Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Reviews
This year's Call of Duty multiplayer is somewhat of a backwards step for the series.
While suffering from technical issues, the campaign treads new ground as the rest of the game does little to evolve the franchise.
With a campaign of inconsistent pace, which does not take advantage of the Cold War environment and gets lost in an old-fashioned version of multiplayer mode, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a setback in some ways. Zombies mode is the best part of the game and is still released with some limitations. It remains a Call of Duty game and shows some qualities, but in general, it ends up disappointing.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War feels like a bit of a step back for the series, it has some special next generation features while presenting minimal content that hits below the expectations of the series.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the video game equivalent to that one kid in class with a sugar rush and an addiction to pixie sticks. Sure, it might be entertaining for a little while, but the more time you spend with it, the more you realize it’s just rambling on aimlessly. Ultimately, with its lack of a clear vision and focus on what makes a game fun, Cold War isn’t going to entertain you for long.
Cold War is an inessential distraction from the best Call of Duty on offer.
2020’s iteration of the long-winded franchise is once again a mixed bag, which sadly has become the norm with the series. A campaign that, while widely entertaining and for the most part interesting, is cut far too short to have any real substantial worth, a multiplayer mode that tries to do some new things but ultimately feels far too same-y with the old frustrations rearing their ugly head, and finally, a fantastic Zombies mode that entertains when playing alone or with friends adds up to a package that feels disjointed. The sooner that Activision decides to allow consumers to purchase elements of the game as separate entities the better, as the Zombies mode alone is worth a spin, just not at the full asking price.
I had fun with Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, especially with the campaign. Zombies remain great and is now easier to swallow, but multiplayer - being the main selling point for a Call of Duty game - is the weakest link in the package. With a strong entry last year, and numerous online games now available that are viable alternatives, Treyarch’s approach in multiplayer this year didn’t sell a good enough case to invest more time on it in the coming months. Time will tell how the first season will go, but the initial burst of content out the gate could fall flat, making some look elsewhere to satisfy that FPS multiplayer itch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War managed to balance two sides of the weights: if you play Call of Duty because of the campaing, you'll be undoubtedly satisfied. Singleplayer brings inovations, that transform classical „run and gun“ missions to think-through spy operations, that looks on Call of Duty beautifully. It doesn't depend if you look on choices, decryption or investigative puzzles or plesant stealth. Cold War breaks the unfortunate old concept used by older parts. On the other hand multiplayer and zombie mode go in the other direction. Instead of changes and inovations we get gunplay, which is still fun, but not that fun. All the inovations that were brought with Modern Warfare don't work in cold war anymore. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War can be great part to the series. But in the same way it can be average. All stands on what you prefer better.
Review in Czech | Read full review
A solid campaign from Raven Software with a somewhat disappointing multiplayer and zombies experience.
For the most part, the short-ish campaign can be rushed over a long weekend. Fortunately for the Black Ops Cold War, there are enough choices that might entice most players to go over the campaign at least one more time. For gameplay enthusiasts, there is always fun to be had messing around with perk combinations and higher difficulty settings. All-in-all, it’s a highly polished experience that plays it a little too closely on the safe side.
While "Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War" is undoubtedly a Call of Duty with a lot of effort behind it, it’s unable to fully convince, taking two steps behind and just one ahead. However, one thing is for certain: Black Ops wants to come back, and there are reasons to believe in a bright future for the franchise.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Moreover, the visuals are outdated, and some technical issues should have been fixed before launch. We expected more from Black Ops Cold War, but I am sure that Activision will rake in enough money from the players to have another Call of Duty next year.
An average Call of Duty game with three usual modes which doesn't wow or surprise, and sometimes looks bland compared to its predecessor.
Review in Russian | Read full review
COD heading back to Black Ops style. Cold War era is a good choice, however campaign is too short and there are not enough maps in multiplayer.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
I've never played a game more thoroughly unpleasant than Black Ops Cold War, but since this is the video game industry, the only thing I'm meant to be talking about is how much fun it is to press those buttons. So, let's finish the review and do that (since I know this conclusion is all most people are going to read anyway). Yes, it is fun to press buttons. You can even press buttons in multiplayer, and after however many Call of Duty titles now, the half dozen development teams that worked on this thing know how to make multiplayer button pressing fun. There are standard multiplayer modes, and classics like Zombies are back because people like those modes. It's all very accessible since this series is as mainstream as they come and Activision would hate for people to find it overwhelming. In short, if you want to play Black Ops Cold War as a completely passive sponge, then you'll have a lot of fun pressing those buttons. This score, below, is for you. For anyone else who is even mildly interested in thinking about the games they play, I can't put into words clearly enough how unacceptable I find this game to be.
The beating heart of the Call of Duty experience in terms of multiplayer feels like a solid return to the classic formula, but abundant technical issues make this a worrying stumble into a new generation
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is one of those games that people are going to find their own value out of. For me, the story campaign was a great experience, and the Zombie mode is always a fun bonus. Graphically the game is one of the best I've seen on the market for any video game of this cross-over generation and would recommend people who have high-end PCs or Next-Generation consoles give the game a play. However Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does nothing to change the reputation of the online multiplayer mode, from the push to buy season passes to a very toxic community, this would be the only huge negative I would point out, which will upset a lot of die-hards. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a game the die-hards will love, but won't do much to convert new players to its fold.
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.