Bozo Beat — Black Ops Cold War Review

Another year, another Call of Duty game. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t grown tired of keeping up with this series every year. Although there were a few fun COD games this generation, most of them ended up feeling bland and uninspired. Does Black Ops Cold War do enough to set itself apart from its countless predecessors and muster more of a reaction than “eh”? Surprisingly, yeah, it does.

Campaign

It’s no surprise that most people buy Call of Duty games almost exclusively for online multiplayer experiences and completely disregard the campaign. It seems as if COD developers have taken notice of this as well, given that the campaigns of the past few games have dwindled in quality and, in Black Ops 4’s case, been omitted entirely. However, Black Ops Cold War actually broke this trend and delivered a surprisingly fun campaign. Rather than the mundane and linear level designs that have plagued recent COD campaigns, the levels found in Cold War feel like a breath of fresh air as they’re much more open, allowing both experimentation and exploration.

Black Ops Cold War, much like Black Ops 2, also features player choices that affect the outcome of the story. Although it's only the final set of choices that actually produce different endings regardless of previous decisions, it’s still commendable how the developers took the time to flesh out the outcomes of each decision. My only real complaint with the experience is its overall length. Unfortunately, the story can be completed in around five hours. However, this also ensures that the campaign remains fun at all times and doesn’t outstay its welcome. Regardless, I would’ve liked just a bit more from Cold War’s story mode, perhaps more optional missions.

Multiplayer

Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer is… well it’s Call of Duty multiplayer. What do you expect? It’s extremely basic and feels somewhat stripped-down when compared with its predecessors. However, this is actually the first COD multiplayer experience I’ve enjoyed in a while. I feel as if much of the past generation’s COD games tried too hard to differentiate themselves with new features that just ended up feeling gimmicky. These attempts to stand out ended up convoluting the series’ identity. Although it seems backwards, Cold War succeeds in standing out by simply being a COD game; no fancy bells or whistles. While Cold War is rather basic as it doesn’t necessarily innovate, it’s somewhat refreshing to play a COD that harkens back to the original Black Ops. At the end of the day, I don’t play these games for an incredibly complex competitive multiplayer experience. I play them for mindless fun and as far as that’s concerned, I’d say Cold War’s multiplayer is a success.

As far as content goes, Cold War’s multiplayer felt a little lacking at launch. The game only had ten maps available at the time of launch, two of which are exclusive to a new Fireteam gamemode (which is actually pretty fun). The other eight maps range pretty wide in terms of quality, with some fun standouts, such as Armada, as well as some painfully boring ones, such as Crossroads. Thankfully, more free content has been released since launch, with the iconic maps Nuketown and Raid making a return. However, it’s a shame that I find myself playing these two legacy maps more than most of Cold War’s original maps which unfortunately prove to be somewhat dull and forgettable. Hopefully, if more content continues to be released at the same rate it is now, some standout original maps will surely be added.

Zombies

Out of the three main facets that Black Ops Cold War has to offer, the Zombies mode is the one I have the least to say about. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the Zombies mode in this game. However, there’s nothing really memorable about it either. This is mainly due to the fact that only one map is available so far. While the map, Die Maschine, is a pretty cool callback to the original Nacht der Untoten map from World at War, it doesn't quite offer anything beyond nostalgia. Given that Zombies proved to be somewhat of a highlight for the past Black Ops games, it’s a shame that this one feels like more of a miss. However, a new map is expected to be dropping soon which looks to be fun.

Verdict

In complete honesty, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of competitive online shooters. I don’t particularly enjoy them, nor am I very good at them. Having said that, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War proved to be a really pleasant surprise. Despite its few shortcomings and lack of content at launch, I’ve actually been having a lot of fun with the game. Overall, this is the first COD game I’ve genuinely enjoyed in this past generation of games.