Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Reviews
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is as close to true call of Duty as you're likely to find in recent years, for better or for worse. The campaign does branch out a little, offering you side-missions that are unlocked through evidence gathering, which is fun. It's also engaging, featuring a good number of entertaining set pieces. However, it's also insane and has way too many throwaway 'features'. Multiplayer, and the zombie mode, are both very enjoyable to play and multiplayer has been made more engaging for those who used to struggle to get massive kill streaks. However, there's no doubt that the multiplayer is seriously lacking in maps. Also, the game needs some technical polish. Still, all in all, this is still a strong FPS and one that will keep fans coming back for more.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's campaign is tight, slick, and lots of fun, it almost avoids getting totally bogged down with militaristic mumbo jumbo, thanks to a barmy plot, and fun, albeit cliched characters, and most importantly, genuinely creative and impressive gameplay mechanics, that don't involve shooting. Sure it's as short as ever, but given it's one part of the package that includes zombies and multiplayer, it's easily the best Call of Duty story for many years, and perhaps one of the best shoot-em-up campaigns, too.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War lends itself as a bombastic, yet short-lived game. We can only hope that this project will be well-received by Activision higher-ups, and that Raven Software will finally make name for themselves.
Review in Russian | Read full review
This is the great return of a much-appreciated saga: lots of content, a non-linear campaign and various improvements manage to overshadow some technical imperfections. And above all, shooting is pretty damn fun.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Treyarch is quick to admin they faced development challenges during the pandemic. To a degree, it shows. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War doesn’t innovate in any big way. It merely gives Call of Duty fans more of what they have been accustomed to playing year after year. At the same time, Cold War is truly an enjoyable experience delivering over 100gigs of content that’ll get ongoing support and free content long after this review is posted. In short, better days ahead. Cold War will once again be considered the must-have shooter this holiday season. Deservedly so. Just don’t expect anything incredibly groundbreaking
The single-player and campaign modes are actually really great stuff. But like nearly all Call of Duty games, that is the content you'll breeze through within your first week playing if even for just a few hours a day. The bulk of the ride ends up being multiplayer and zombies and that is where the problems really lie. This is a game that I'm sure will eventually get the extra content, balancing, and bugs worked out along a series of patches and end up being much better than it is today. But unfortunately the buggy, laggy, unbalanced, and content-sparse game we get at launch is the only one I was given to review. And the balance of the excellent single-player with below average multiplayer ends up for an average overall experience.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a solid entry in the blockbuster franchise that looks stunning on next-gen consoles. While its campaign fails to deliver on its potential, it still takes you on a thrilling tale of explosive espionage as you uncover the true identity of Perseus. Combine this with an old-school multiplayer component and expanded Zombies mode and you’ve got a shooter experience I can easily recommend.
Do not get carried away by the impressions or analysis of each year's shift, not even ours, Call of Duty and by extension Black Ops Cold War, is always a great game. The quality standards with their predecessors already establish an enormous self-demand, from which we can only benefit. I always say it, Call of Duty is a safe purchase every year. For the same price you have a brutal Campaign, one of the best and most addictive multiplayer and bonus, the Zombies mode, ideal for cooperative.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War feels like a backwards step for the franchise. A pretty forgettable campaign and an ok multiplayer, makes it a good, but not great new Call of Duty.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War is exactly what you expect it to be, but there is a massive amount of content on offer here and it's still impressive. Maybe the magic is starting to slip now, but if you've not picked up a Call of Duty recently then grab this one, there's still some fun to be had.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War brings the series back to the start in a much-needed way. Treyarch proves yet again that it is the king of multiplayer, providing exceptional, genre-defining gameplay along with a decent mix of new maps and modes that help with the lack of Zombies content. And Raven Software takes the single player campaign in a different direction that stumbles a bit in execution but lays the foundation for games to come.
Overall, the campaign for Black Ops: Cold War is a very enjoyable experience. The story itself has a very well-written narrative with Christopher Nolan’s Inception levels of confusion right up until the final few missions. The length of the campaign and replayability is a big concern for me though. Most gamers will speed through this campaign, never to return to it again upon completion because there is simply nothing worth doing once you are all done. Of course, the Multiplayer and Zombies modes will have an effect on your experience of the game, but you’ll have to wait for a further deepdive of those.
Overall, Zombies mode delivers on all fronts. As I said at the start of the review, the new maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies will come, but this current map provides enough entertainment for you to keep coming back and trying again and again to better your score. Currently, I am averaging around 500 zombie kills per match, but I know I could get even higher than that. It’s challenges like that which keep the longevity of this mode going. Whether you are in a squad or going solo, zombies mode is one that you certainly should not overlook.
Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer brings enough new content to the table to offer the user a number of new experiences which quantifies buying the game. Unfortunately, these modes can grow a bit stale after a while. Yes, they are classed as ‘new’ modes but they heavily borrow from modes that have been present in the past. Vehicle warfare does not quite reach the lofty expectations promised. It’s a fun enough experience, but I found myself leaning a lot more towards Zombies rather than the multiplayer mode.
Cold War offers the best CoD campaign in years, but not everyone will like the multiplayer mode.
Review in German | Read full review
Call of Duty Black Ops is not the hottest episode in the series. It feels a bit rushed, as its campaign is too short and doesn't rely enough on its fresh ideas. Multiplayer doesn't offer enough maps and we can question weapons balance and netcode. Zombie Mode is probably the most satisfying thing, but we have to be patient, as new content is on its way.
Review in French | Read full review
Treyarch's latest feels like it's only a few quality of life changes away from being the perfect revival of the Black Ops series. It delivers on all three fronts and manages to subtly freshen some of the series' most stale ingredients.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a good game that should be easier to stomach for franchise veterans than Modern Warfare. The campaign is fulfilling, albeit short. The faster-paced multiplayer is also easy enough to jump into and have fun with. It's just a shame that I can't shake that feeling that Treyarch's true vision has been held back by Activision forcing its ideals onto them.
Black Ops has absolutely returned with a vengeance. The fast, frantic pace is still there, and the gunplay is still just as great as you remember it. While the campaign may be the weakest part of an overall phenomenal package, it's still very satisfying and the espionage narrative packs a punch. The modes people are going to play the most, multiplayer and Zombies, are the strongest parts of Black Ops Cold War, and offer the best first person shooter gameplay in video games. PS4 and Xbox One players may be missing out on several improvements offered by the next-gen systems and PC, but it's not enough to detract from an amazing experience. My appetite for Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is definitely growing, and like Duran Duran, "I'm hungry like the wolf".
For some reason, I always have a preconceived notion that I won't enjoy this year's Call of Duty. How can a series that releases every single year without fail possibly maintain a consistent quality bar? There are detractors who'd say it doesn't, but let's be honest – it does. Call of Duty: Black Ops