Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War Review (PS4)

good
key review info
  • Game: Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
  • Platform: Playstation 4
  • Show system requirements
  • Reviewed on:
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War key art

By having yearly iterations every video game series risks not just to go stale, but also to oversaturate its audience. It’s a lesson learned by Ubisoft, but Activision seems stubborn to keep Call of Duty coming back year after year. Despite some vocal criticisms, things will not change, as long as from a financial perspective this business model proves to be a success again and again. Still, more than ever this year’s Black Ops seems a step back compared to last year’s Modern Warfare, despite the few highlight moments.

A big part of the hype created around Call of Duty remains multiplayer, the best evidence being the single-player campaign, which during the years got shorter and shorter, limiting more and more the player freedom to deliver an almost cinematic experience. On the other hand, the adrenaline-packed, very fast multiplayer can conquer the attention span of the audience until the next iteration is announced and the hype train leaves the station. This recipe works for a long time now, and although the Black Ops subseries is just 10 years old, it has already seen 5 iterations.

After the mixed reception of BO IIII, to put it mildly, now Treyarch decided to take us back to the period of Cold War, a very fascinating period if you happen to live in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and a mythical tale if you call the USA your home. The story revolves around Perseus, a legendary spy, who single-handedly can change the outcome of the war. With a nuclear missile in his possession, this mysterious villain plans to frame America for an attack on Europe, thus making the Soviet Union the hero that saves the day. The story, although short, has some bite to it trying to imitate a spy story, where the clever and fiendish agents are replaced by cowboys with an itchy trigger finger. At least until the end when everything turns upside down and you are left with a somewhat bitter taste.

Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
+6more

After the starting sequence that creates a very immersive experience, that, unfortunately, does not last for long, for the first time in the history of the series you can build your own alter-ego by filling out some details and choosing some perks. Although you cannot choose the looks of your character beyond the color of their skin, you can choose to be a nonbinary gender in the ‘80s. Who said history cannot be reinvented?! After you have built your clandestine operative you will get a walk down memory lane with Vietnam flashbacks and cheesy action sequences in East Berlin that fit perfectly with the ‘80s atmosphere.

The campaign itself is short, lasting only a few hours, but at least the developers managed to make it somewhat varied. Taking into consideration that the story is almost good, it is a shame that the developers did not aim to make it longer. Especially that this would have allowed them to implement properly all their ideas, instead of presenting them in a carousel on fast forward. As it stands you are left with a few memorable moments like taking down a plane with a remote-controlled toy car, wreaking havoc from the cockpit of a helicopter, or meeting Gorbachev in the Kremlin.

There are also some fun side activities like trying your skills with the arcade machines hidden in the game, but also filler activities like analyzing clues on an evidence board. There are a total of three endings that are not hard at all to obtain, you simply have to restart certain chapters. The biggest problem with the single-player campaign remains the length that does not allow the ideas crammed in it to fully fledge. It feels like an overstuffed turkey, full of the different concepts the producers came up with, but without time so players can enjoy or appreciate them. The AI is underdeveloped and it becomes even more hilarious when you see the exaggerated animations while they are trying to find cover. It feels as if the developers could not decide if they want to make a parody of the cold war era or if they took their game way too seriously.

Anyway, beyond the few memorable moments, the single-player campaign does not live up to its potential ending up not great, not terrible. Thanks to the changes along the way the narrative, in the end, takes you to a completely different place than the start would suggest, and it lacks the focus that we could see in last year’s Modern Warfare. But the highlight of each Call of Duty is undoubtedly multiplayer. As expected, we are treated to a variety of game modes, that although have plenty of content, still feel lighter than Modern Warfare.

All the fan favorites are here such as TDM, Domination, or Hardpoint, and this time around they are true classics lacking gimmicks like wall running. Here you do not have to confront the limited AI, but you have to rely on your abilities and the ones of your teammates. If you have a good team the experience can be ok, but there is a constant feeling that MW is a better option to spend your time in. With maybe one exception, the Dirty Bomb, being a battle royal inspired mod, that puts a twist on the oh so popular genre.

Although you are still thrown out of a plane as a member of a 4 players team, you don’t have to hunt for weapons, but to hunt down the other 36 players and gather enough uranium to explode some key locations and thus reduce the map size. You can use vehicles such as tanks or snowmobiles, and thanks to the tactical layer this mode can prove to be quite fun.

Last but not least the zombies return as well, that gives you some skills, a shadow of a story, and lots of weapons to decimate the endless hordes of zombies. The developers tried to return to the roots of this mod, but somehow along the way despite the interesting setting, the whole mode lost its originality. It seems that the developers preferred to focus on bringing the nostalgia, and that is why the only mission available at the moment, Die Machine is based on an extended version of the Nacht Der Untoten first introduced in World at War. The Onslaught mode is hidden behind an almost a year-long time exclusivity wall favoring the PS owners. Despite the constant feeling of déjà vu, there is still some fun in this game mode, and based on the skill of your team you can finish the map in around an hour.

Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
+7more

Perhaps to compensate for the lack of other missions we received along with the nazi zombies another episode of Dead Ops Arcade in which our main opponent is an angry monkey. Being a variation of the classic twin-stick shooters, sometimes it proves more fun than the actual Die Machine. To be called truly enjoyable and immersive, Zombies would have needed much more content than what we have available after launch.

The visuals are better in single player than in multiplayer, but numerous technical issues need to be fixed, in both modes. One of the most fragrant is the reflections in single player that tend to be missing completely or be on the other extreme and reflect objects or characters that are not in the scene. We already mentioned the hilarious animations, especially when it comes to the opponents trying to find cover. The soundtrack, just like the campaign starts out promising, creating an immersive atmosphere but it changes along with the story.


The Good

  • The initial atmosphere of the campaign
  • Some memorable moments
  • Dirty bomb mode

The Bad

  • Lots of technical issues in multiplayer
  • The graphic engine shows its age
  • Lack of content in zombies mode

Conclusion

After seeing the Cold War the hardcore fans will keep their preferences aiming towards the episodes developed by Infinity Ward. Although a fair effort, the latest Black Ops struggles to come out from the shadow of last year’s Modern Warfare and fails. On every level, it feels like a step back compared to the previous iterations.

Moreover, the visuals are outdated, and some technical issues should have been fixed before launch. We expected more from Black Ops Cold War, but I am sure that Activision will rake in enough money from the players to have another Call of Duty next year.

story 7
gameplay 7
concept 7
graphics 6
audio 8
multiplayer 7
final rating 7
Editor's review
good
 

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War screenshots (26 Images)

Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold War key art
Call of Duty Black Ops - Cold WarCall of Duty Black Ops - Cold WarCall of Duty Black Ops - Cold WarCall of Duty Black Ops - Cold War
+21more