Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War kicks off a new generation of future CoDs on the PlayStation 5. Activision, Treyarch, and a slew of other well-known developers dig in together to try and make the first one this console one of the better ones. Did they do it? Let’s dig right in and find out.
Out with the Woods and Into the Fire
Black Ops Cold War is a direct sequel to the first Black Ops and brings the Reagan-led 80s to life. The game tells the tale of America trying to end the Cold War with the USSR before either gets destroyed. Returning are Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson, as well as an MI6 agent named Helen Park, and they do their best to track down a terrorist codenamed Perseus in hopes of stopping him before he manages to cause a catastrophe in an already uneasy Cold War era. The story takes players through darkened alleys, into the past with the Vietnam War, and, of course, brings on an action-packed, always over-the-top thrill ride that concludes with — nope, not going to tell you.
The story of Black Ops Cold War is definitely by the book when it comes to its surface structure. You know there are going to be moments where you are caught in the line of fire, you’re going to be a part of failed plans you have to work your way out of, and you’re almost always guaranteed, at least in the later stage of the series, with stealth-ing your way through some missions. These are the guaranteed and delivered parts of the campaign that Black Ops Cold War offers. It delivers with the action, drama, and intensity you’re used to seeing.
In the past years, Activision and its developers seem to have made a point of trying to throw new ‘things’ in with the campaign to change it up a bit. In the past, we’ve seen things like RTS missions, vehicle destruction, and in Modern Warfare last year, camera-to-camera stealth-ing. That was an interesting bit from Infinity Ward. This year? The campaign has taken an RPG approach, and not the missile type.
Within the game, you will run into branching dialogue choices, which shift some aspects of the story. For example, the first enemy you track down on the first mission leads you to an opportunity to dispose of them with choice A or choice B. Depending on your choice, it changes the course of the story. You will find this branching choice pattern throughout the entire campaign, which makes it unique in comparison to the most recent CoD games. That same branching story choice shows up during gameplay as well, where you won’t necessarily make a choice about the dialogue, rather a choice about your decision to do task A or B against someone’s wishes — on the fly. Regardless of choices, this aspect is neat and it’s a super-lite version of the type of choice-making you would find in a game like Knights of the Old Republic, though nowhere near the same complexity level in how it shifts the overall storyline or character traits. It does shift the story depending on choices, which will make you want to replay it over again to see how things would have turned out if you had gone with other branching choices.
What is the same-old-same is how long the campaign lasts. Quite honestly, I think the developers who oversee all the CoD games have found the sweet spot of 5-6 hours worth of content, which is what you get with Cold War. The story is substantial enough and not as ‘long-in-the-tooth’ as most CoD campaigns. Over the years, I have always felt that some of the CoD games were just padding the moments instead of ending the stories when they needed it. Stories like this should be treated like a BBC series. When the story is finished, the story ends. Cold War ends where it needs to end and gives just the proper amount of everything without feeling like it has overstayed its welcome.
Beyond timing, the weirdness factor of the game also keeps you glued to the story, an aspect of the game that you will run into here and there, but will be certain to engage your interests, as it did mine. As Black Ops in the past has shown, it can be trippy as hell with some stages and hide plenty of information in plain sight for you to miss. I do have questions about that ending, which I won’t tell you about, but definitely plays into the weirdness factor. Would love to hear your thoughts when you play the game (@digitalchumps).
Outside of choices, if you’re playing this on the PlayStation 5, then you have the best version of the game. The story is pretty seamless when it comes to load times, gorgeous with ray tracing turned on, and you are reminded around every corner that you’re on a next-generation console with how it looks and feels. In short, you’re not going to be disappointed with the visuals, the resolution, or the frame rate. It’s far above the previous generation that we just left.
If visuals weren’t enough, the adaptive triggers on the controller are nuts. Depending on the gun you’re holding, the adaptive triggers react to how that particular gun feels. You get a two-step trigger pull on most guns, meaning the trigger is loose until it gets halfway down, then it tightens up, much like a real weapon, before firing. If I recall correctly on real guns, this is for safety purposes so that you don’t have a loose trigger. This adaptive behavior enhances the experience when it comes to running and gunning through the campaign. Much like the gameplay in Astro’s Playroom on occasion, when the adaptive triggers are done properly, they add so much to the gameplay. They were done properly here.
Anyway, the campaign is worthy of the Black Ops moniker and certainly will keep you happy and engaged.
Multiplayer madness and things to come
We had the good fortune to play this against the developers and other review sites. We tested out all the multiplayer maps and modes, as well as Zombies. What we didn’t test out is Warzone, which will be here before you know it.
Starting with multiplayer, here’s a breakdown of the new MP modes:
– VIP Escort (6v6): It’s what it says it is. You escort a VIP to extraction zones while trying to destroy all enemy soldiers along the way. Either way, you work it, you win, unless you lose. This game mode was fun and the first MP game I experienced on our first multiplayer day. The maps on this level are tight and there are three separate points that you have to capture, at least two out of the three, to win the game in the time allotted (yes, you’re timed). One team plays as the offensive, which is trying to take the zones, while the other team is trying to defend them. It’s an interesting concept that plays fast and has a lot of nice and uncertain choke points to it. The three or so matches I played were lite and enjoyable. It’s a good addition to the MP family, especially you’re interested in quick plays.
– Fireteam Dirty Bomb (40 players, teams of four): Teams are competing against each other to gather up uranium and create/activate dirty bombs. When a bomb goes off, that part of the map is inaccessible, which happens quickly. The maps are absolutely enormous. The game map is huge when it starts out and you can parachute into the area if you die, though it is possible to revive teammates to keep things going. Anyway, there are also snowmobiles to get around the map, so you can get places quickly.
I’m a bit unsure if I like this mode or not, as it is really wide open to the world and a sniper’s paradise. The two matches I played were so-so experiences, but that’s probably more about me sucking at the mode than the mode itself. Alex (who did the PS4 review of this game) had more success, so I suspect it was the latter. Anyway, I felt like there was no safe area to stop and think, as there were a lot of moving parts to keep up with (hiding, finding a good location to take enemies out, while weeding out enemies with dirty bombs). Sometimes it felt like there was too much going on with no time to organize the chaos of the construct. That said, I can see a lot of people enjoying this one. At least 40 at a time.
– Combined Arms (12v12): This is an interesting MP mode. I felt like this had a bit of Sledgehammer’s Advanced Warfare MP in it, where you have to slam-dunk the electric ball in the enemy’s court (that’s how I thought of it, sue me I’m from Kentucky — BASKETBALL IS LIFE). Anyway, this worked off that concept, where you capture a point, then infiltrate the enemy team’s side to wrap up the mode. It’s fast and it forces you to come out and play. Maybe not the mode for snipers, but also could be the mode for snipers since movement and infiltration are vital.
As for other MP modes, the old familiars are here — domination, kill confirmed, free for all, team deathmatch, hard point, search and destroy, and others you would expect. I think that the multiplayer portion of this game will get better when it expands to Warzone, which is still one of the bright spots for Modern Warfare, well, before cheating became a rampant thing (I suspect that Activision will have that under control when it opens up on Black Ops Cold War). Regardless, you won’t be disappointed with the launch variety and it should get you through before Warzone hits. These modes are still crazy fun.
Now, let’s wrap this up on a high note with Zombies.
Zombies, then it’s a wrap
We (Alex and myself) played this mode together in a cross-generational version of survival. The story of Zombies is rather creepy and with a name like Die Maschine that is expected. Russian soldiers from the 50s happen across a shelter that contains Nazi secrets. While exploring all the tech, they’re overwhelmed by the undead and the bodies just keep stacking up…then coming alive…only to stack up even more…you get it. Your job is to explore the bunker (and other places) and survive until you can be extracted. There are some rather freaky secrets along the way, nothing this review will cover, but the story is solid for such an expected mode of play.
The first level you happen upon in the game is a multi-location and multi-tiered map that stretches you and your teammates far away from each other if you’re not careful. The visuals of the PS5 make this level incredibly creepy, especially when you happen upon the underground cave where light is restricted and the ray tracing is in full force. There’s a lot going on visually here, straight out of a Resident Evil game, and it adds to the value of the zombie essence.
As usual with the Zombie games, you have weapons you can switch out of as you progress through waves of enemies, ammo that you can replenish with Zombie essence (the currency you get from killing zombies), and plenty of boosts and buffs to try and extend your Zombies experience. For the time I spent with the Zombies portion of CoD, I had a blast. The extraction portion of this MP experience is probably the most intense part of the mode, where you are getting rescued and a countdown comes up, while LOTS of zombies try and take you down. It’s frightful fun.
Anyway, you won’t be disappointed with Zombies. It’s a good mode for this release.
That said, onto the conclusion!
Conclusion
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. Is it all perfect? Not at all, but it’s a good way for Call of Duty to start on the next generation of consoles.
