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Verdict: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies is as highly polished and tense as you’d expect from a mode that’s been around in some form or another for over a decade now. The iconic ...
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Campaign Review - IGN
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Raven Software Nov 13,...
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Campaign Review - IGN
Nov 16, 2020 · As an annual series defined by incremental changes to a formula, nitpicking is ingrained in the discourse. That’s certainly the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War, a good game that ...
- morgan.park@futurenet.com
- Morgan Park
- Staff Writer
- Back in black
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War price and release date
- The Reagan retribution
- Old school cool
- Night of the Living Dopamine
- Verdict
•What is it? The latest Call of Duty game, set during the Cold War
•Release Date? November 13, 2020
•What can I play it on? PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and PC
•Price? Standard next-gen edition is $69.99/£64.99/AU$99.95
•A morally bankrupt narrative that descends into absurdity
•Character customization feels like a half-baked idea
•At least it looks lovely in 4K at 60 fps
As you might expect from the marketing so far, Cold War’s campaign is a real turn-your-brain-off, politically acerbic story. A deified Ronald Reagan provides a bunch of boneheaded operatives carte blanche to commit war crimes to protect “the free men and women of the world.” You’ve seen it all before, and you’ll see it again. It’s a far cry from last year’s Modern Warfare, which at least tried to deal with its subject matter with some tact — even if its execution is debatable.
You create your own character this time around, and you get to pick your gender and the tenets of your psychological profile, with choices like ‘Tormented’ providing you with double the lethal and tactical equipment because you always “over prepare for a negative outcome.” Edgy.
There are some standout missions where the game flips the script and slows down the pace to create Hitman-esque stealth sequences, but the whole thing boils down into a popcorn action-movie of questionable ethics. Expect gruesome takedowns, rockets blowing up beautiful villages, cheesy mission codenames and helicopters exploding while you’re in them. It’s propaganda, but at least the 80s soundtrack is cool, and it doesn’t drag on too long, clocking in at around six hours.
•This year’s multiplayer offering goes back to basics, for the better
•A smaller, more refined arsenal of weapons
•Incredible immersion with the DualSense’s haptics and triggers
Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer mode is certainly the best part of the package, given the addictive nature of its back to basics style. It feels inherently old school, and bygone tactics like shotguns and snipers still pay off in dividends. The maps are tight and well-made but full of interactive elements, like zip lines that take you from boat to boat and rappels that let you surprise campers. The game’s arsenal isn’t bloated but it feels like there are still options for every kind of player, from sweaty SMGs to clinical three-round-burst rifles.
Particularly on the PS5, this is where the DualSense shines. No conjecture, every gun does feel different thanks to the adaptive triggers. Ultimately this will be a marmite feature for Call of Duty veterans — we doubt pro players will endorse the extra hand-strain necessary to hold down a sniper trigger — but if you’re not esports-ready and just looking for immersion, there’s really nothing like it.
We highly recommend you switch it on and try it out across your loadouts to experience vibrational variety. The crunch you feel when you fire a shotgun is awesome, as is feeling every spin of the helicopter blade as you peel through the game’s lush environments. Swapping back to a last-generation controller on PC felt like a considerable step-down.
•Treyarch’s take on Zombies is as addictive as ever
•Cross-progression between modes is a superb feature
•Performance issues arise that may be ironed out
There’s a special kind of considered chaos to Call of Duty: Black ops Cold War — frankly it’s an absurd entry in the series, but it works well and is certainly nostalgic, especially if you sunk many hours into the Black Ops games back in the day.
The Zombies mode is similarly good fun, especially if you’re more of a co-operator than a competitive player at heart. The premise is interesting and it commits to the far more interesting absurd side of the game, as you enter portals to another world and fight off plague hounds.
Your loadouts and progression also track across all modes, which creates this coordinated onslaught of dopamine regardless of what part of the package you dig into. There’s something very satisfying about upgrading your shotgun in Zombies to give it the attachments necessary to rack up kills in multiplayer.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a (mostly positive) mixed bag. We were let down by Cold War’s campaign, which held onto old tropes and botched its subject matter. The best part about that is that the campaign is the least essential part of the package. Certainly play it for the visuals, but you can also easily skip it and enjoy hundreds of hours of fun in the game’s multiplayer and zombies modes. Even if you’re just playing on your own, there’s plenty of content here to dig into, and we doubt you’ll feel short-changed for the price.
The gunplay remains as addicting as ever, bolstered by the unique immersion of the DualSense, and the interactive new maps and modes add a tactical twist to the more conventional parts of the tried and tested Call of Duty gameplay. Black Ops Cold War is a great third-party pickup if you’re looking for a game to test the limits of your next-gen console, especially if you’ve got a group of friends lined up to jump in around launch.
•Xbox Series X games: all the games confirmed for the new Xbox
•PS5 games: all the games confirmed for the PlayStation 5
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- olomanjordan@gmail.com
Nov 16, 2020 · Verdict. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a solid entry in the blockbuster franchise that looks stunning on next-gen consoles. While its campaign fails to deliver on its potential, it still ...
- Activision
- Jade King
Nov 13, 2020 · Negative Reviews. 90. Digital Chumps. Nov 13, 2020. The PlayStation 5 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the best in the bunch. It tells a solid campaign with branching narrative choices, contains some of the best visuals that you’ve seen on a system not called ‘PC’, and it has some good, new faces on the multiplayer scene.
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- M
Nov 24, 2020 · Black Ops Cold War is the kernel of a thrilling and intimate spy story that’s tragically strapped on the front of a runaway train.The game begins in a neon-drenched bar in Amsterdam on New Year ...
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Nov 13, 2020 · Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Raven Software Nov 13, 2020. Rate this game. 7. Cold War's quiet times are more memorable than the loud ones, even if the story’s ambition outweighs its ...
