Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Reviews
The short but solid Campaign and back to basics multiplayer lack major innovations but offer plenty of run and gun fun all the same
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an interesting new beginning for the series: the campaign is balanced and compelling, and the multiplayer is rich and as captivating as ever.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War offers fun and mind-bending Campaign. Certain elements like dialog options, multiple endings, and non-linear levels were less prevalent in the series. However, the length of the Campaign is pretty short and exactly when you reach the story’s climax, the story comes to a close. Rocky development and the current world situation have made the Multiplayer and Zombies a bit lacking and buggy but if you don’t encounter those bugs throughout the game, you’re in for a fun ride. The [somewhat] return of the Prestige system adds a huge replayability value to the game. This game has great foundations. The gunplay is stellar, the map design is good and the graphics look great on the new consoles. Underneath all the bugs and crashes lies a great Call of Duty game. We have to wait and see how Treyarch handles this game and makes it what it’s meant to be.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Whether you're buying Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War for the campaign, multiplayer, or Zombies, there's so much to enjoy, with great handling, cross-progression, and much more.
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.
Story missions disappointed, but the content is big and diverse enough to satisfy. Overall, this is a good game that captured the setting and the tension between the two powerful countries in early 80s very well.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Call of Duty needs to lean on three pillars every year. If one staggers, like multiplayer, the taste in the mouth that leaves is not what we demand of an annual product, and that is the case of Black Ops Cold War. Luckily, it shouldn't take much more than the start of the Seasons and the arrival of new content to fix.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, there have been better Call of Duty games in the past, particularly around the single-player campaign. But Black Ops Cold war gets both the multiplayer mode and zombies just right and those are the ones that really count most for fans.
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
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.
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.
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.
All in all, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War is a great entry into to Black Ops storyline. It gives an interesting view of the time, has a compelling storyline, and leaves you wanting more. That last comment, while it can be used negatively, is actually a positive here since it shows just how well things were thought out. Yes, there are flaws in the campaign, but if it factors into the plot twist, those flaws are not only forgivable, but genius. I can see areas where the game can grow through new mission DLC, but what we got at launch is a surprising gift that bridges the gaps between Black Ops and Black Ops 2. Even just the campaign makes this a buy. If you’re interested in hearing about multiplayer or Zombies, let us know and a follow up is sure to come. Just remember, if you’re a console gamer and want the next-gen upgrades, you’ll need to pay attention to which edition you’re getting. The current-gen version will only be the current-gen version.
This year's Call of Duty multiplayer is somewhat of a backwards step for the series.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is another solid entry in the Call of Duty franchise. Fantastic shooting, great visuals, a strong story – fans of the series will find a lot to love in the latest entry. Unfortunately, for anyone else, it's just another Call of Duty game that relies entirely on the same old multiplayer and zombies to carry it through.
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 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.
Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War brings Treyarch's winning formula back with a few stumbles in content, but manages to deliver on a bombastic story, refined multiplayer and vintage zombies with tons of neon glow.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War offers a triptych of experiences for all tastes, without at last focusing exclusively on multiplayer players. It even dares to bring new elements to the table, offering various branches in the plot based on the player's choices.
Review in Greek | Read full review
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.