Review: Call of Duty – Black OPs Cold War

No less than Ronald Reagan, computer-generated though he may be, sits the main actors down to underscore the threat posed to America’s safety.

Call of Duty - Black Ops Cold War

Fans of first-person shooters are spoiled for choice in the modern gaming market. It seems that every couple of months a major software developer dedicates a lot of time and money into figuring out what‘s selling these days and creating a game to fit that mould.

The resulting product usually slot neatly into one of a broad range of categories. A single player, story driven cinematic experience (explosions mandatory, damsel in distress optional), or perhaps a take on the “You vs. The World” Battle Royale style game that has become a phenomenon these last few years.

Perhaps a game where you and a small group of friends venture boldly into the unknown, to almost certain doom, where the aim is less to achieve victory and more so to see how long you can stave off defeat?

The latest entry in the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: Black OPs Cold War, is a game seeking to cater to fans of each of these very different style of first-person shooters, and in my opinion it has done a very good job in doing so.

Call of Duty: Black OPs Cold War is set in 1981, in a world of escalating tension between East and West. The main campaign tells the story of a hardened group of CIA and special forces operatives and their hunt for a Soviet intelligence officer going by the codename “Perseus”, whose achievements have rattled the nerve of the very highest tiers of the United States‘ federal government.

No less than Ronald Reagan, computer-generated though he may be, sits the main actors down to underscore the threat posed to America’s safety. The hunt for Perseus leads the ragtag crew to all manner of unsavoury and oftentimes Communist locales, from the jungles of Vietnam to the wrong side of the wall in Berlin.

Call of Duty - Black Ops Cold War

Overall the story takes about six hours to complete which may not seem like much, however depending on decisions made during gameplay the story is capable of splitting off into several different possible endings, encouraging players to explore different paths and see how events could have played out differently.

It also looks beautiful. Being set in the 80s has allowed the game’s artists and writers to play around with the setting. Despite the heightened stakes, there’s enough tongue-in-cheek weirdness to remind you it’s okay to have fun.

If the Call of Duty franchise is known for anything, it is its online multiplayer modes, and here the game once again delivers. There are plenty of different modes to choose from, with most revolving around team-based objectives like capturing different zones on a map, or escorting a player to a safe zone, although there is an option for up to eight players to engage in a free for all without teams.

The maps are large and varied, players can duke it out in the jungles of Nicaragua, a snow-covered compound in Uzbekistan, atop NATO and Warsaw Pact aligned battleships on the high seas, and quite a few more. The game does an excellent job of keeping you in the middle of the action, as the time between being taken out by an enemy sniper and respawning ready to rush back into the fray is minimal.

A lot of these maps are even kind enough to provide motorbikes and snowmobiles near these spawn locations which makes getting back into the thick of things even faster.

Call of Duty - Black Ops Cold War

Like with other Call of Duty games, getting a series of kills in multiplayer rewards you with the ability to call in some backup, perhaps a spy plane to grant you and your teammates information on where the enemy is located, or launch an artillery strike on a bothersome section of map.

There are other specialised multiplayer formats catered to as well in a newly revamped Zombie mode and War zone, a holdover from the last game in the series and which will automatically launch from that application when selected.

Call of Duty: Black OPs Cold War is rated MA15+ and is available now for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.