Black Ops: Cold War: Trash or Pass?

This past week was huge in the world of Call of Duty, with the monumental release of their new game: Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War.

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Fans got a sneak peak at the game last month when Activision released a free open beta for any player to try. Although it was limited to a few certain game modes, it still gave players the possibility to see what the game had to offer. Despite what seemed like a clunky system at the time, Activision seems to have worked out a lot of the issues that were present in the beta. Many people complained about the gameplay, while a lot of players praised it.

The game has many selling points, and they all target different different audiences. The game has an extensive campaign, fantastic multiplayer, the fan favorite Zombies mode, as well as bringing back Warzone from Modern Warfare.

The campaign is one of the biggest selling points of this game. The fan favorite character Woods returns from the previous Black Ops games, along with some other characters. This is also one of the first Call of Duty games that provides multiple endings based on the decisions the player makes throughout the game. The single player campaign also features a few actual historical figures such as President Ronald Reagan, and focuses on the Cold War, which I am sure could be inferred from the title.

The multiplayer is as impressive as ever with beautiful maps, weapons that are comfortable to use, and a brand new gameplay system that makes the game feel very smooth. The game features all new weapons and attachments that allow players to set up different classes, as well as different perks to give them an edge in certain situations. A lot of popular game modes return such as Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and Domination. There are also a few new game modes, such as the new 40 player Fireteam mode. This game mode features 10 squads of 4 who face off against each other, which makes it one of the largest multiplayer modes in Call of Duty history (not counting Warzone of course).

Another one of the appeals was the fact that Activision has announced that Warzone, their free to play Battle Royale that was integrated into Modern Warfare, will be supported in Cold War. Warzone appealed to many players because it used the Modern Warfare game engine, but it was free to play for all players and they didn’t need to own the actual Modern Warfare game. This allowed them to compete with other free-to-play Battle Royales like Fortnite and Apex Legends.

When Warzone is released for the new game, it seems that Activision will provide a sort of mix for the two games. The weapons and classes from Modern Warfare will still be available, while also adding weapons and classes from Cold War will also be usable. There seem to be some challenges to this however, as Activision has delayed the release of Warzone on Cold War until after least December. However this is not surprising, because Activision has to find a way to be able to integrate both game systems while still allowing the game to be playable with different types of weapons, perks, engines, etc.

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One of the biggest and most popular aspects of the previous games in the Black Ops series is the Zombies mode. This game has been popular among fans for its online but also local multiplayer, as well as just overall fun it brings. That game returns in Cold War, and it returns many of the fan favorite aspects from the other games. The graphics are fantastic, and the added realism to the Zombies gives them a terrifying edge in the new mode.

Overall, I think Cold War looks very promising. I personally prefer Modern Warfare as of now, but Modern Warfare has also had over a year to develop and change. I think that over time as Activision fixes bugs, balances weapons and adds new things to the game, Black Ops: Cold War will rank among the top games of the franchise.