‘Cold War’ feels like a step back for ‘Call of Duty’
“Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War” acts as a soft reboot for the series, going back to the 1980s and trying to take the game closer to its roots. Despite some good ideas, the game as a whole feels unpolished and unfocused making for a disappointing package. As usual, the game features three major modes of play: The single-player campaign, competitive multiplayer and the ever-popular zombies mode. The story takes place after the events of the Original Black Ops from 2010, in the heat of the Cold War. Everyone’s favorite president, Ronald Reagan tasks a CIA black ops team with stopping some shady Russians from attacking America. The story harkens back to the dark tones and espionage that made the original game so memorable and critically acclaimed. The story feels like a solid action movie and optional missions/objectives make it feel deeper than the usual “Call of Duty” campaign. As good as it is though, the ending of the story feels underwhelming compared to what was set up that will most likely be resolved in a later sequel.
The real meat of these games lies in the competitive multiplayer and it’s unfortunately the weakest part of this game. Ever since alphas and betas, something about Cold War felt off when compared to past games.
When it launched there were loads of technical issues that made the experience worse, but even now the game has various problems. Weapon balance in the game never feels right. There are always a couple of guns that dominate the battlefield and it feels like the meta is shifting every few weeks. It’s the sad state of many competitive shooters these days. The publisher is out to nickel and dime the player at every turn with paid cosmetics and season passes, weapon balance changes constantly but rarely feels stable and the glory days of hopping on for a few quick matches for some fun are long over.
The culture around these shooters has changed and it’s a shame because many people looked at “Call of Duty” as a reliable means of having casual fun in an online game. More and more people are doing research on what weapons and tactics work best and publishers are using player info to push people into spending more and more money per month as the game gets its hooks into you. It doesn’t feel like it’s beyond fi xing, but considering these games only have a year-long lifespan it’s unlikely that the worst of the issues will be fi xed.
Even though the competitive side is severely lacking I will say that this iteration of the zombies mode is the best one in a long time. The basics are the same: groups of up to four players survive for as long as they can against increasingly difficult waves of zombies. Small changes like weapon levels, an armor and scrap system, and making the more obscure parts of navigating the levels easier to understand all make for a great experience. Mowing down hordes of the undead with upgraded laser weapons is satisfying and the new upgrade systems for abilities and player perks make a lot more re-playable than before.
While 2019’s “Modern Warfare” reboot felt like a bold and thought- out step forward, “Cold War” feels confused. Treyarc used to be the fan-favorite among “Call of Duty” development teams, but as time has gone on and the team has seen major changes it now feels like they’re throwing random things at the wall to see what sticks. This inconsistent game gets away with three stars.