, too.

If you’re going to be spending most of your time playing zombies, you might want to return to a previous zombies mode in the series to ensure your undead-slaying skills are razor sharp. Your reflexes need to be lightning fast, after all.

Similarly, the multiplayer modes in Call of Duty tend to have their own unique feel compared to everything else out there. And while many FPS titles have opted to largely replicate Call of Duty’s control scheme, it’s always worth spending some time to get a few good games under your belt in an older game before diving into the latest entry.

Failing that, get yourself up to speed with the different scorestreaks, specialists, new heal system, and other new features that have been implemented in the multiplayer this year. That way, you’re not completely lost in your first few games in Black Ops 4’s multiplayer.

Ways to Prepare for Black Ops 4

Final Preparations

At this point, there’s not a whole lot else you really need to do to ensure you’re all comfortably set up for Black Ops 4. You might want to coordinate playing times with friends or other CoD fans you tend to play with. After all, having a team you can effectively communicate with (or at least a few teammates) can make the difference in a battle.

Finally, ensure all of your controllers are charged up, or you’ve got plenty of spare batteries at the ready. Wireless headset users get these charging up so you’re not sat there uncomfortably tethered to your system when playing Black Ops 4.

Oh, and if you’ve got an Elite controller, ensure all of your paddle presets are set up to perfectly suit the way you play your first-person shooters. Assigning the crouch and jump buttons to paddles on the back of the controller tends to be a popular set-up.

And there you have five ways to prepare for Black Ops 4. Got any other suggestions? Be sure to share them down in the comments below.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on Oct. 12.