Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Treyarch's latest feels like it's only a few quality of life changes away from being the perfect revival of the Black Ops series. It delivers on all three fronts and manages to subtly freshen some of the series' most stale ingredients.

Overall, I love the old-school feels of Black Ops in Cold War and I love the storyline. All of the modes are fun to play and offer a lot for old players and new players alike. It is fun to get back into the action with players from all consoles and on PC to make the action that much better with cross-play. There are some issues with multiplayer that will seemingly never go away but such is life for an online multiplayer game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War comes to PC with superior graphic detail and advanced effects, but also a solid ray tracing implementation and very smooth performances thanks to DLSS 2.0 resampling.

This is the great return of a much-appreciated saga: lots of content, a non-linear campaign and various improvements manage to overshadow some technical imperfections. And above all, shooting is pretty damn fun.

The question of whether to pick up Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War on the PC is situational, despite it being a solid title. If you're the type of player who likes the campaigns that each entry brings forth, then you'll be fine with Cold War. The branching paths of the short campaign give it some replayability beyond simply increasing the difficulty. Fans of Zombies mode will also be fine, even though it suffers from having only one map (for now) and a PlayStation-exclusive mode that'll be unavailable on the PC for a year. Multiplayer fans are in more of a pickle. If you're tired of the maps in the prominently featured Modern Warfare but want traditional modes, then this is perfect, especially since the cross-play feature is going strong and there are people on both the last- and next-generation platforms ensuring the game gets a healthy shelf life. If you're primarily a Warzone player, you aren't going to bother with this one, since that free-to-play game is getting Cold War elements soon to keep it fresh.

Although short on content, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a dependable entry in the franchise with fast action and a variety of solid modes. The great zombies level and the nostalgic campaign are definitely the highlight, and the competitive multiplayer should become strong once it gets more maps and tweaks.

Altogether, this year’s entry in the Call of Duty franchise is as solid it gets.

As close to true call of Duty as you're likely to find in recent years, for better or for worse. The campaign does branch out a little, offering you side-missions that are unlocked through evidence gathering, which is fun. It's also engaging, featuring a good number of entertaining set pieces. However, it's also insane and has way too many throwaway 'features'. Multiplayer, and the zombie mode, are both very enjoyable to play and multiplayer has been made more engaging for those who used to struggle to get massive kill streaks. However, there's no doubt that the multiplayer is seriously lacking in maps. Also, the game needs some technical polish. Still, all in all, this is still a strong FPS and one that will keep fans coming back for more.

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.

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.

Cold War is a solid entry that still delivers hours and hours of fun, mostly in its multiplayer modes, as usual. However, we miss some bigger changes like previous entries offered.

With Modern Warfare, which took its place in the market last year, a brand new era began in the Call of Duty series. You will feel all the coldness of the war.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War feels like one of the best ways to rely on old traditions: sure, you know what to expect from pretty much every aspect of the game already, but at least it’s fun, immersive and to some extent, refreshing. Puzzles and investigations are more than welcome for the campaign whereas big maps and VIP escort are cool, different paced additions to the same old modes we’ve been playing for ages.

One of the more middling entries in a franchise that is feeling more than its fair share of fatigue, and although it offers up a solid enough and serviceable experience for players, it unfortunately falls short of the lofty standards established by Modern Warfare.

Single player campaign turned out to be a disappointment, but for CoD series, story mode is usually just a warmup before you go online. In multiplayer Cold War performs exactly as expected: it has a lot of modes, but suffers from poor performance and weird matchmaking. [Issue#250, page 48]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a good game that should be easier to stomach for franchise veterans than Modern Warfare. The campaign is fulfilling, albeit short. The faster-paced multiplayer is also easy enough to jump into and have fun with. It's just a shame that I can't shake that feeling that Treyarch's true vision has been held back by Activision forcing its ideals onto them.

The campaign keeps the player on the edge of his seat, to the point where you want to know more and hope to see a sequel to this story. The mechanics brought by the Story Mode, the dialogue choice and the impression of being protagonist give a real boost to the campaign, even if it represents only five to seven hours of play. The new multiplayer modes are great and bring a new dynamic, but the operators' movements limit our experience on these big maps. We're waiting for Season 1 of Black Ops Cold War to bring a lot more content and, most importantly, to see the integration of Warzone. The Zombie mode also brings a nice touch, with new mechanics that are great fun, except for the lack of cinematics.

One of the best Single-Player segments we've seen in a Call of Duty game, combined with rather lacking Multiplayer, comprise a title that goes in with guns blazing but ultimately falls short.

What feature, or lack thereof, would compel a Call of Duty fan to buy or skip a new entry at this point? It plays fine, and it’s the most recent one. That’s usually enough.

The campaign of the new Call of Duty is unusually stupid, but the multiplayer doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and cheerfully exploits its attractive Cold War setting. Together with the Zombies mode and Warzone integration, this is one hefty chunk of military content.

Cold War offers its share of highs and lows during the net exciting campaign, and familiar multiplayer. The best moments are when the developers allow themselves to slow down the pace, and let the player feel the tensions of varying aspects of the Cold War.

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.

The campaign brings enjoyable new mechanics to the formula but multiplayer and Zombies both fall short of expectations and needed performance, with weaker gunplay and an unstable framerate respectively.

Cold War is an inessential distraction from the best Call of Duty on offer.

I see no reason to pay a full price for a mediocre single-player campaign, watered-down (compared to last year's offering) multiplayer and a zombie mode with just one map. I’d recommend trying a free Warzone instead.

At the end of the day, video games are about personal preference. I do not have the time I used to for mastering individual games, and Black Ops Cold War doesn’t demand it of me. I have already reached first prestige in the week it has been out, and that is in addition to playing the campaign AND tackling launch titles on the PS5. Cold War would seem perfectly positioned for the casual Call of Duty player if it weren’t for Warzone. Warzone is entirely free, and offers an experience that has been built upon for over a year, and will continue to be built upon and supported long after Cold War is not the “current” Call of Duty. For the more hardcore players, I think after a few weeks in Cold War, they will be returning to Modern Warfare (2019) to wait for the next installation.