Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War: “Are we the bad guys?”

Duty calls, and this time we’re heating up the Cold War: In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War we make our way into the world of the sixties and eighties and we have to decide which part is the “bad” one. And it does multiplayer after 5pm call of Duty– Are the titles still fun?

I’ve always found the term “Cold War” strange. Sure, we call it “cold” because the two superpowers US and USSR never direct waged military clashes. However, various proxy wars, such as those in Afghanistan and Vietnam, have resulted in intense fighting and millions of deaths. In these “proxy wars” the real central conflict between capitalism and communism was then fought, with the United States and the Soviet Union providing military support to the liberal and communist currents in these countries. This conflict began as early as 1945, when the United States and the Soviet Union were determined to be the common victors but not allies of World War II.

From that point on, both should claim to be the main culture and state form of the “ideal world”. However: the term “Cold War” is reminiscent of more than two children who just want to annoy each other with angry looks and cold shoulders, but who don’t hurt each other physically. In fact, these two rascals tried to indoctrinate other children and give them water balloons and candy without admitting that they really just want to sacrifice their friends for a personal discussion. But they didn’t want to attack each other directly. Okay, yes, that’s right, a strange comparison. But let’s be honest: there was nothing “cold” about this war, which almost degenerated into World War III.

In any case, this time period in (in) human history offers an incredible amount of material for tons of espionage and conspiracy stories. And right here it binds Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on – at least the story mode.

Who are the bad guys now?

The plot, based in part on real events, is not complicated – Warning, spoilers: On the orders of US President Reagan, a small group of very powerful agents from around the world, including the player-controlled “Bell”, set out in the early 1980s to find the infamous Soviet spy “Perseus”. In the course of this, they find hydrogen bombs hidden in all major cities of Europe, which the US government has hidden there and which, in the event of an invasion in the sense of the “scorched earth” tactic, should make it impossible for the Soviet constructive use of European resources (wtf, UNITED STATES ??). From there they chase Perseus through various conflict areas around the world and battle their way through hordes of opponents, loosely based on the text on the game’s cover Fortune soldier: «Meet interesting people from all over the world and do it». Then a plot twist allows the player to make a decision that changes the course of the entire game and places the main character on the western or eastern side of the war. All this is accompanied by typical friendly jokes, relaxed sayings and a lot of cynicism, as is typical for war films of the 80s and 90s. With the story of “Operation Greenlight” and hidden nuclear weapons, the creators of Treyarch is Crow the game has a “… are we the bad guys?” which is no longer new to the series, which should stimulate the player to think and give him the feeling of real decision-making power. It’s a bit ironic, by the way, because as you can read, the two development teams took each other’s hair while building the game.

Have you been in the mood to experience both the explosive campaign mode and some clean kill streak in multiplayer? Strike Stream both modes this coming Tuesday, November 24th, from 1pm to 3pm – you can hope for good kills, but you should also be prepared for some nasty failures!

To give the campaign more depth, the developers donated the “evidence” system. In the main missions, documents and photos can be found better or worse, which can be analyzed, viewed more closely and rotated freely between missions – attached to a large bulletin board in perfect style. The additional information obtained in this way leads to the activation of side missions or is necessary to successfully complete them. This is essential in the “Operation Red Circus” mission, for example, in order to locate the correct spies and subsequently cool them down. Misinterpreting the evidence kills the innocent. Also, give “Bell” a name, a gender (“non-binary” is a choice – very nice!) And a source and you can define two characteristics of your avatar. These result in two main advantages for the multiplayer mode; we’ll get to that later.

And so you make your way through epically structured, graphically, acoustically and atmospheric very coherent and compelling battles on the ground, on the water and in the air, to lead the world towards one of many possible destinies. While the story sounds fundamentally exciting, I have to admit that – as with pretty much all COD titles – at one point I only looked at the effects and atmosphere and was only really active at the turning points. However, thanks to its slightly over-the-top Michael Bay drama and often bombastic missions with fast paced gameplay and gripping music, the single player campaign creates a good mood.

Never change a running system – oder?

But let’s be completely honest: COD campaigns are fun, but we really just want to dive into multiplayer modes. I think they knew it too Crow is Treyarch and ready to participate Black Ops: Cold War a solid multiplayer experience on the table that will appeal to COD fans at all levels.

According to Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head at Treyarch, the focus here is on shooting and motion balancing, which have been consistently refined over a long period of time between the alpha and beta releases. The change to the “Scorestreak” system, one that gave you extra abilities like artillery attacks after being shot down multiple times, has caused criticism. Now you get this even if you are dead in the meantime. Especially with COD veterans, this was by no means well received, as the system replaces the well-known killstreaks, which rewarded as many kills as possible per life with additional abilities.

Bunting sees this as a logical evolution, as an attempt to merge various subs of COD, but in reality, as a non-avid fan, it seems that the producers choose a different system for each game. Whether it’s an active attempt to keep the games fresh, as Bunting claims, or rather discovering problematic balancing difficulties, all players will likely never be able to please. In return, they have an extremely wide range of options to customize their characters, perks and weapons: not only can they use the classic “Pick-10” system, which gives them ten points for extra weapons, equipment and perks, but Also for the Use the “loading” options and thus greatly customize your multiplayer experience.

To me, COD still looks essentially the same as it did a decade ago: multiplayer gameplay is very arcade, meaning the motion sequences don’t feel particularly realistic, gunplay works with almost no backlash or splash (sorry I’m mine otherwise used) and the opponents are rather sponges of bullets. With the latter, however, I must admit that I see a marked improvement over the old titles in the series.

Yet the same central feeling remains as it was then Modern Warfare or Black Ops 2: The games are really fun. Even if you don’t want to spend a lot studying gun handling, maps, and tactics, you can get into a match and – assuming a reasonably fast reaction time and more or less precise touch – snatch something. I don’t know if it was just a beginner’s luck, but in my first rounds of Team Deathmatch I did some nice sniper kills.

A real fun package

But not only in Team Deathmatch can you demonstrate your skills. Cold War offers nine other modes, some of which are well known. “Domination”, for example, is a length and point based variant of “Capture and Hold”, with “Kill Confirmed” you must first get your opponent’s dog tag that you dropped after a kill to really get a kill (or that of a friend who has been shot down captures the opponent). «VIP Escort», on the other hand, the Honorable reminds me Counter-Strike, where a player as a VIP must be particularly protected or kicked out. For me personally, all modes are well balanced and fun. You get along well in this regard Cold War A Powerful Entertainment Pack: Once you complete the rather short campaign, you will almost never get bored with the multiplayer modes. And if you’re still thirsty for more, the ones you already know are still available Warzone-Fans Battle Royale mode and the least engaging zombie mode for a few rounds but still fun. This appears to be an absolute eSports phenomenon – entire world championships are held on who can hold off multiple waves of bloodthirsty undead. Until a few years ago I didn’t even know: the game is a fantastic world, isn’t it?

Bottom line: more, but not too much of a good thing

I have a couple of hours now Cold War behind me and it must be like Battlefield-Fans say it’s only true call of Duty is. Before the COD cracks I wish the sleeves fall off while I wash my hands: I do not say this in a negative way. To me COD is a world of its own, a dynamic shooter designed for speed, whose makers demonstrate a wealth of ideas and passion – and all the time.

COD titles hardly ever captivated me in the long run, but they always offered great entertainment and at least in the short to medium term a feeling of “I want to improve my skills now”. Their very action-oriented and less realistic feel of the game attracts a large and diverse audience – you almost always find someone you know who is ready for a round Cawadooty hat. Cold War reflects on the fundamental qualities of the series and does a lot of things right. If you can get over the bad secret agent clichés and over-the-top storylines, this game is perhaps the “roundest” COD of the last decade.