Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War [Xbox]
Growing up playing Modern Warfare and Black Ops on my 360, I’ve loved Call of Duty games and enjoyed them for both their campaigns and online multi-player, but over time I drifted from the series. The annual releases, combined with my ever-growing backlog of games, pulled me further and further from the series that were bringing them out faster than I could keep up. Also looking at you, Assassin’s Creed. And with my collector brain on, the Editions for these releases were getting more and more expensive as time went on, too. So we gave up. We went probably a good year, maybe more, where we didn’t really buy any new games (aside from the occasional sale title, or a one-off that caught our eye). We stopped buying the Editions as often, since A) we were - and still are - rapidly running out of space for them, and B) we were buying so many that we were never getting around to playing some of them, and C) due to the volume being released and the increasing prices, we couldn’t afford to get them all. Maybe some priorities were a little out of whack, ha. Once we came back to it all refreshed, after some time away from the constant game releases, we have been getting back into all of the series we know and love (and new ones, too). And after getting deep into Call of Duty: Warzone, Cold War was one game that instantly grabbed our attention.
Activision’s latest offering, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, takes place during the early 80s. The campaign is slightly different to the usual COD affair in that the main character you play as, is defined by you. You can customise their name, skin tone, military background, psychological profile, and their gender. The most surprising thing to see here, is the ability to have your gender be recognised as non-binary - utilising they/them pronouns. It’s nice to see developers, especially bigger ones (as it’s already becoming more common in the indie space) have more inclusivity in their games. Admittedly, this choice came after a bit of backlash from fans due to the ‘Classified’ gender option, which whilst also using they/them pronouns, was more for mystery than actual inclusivity.
As your custom character, you’ll notice this time round, we’ve got a lot more story compared to actual gunfights - and it actually works really well. The story is deep and riveting, with collectible items hidden throughout your missions that will expand upon the story in the form of evidence, and this all really helps to keep you engaged. Sadly the campaign isn’t very long, but that’s almost expected - I’d have really liked it to have more, but with multiplayer being Call of Duty’s biggest pull (by far), it’s understandable that that’s where the focus is. And considering that Black Ops 4 didn’t have a campaign at all - I’m glad we’ve got one this time! It’s definitely a departure from the usual COD campaigns we’ve seen before, with a lot more focus on the story, with parts sometimes playing out a little slower (including a very Hitman-esque segment), but this gave it a little more flair and enjoyment, for me.
Visually, it’s impeccable - running at a sweet 120 frames per second, everything looks gorgeous with plenty of detail in every scene. Between the Campaign and Multiplayer, everything looks great - with multiplayer maps being well designed and enjoyable to explore and play. You’ve got tonnes of customisation options for your Operators, with additional Operator skins being able to be unlocked for use throughout Cold War’s multiplayer and Warzone. The campaign is far more cinematic than we’ve seen before, and it works really well, giving a very action movie vibe to the whole thing. The music for Cold War is impressive too, with a fantastic tension-filled soundtrack by Jack Wall and a number of classic 80s tracks throughout the campaign that really help solidify the time period.
Within the multiplayer, you’ve got a decent selection of weapons that feel solid, and simpler, more straightforward maps that help to keep things moving. It actually feels reminiscent of the early days of COD multiplayer - in a good way. At launch, there were a lot of complaints about how few weapons were available at that point - admittedly there were still a fair few, but not as many as they could have had. Thankfully, over the past few months, with the addition of new maps and weapons, this has alleviated some of these frustrations. One change that Cold War brings, changing things up from previous titles, is a new Scorestreak system, in that your score now carries across after death. This helps to give everyone more of a chance at nabbing those Killstreak rewards such as the RC-XD, Napalm Strike or Gunship, which feel super satisfying to deploy.
Though the campaign can be completed in less than 6 hours, there’s plenty to keep you coming back for more. The multiplayer is enjoyable, across the wide variety of modes available. The maps flow really well, and everything feels well balanced, and any progression gained here carries across other areas of the game. Zombies is fantastic too, with really fast-paced action and plenty of puzzles to solve and Easter eggs to discover. And of course, Warzone is one of the most popular Battle Royale games we’ve got currently, and whilst it can be played without owning Cold War, it does tie-in with a joint Battle Pass and rewards that can be earned across both games simultaneously. Season 4 is due to be released on June 17th, 2021 - bringing with it the usual new content, from skins and weapons, as well as something that has been teased with: “a new threat is coming from above”. It’s great how much keeps getting added even this far down the line, but it’s definitely having an impact on our Xbox Series X’s storage (RIP).
In the end, we decided to give Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War the Collecting Asylum rating of 9/10.
Have you played Cold War yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Activision for the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Xbox review code!
