Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Reviews
At launch, ahead of the release of the game's first season, Black Ops Cold War is a good shooter and a wonderful achievement, but it is far from being the great competitive multiplayer shooter it should be. I'm confident it can get there. Modern Warfare ended up with some fantastic updates during its first year of life, after all. So I'm sticking with Black Ops Cold War - for now.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode has some of the best moment-to-moment gameplay in the series but its single map and lack of split-screen multiplayer sap its endurance.
This year's Call of Duty multiplayer is somewhat of a backwards step for the series.
Cold War is an inessential distraction from the best Call of Duty on offer.
Cold War's quiet times are more memorable than the loud ones, even if the story's ambition outweighs its execution.
Not a standout year for Call Of Duty, as while the campaign offers some fun action and minor innovation Zombies and multiplayer are beginning to feel very tired.
A Call of Duty title that reigns everything in and is afraid to try something new, Black Ops Cold War gets the basics spot on but doesn't have enough content to warrant the price tag.
A laudable shake-up of the Call of Duty campaign formula, but Black Ops Cold War misses some targets.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War serves up a great campaign, solid multiplayer with fresh spins, and the zany zombie modes that we've come to expect from Treyarch
On their own, all of these things would have been significant improvements over the Zombies modes from the recent past. But when added together, they feel like a massive leap forward for the whole mode. By streamlining the overly complicated mechanics this time around, Treyarch is placing the focus back on the mode’s bread and butter: killing zombies.
Cold War's dynamic campaign stands out against bland multiplayer, while Zombies is a good co-op time with a few outstanding issues.
Then, as your character nears their breaking point, a door opens to your side, revealing a small dark room with an arcade cabinet in it. It's a game of Kaboom!, which involves catching an endless cascade of bombs as they are dropped by a tiny figure at the top of the screen. Offscreen you can hear your handlers sigh in relief as Bell's stress levels ease back down to the baseline, absorbed, as you are, by a simulated arcade game from 1981. Even resisting the programming winds up being its own kind of programming.
Cold War takes all those positives from Modern Warfare, and now we’re one step further with pretty much cross-everything. The multiplayer and Zombies matches are crossplay and cross-generation, meaning no one gets left behind if they couldn’t score a new PS5 or Xbox. There’s also cross-progression, so you can switch platforms without losing your progress.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is one of the best Call of Duty games in years, with vibrant new gameplay additions and robust multiplayer offerings. Despite that, it still feels hampered by aspects of its approach and tone that would have better been left in Call of Duty's past.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is yet another big win for Treyarch Studios. Despite the reduced development time between releases and the current state of the world, Treyarch has produced one of the better multiplayer/co-op/campaign combinations. If the devs stick to its roadmap for upcoming content, including the syncing of Cold War weapons to Warzone, then I’m confident players will be happy with this package.
From its shadowy story campaign to its frantic multiplayer action, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War offers the thrilling and magnetic gameplay expected of the series, shined up with solid character models, impressive vistas, and sharp visual effects. While there's undeniably room for improvement regarding innovation, Black Ops Cold War gets Call of Duty's third generation off to a strong start.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a decent entry in the series, but it feels like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. The campaign is full of underused ideas, while the multiplayer misses some of the magical charm of Modern Warfare, opting for faster paced aggressive battles which just don't feel as satisfying. While still enjoyable, Black Ops Cold War fails to recapture the magic of Black Ops 1 and 2.
Black Ops Cold War delivers one of the best campaigns in the Call of Duty saga, alongside multiplayer, zombies and a perfect integration with Warzone.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a solid entry in the long-running franchise, and a return to form for one of the most iconic titles in first-person shooters. The campaign goes big on thrilling espionage and exciting set pieces, though it does feel quite tone-deaf at times. Multiplayer is more of the arcade-feel that became synonymous with games like Black Ops 2, and will likely only get better once Season 1 kicks off and adds Warzone integration in December. Zombies doesn’t disappoint, as it once again proves to be the best alternate mode in Call of Duty. Treyarch reminds CoD fans that they’ve still got it with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.