Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty is a series much like any other long-standing franchise. It has its highs (last year's Modern Warfare) and its lows (Black Ops 4, from those I've reviewed). A large part of this is because the developers switch off each iteration to provide more time to the teams. As a result there's kind of always been an "A" tier and "B" tier Call of Duty experience. 

This year's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (BOCW from henceforth in this review), may be part of that latter group as it doesn't do anything better than Modern Warfare did, but I'm seeing improvements in the game structure overall that excite me, and are a step in the right direction. 

Using this as one of the several games to christen my new PS5, I was excited to play a shooter - where I knew I'd invest time in the multiplayer - with the new DualSense and on a PlayStation in general. For the most part, my multiplayer experience has been on Xbox last gen, but I was too excited to pass up playing on the new hardware. With BOCW, it's very much in the same spirit of most Call of Duty games where you're getting a complete package. Here we have a campaign, multiplayer, and zombies, not to mention the free-to-play (and massive hit) Warzone that has "Cold War" updates in new seasons. So yeah, there's rarely a time I don't feel like I get my $60/70 worth with these games and BOCW is no exception.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"

Starting with the campaign, this is actually the area where I found Cold War takes the biggest step back from last year. Last year's campaign was jaw-dropping, kept things fresh, and had intense moments. Cold War - set during the time period it describes - certainly has some key stealth segments, but is otherwise routine Call of Duty. That's not a bad thing, but I didn't find anything nearly as awesome as the night-vision house raid mission from last year, despite a stealth mission infiltrating the KGB being impressive. The story follows the "Black Ops" mantra of having twists with a cast of "70s" characters (including a Robert Redford knockoff) and the twist genuinely caught me off guard, but it also didn't really mean much in my opinion. Eventually there are multiple endings you can unlock that feel really weird because of how polar opposite they leave these characters and world...which one will they build off in future iterations? Both? I don't see how, so it would leave one of these endings worthless, but if they manage to pull it off it could be impressive. As a whole however, the campaign is fun, and features popcorn entertainment action and locales, but it doesn't compare to something like last year's or Doom Eternal for example.

Bout to blow up this car...

It does introduce an awesome new puzzle-solving feature that I hope makes it into future campaigns. Taking all those random collectibles of previous Call of Duty's, it gives them purpose as they're clues that build to a couple larger puzzles. Once you have all the pieces of said puzzles, you can solve for the solution to unlock a new mission. These puzzles were a harder difficulty than I anticipated, but it was fun to scour the levels for stuff I knew I'd actually need to solve them. It's a clever way to extend the life of the game and add a new element. 

Usually my biggest complaint with these "B-tier" Call of Duty games is the zombie mode that - while beefed up, has refused to change in recent years. Luckily, it may actually be my favorite thing about Cold War and I think they've finally nailed it. For starters, the core zombie mode has the "never ending" mode that plagued previous versions; it's incredibly disheartening to just play until you die and never achieve anything. Now they've included a 20-round mode where you can elect to evacuate after round 10. This adds a wonderful element of a goalpost to aim for, and I've gotten really close a few times, not to mention you earn more now even when you don't make it that the whole thing seems a lot more fun this time around and I've already sunk more time into than probably all the previous Zombie modes combined. Additionally they have Onslaught mode that is 2-person on one of the multiplayer maps. It's much more intense, but fun to consistently change maps, though I find it suffers from the same issue as previous modes where it's just "go until you die/can't take it anymore". There's also Black Ops Arcade that's a fun diversion, even if I only gave it a couple tries. 

Oooo eerie Russia!

The final - and largest component - to Cold War is the mutliplayer. For the sake of brevity, I'm not including Warzone on here because it's pretty much its own game at this point, but it's still going strong and I still [mostly] suck at it! At first, my experience with Cold War's MP was rough -- it felt a lot different, I was using a new controller, and the DualSense's haptic triggers take some actual muscle memory to establish. Now that I'm many more hours in (probably ~15), I'm loving it and it's some of the best I've ever performed in a Call of Duty. There's always issues here and there like poor map design and spawn issues, but I've found Cold War is generally well polished. Even better? It rewards killstreaks as scorestreaks now (much to the demise of some, I'm sure) which pushes people to play the objective more. To people like me who play objective-based modes, this is a godsend. Previously, people who played Domination (for example) just to rack up 20 kills and 0 flag captures would drive me insane. Now I see a lot less of that and the game is better for it. In addition, I've found it allows them to experiment more with objective based modes, introducing a few much larger-scale options under the "Combined Arms" umbrella that I find very fun, not to mention the unique "Dirty Bomb" mode that, while not perfect, is a fun diversion from time to time. 

I do find the UI in multiplayer is identical to Modern Warfare, but seems to have left some "quality of life" aspects on the back burner (e.g. I can't clear a "new" indicator on a gun unless I equip it). I also have had many interactions recently with knife-only players that's perhaps anecdotal, but - per usual - there are people who play the game so different that they're essentially taking advantage of it. I could just "git goood" or they could address this super unrealistic element of the game by either nerfing knife strikes (would I really die from just one?!) or making you more susceptible to bullets when you're carrying a knife. If I get caught off guard that's one thing, but when I shoot you with 3-5 bullets and you're still able to run toward me, strike me once with a knife and I'm dead, I call UBER bulls**t. 

KGB Headquarters! But make it stealth...

On the PS5, Black Ops is definitely beautiful, and it runs smoothly, only stuttering when there are 40+ zombies on screen. I'm fairly certain that, while I may be playing from a PS5, it's not optimized for the PS5 as it doesn't look eons better than Modern Warfare last year (which, to be fair, was gorgeous) and other games that have received a bigger upgrade. It uses the newest engine, which will do a good job carrying COD into the next gen, though there are less moments where it's showcased, but that doesn't make it look any less pretty. The sound design, per usual, is top notch and stuff is loud...enough to where I usually have to turn this down as I play it. 

While it may do nothing better than the series' "reinvention" with Modern Warfare, Cold War makes some smart changes that I appreciated, mostly in the zombies branch, but also in multiplayer (scorestreak move) and campaign (puzzle solving). It's not top-tier Call of Duty, but there's plenty to enjoy here for fans. 

CONS

• Campaign is well-designed, but won't stand out against the series' best. There's also not a whole lot of gameplay diversity
• Story is just "fine" and the twist, while surprising, doesn't mean much. The alternate endings will be interesting to see what happens with them
• It's very pretty, but I don't feel like it truly felt "next gen" on my PS5 like some other games have
• Multiplayer UI and gameplay could use some tweaks/updates like all MP games
• The save file sizes for Call of Duty's are getting out of hand. If I were to have all parts of the game installed + Warzone it would likely close in on 400GB!!!

PROS

• The puzzles built off mission collectibles are unique ways to "unlock" additional missions and story elements
• Campaign has some stealth highlights, including infiltrating the KGB
• Zombies mode has taken a big step forward with additional modes, a solid new map, and the ability to have something to aim for (other than just going until you die). Previously my least favorite mode, this may be the best part of Cold War
• Multiplayer continues to be a blast and I find I have much more "good" times than bad. Most maps are memorable and well designed (there are a few that stink) and progression is addicting
• I prefer scorestreaks to killstreaks. As someone who plays the objective, it curbs (not completely eliminates) those that just play for kills
• It also seems to have opened some larger objective-based doors for the series by doing this
• A complete package. At the new $70 price point I feel I'll get my money worth

Rath's Review Score | 8/10