“Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” Review
One of the few things you can count on each year is the next yearly installment in the immensely popular “Call of Duty” franchise. Following last year’s immensely successful “Call of Duty Modern Warfare” and the new king of Battle royales “Call of Duty: Warzone,” a lot of pressure was on the “COD” to live up to the hype.
Thankfully ‘Black Ops Cold War” more than lives up to those games with an explosive intense campaign, fun, and competitive multiplayer, and by having the best zombie’s mode seen since the original” Call of Duty Black Ops”.
Gameplay wise the gunplay is still the best in the business, guns feel different and thanks to the PlayStation 5’s “Dualsense” controller. The developers were able to make the triggers change with every gun used. This means that a pistol will feel much different from a grenade launcher in both aiming down the sights and firing.
The Campaign is one of the best in the series telling a story based on a lot of true figures from the Cold War. The protagonists are in a race to stop rouge Soviet Agent “Perseus” from detonating a series of Nuclear weapons across Europe.
In the Campaign players will cross paths with real life historical figures like Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Along with “Black Ops” mainstays Jason Hudson, Alex Mason, and Frank Woods.
The player mainly takes control of a CIA operative codenamed “Bell” who the player can lightly customize, with special perks and light cosmetic options. Stealing the show however is Bell’s team leader Russell Adler played excellently by veteran character actor Bruce Thomas.
Adler is a man who is tough and no nonsense who will do whatever it takes to stop Perseus and protect America. The campaign will take players from a flashback to the Vietnam war up to March 1981.
Highlights of the campaign include a desperate escape from a Soviet Command Base, and a stealthy infiltration of the KGB headquarters just to name a few.
The only real problem with the campaign is the length, even with two little extra side missions the length is still around four hours.
The multiplayer is full of the standard fare team deathmatch and other modes that have since become “Call of Duty” staples. The real highlight is the new Fireteam mode which features 10 different teams of 4 players scrambling across a large map looking for dirty bombs.
It is an intense fun mode that requires both skill and teamwork and is the best new mode ‘Call of Duty has had in years”.
Finally, the zombie’s mode brings its usual trademark intensity as four players team up to defeat the never-ending hoards of the undead. “Dead Ops Arcade” the twin stick shooter also makes a fun return with a much larger and expanded mode.
All in all, “Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War” is another major win for the “Call of Duty” franchise, the new elements make it an extremely polished and fun game that will be played for a long time; however, the short campaign holds the game back from true perfection.
Rating: 4/5
David Fortunato is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dforch2344@gmail.com.
