Every year, duty calls: With “Black Ops – Cold War,” the first another offshoot of the equally popular and billion dollar heavy “Call of Duty” appears-series. Activision is looking to build on the start of the legend, which with the first “Black Ops” started ten years ago. Plus new ideas.
New cannon fodder for PC and console warriors: With “Black Ops Cold War celebrates the best-selling series of the “Call of Duty”-makes a sensational comeback – and a technically impressive debut on the new PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles. The content of “Cold War” ties in to the first “Black Ops which appeared ten years ago. The epithet “Cold War – The tense geopolitical situation between the Soviet Union and the West in the early 1980s serves as the backdrop for a gripping tour de force that can be experienced up close in the style of a conspiracy thriller. PC and console players will even meet historical figures such as US President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, before the latter became President of the Soviet Union.
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Who is the main character?
After the storyline of Black Ops Cold War to the ten-year-old first part of “Black Ops”, another offshoot of the equally popular there is a reunion with characters such as Woods, Mason and Hudson. Plus new characters such as CIA professional Russel Adler. The main role of the agent “Bell the player takes over himself. With the CIA file, which you create at the beginning, you individualize Bell – with name, intelligence affiliation (CIA, MI6, ex-KGB), skin color and gender. In addition, there are 15 traits to choose from for a psychological profile. Each of these features brings with it an individual bonus ability. How the “impatient” can more accurate from the hip, while the “Relentless” is a bit more of a challenge has a 25 percent increased rate of fire.
How original is the campaign?? And what is it all about??
At the behest of the superbly digitized U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the uncompromising Robert Redford lookalike mission leader Russel Adler, the covert operatives hunt a spy around the globe. At stake is nothing less than the fate of the world. For the mysterious Perseus has come into possession of nuclear weapons and is planning fireworks that would plunge the earth into geopolitical chaos. World War III hovers over everything. Several times the elite agents have been close on the heels of Perseus and his henchmen, but stopping him for good remains a race against time.
As with any thriller, the story developed by author David S. Goyer (“The Dark Knight”) with developed story of “Cold War”: Nothing is as it seems. The heartbeat finale with a surprising twist is a worthy conclusion to the campaign. Nevertheless: All this is not new, all ingredients are standard utensils from the thriller genre. At least the story is so visually stunning and cinematically staged that the lack of originality is not noticeable. After six to eight hours of gameplay, the “agent movie” is in places to play by yourself. Who can not get enough of it: There are five difficulty levels to choose from.
How varied is the gameplay?
Once around the world and pockets full of ammunition: The hunt for Perseus turns the elite agents into globetrotters. Among other places, we go to Turkey, Cuba, East Berlin (including a detailed depiction of the border strip at the Berlin Wall), Vietnam and Moscow. The variety is not only great in terms of the locations.
Shootouts remain the core element of the gameplay, but they are strikingly often countered by stealth sequences. There are locks to pick, suspects to observe with the agent’s camera, enemies to knock out and their corpses to hide. Sometimes you have to deactivate cameras, sometimes you have to walk through a security wing in a fake uniform. An alert indicator shows how close you are to being exposed. The thrill that comes with it works just fine. In this respect, the new “Cold War” is reminiscent of the old one is in places reminiscent of stealth games like “Hitman or “Metal Gear Solid.
The dialogues, which are reminiscent of the role-playing game genre, also offer two possible answers. Sometimes it’s an interrogation, sometimes just small talk with the other team members. The quiet moments in the Black Ops operators’ lair also ensure a good work-life balance. There is a large evidence board, where you can not only choose the next mission, but also evaluate the collected information with detective flair. An optional pastime, as well as certain additional missions. Those who like to puzzle like in an adventure game will get their money’s worth here. If you prefer to limit yourself to shooting, you can simply ignore this game element.
How brutal is “Black Ops Cold War”??
With a controversial scene in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” Activision fired up the killer game debate at the time. As a player, you were in the “No Russian” mission forced to idly witness a terrorist attack against civilians at an airport. “Black Ops Cold War saves such scandalous moments in the campaign. Still, one scene brings back memories of it: in the mission’s showdown at the KGB headquarters, vast numbers of enemies who are outgunned are mowed down without the action being questioned on a meta-level. The USK gave an age rating of 18 years and older. The German version is also uncut. And this, although the melee kills are also drastically violent. A close-up shows how enemies are silently eliminated by neck-breaking or knifing.
Equally questionable and already controversial in the run-up to the release: a multiplayer mode called “Fireteam: Dirty Bomb”. In it, ten squads of four collect uranium first for a dirty bomb to detonate at a specific point – irradiating entire areas of the map. The terrorist nightmare of every government – here’s an “online fun”, without any classification.
Speaking of which, how successful is the multiplayer mode?
The multiplayer mode expands the already known and proven online modes with three new variants. In “VIP Escort the teams alternate, a “celebrity” to evacuate. In the Moshpit “Connected Weapons 6v6 teams compete against each other. The maps are wide enough to create individual routes and strategies, but you can find your way around without getting lost. In addition, you don’t always have to walk: Vehicles are helpful in larger areas. Overall, the multiplayer gameplay feels like a classic run&gun. Campers should not like that. New is the ping system, with which you can tag tasks, loot, enemies and co for your teammates.
Also the Nazi undead battle plate called Zombies mode may not be missing of course also. While the campaign and multiplayer are serious, the Zombies mode, set in an abandoned bunker, is more tongue-in-cheek, partly neon-colored shooter trash – including ether capsules, elemental ammunition, Tempo Coke and Death Daiquiri as a kind of target water.
What could have been done better?
There is one point of criticism in the multiplayer experience: The collection of Scorestreaks is not interrupted as before when the character dies. Because instead of shooting series points are collected, which are counted even after the death and re-entry further. However, Activision takes away one of the biggest thrills of the multiplayer mode, because suddenly you no longer have to worry whether you survive long enough to collect the reward for your achievements.
Cold War” is also appealing in terms of dialogs and decisions in the campaign does not live up to its full potential. Because no matter which dialogues you choose: The impact on the gameplay and the ending are marginal. Here would have been clearly more in it!
Has “Black Ops Cold War” the potential to be a long-running hit?
As in “Modern Warfare Activision wants to keep the motivation of the players high with new content. Publisher promises “the largest amount of free post-release content in ‘Black Ops’ history” as well as “a packed schedule of in-game community events”. In addition, the free “Battle Royale-Warzone” spin-off with “Cold War networked. Like Modern Warfare will also be available in “Cold War” Progress in “Warzone Transfer. The Battle Pass system also remains. Beyond that, there’s something to be said for “Cold War” has what it takes for a long period of time. Both cross platform and cross generation matches are possible. Meaning: Players on PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Series X/S as well as PC can meet each other.
Is “Cold War” the best “Black Ops” so far?
Many players of “Black Ops 4 sorely missed a campaign. The predecessor also seemed as if Treyarch and Raven Software were full of reverence for popular online hitters like “Fortnite”, “PUB” and Co. get into a creative blockade. Instead of imitation, “Black Ops Cold War” sets back to their own tradition. That there is a lot of heart in the story, you can see in large parts of the campaign. You rarely shoot your way through meaningless corridors without a concrete goal in mind. The multiplayer mode is also reminiscent of the early days in its no-frills and tempo-heavy style, which makes “Black Ops”-Series about the most successful part of the “Call of Duty”-brand have made. The fact that the campaign also offers innovative gameplay elements away from the baller orgies is the best news.