As with any other Call of Duty, it lives or dies by its multiplayer. The campaign only lasts people a few days at most, the multiplayer is what determines the longevity. While I do enjoy Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer, I do think that this game would struggle to last 12 months if left in its current state.
An unbalanced multiplayer with a sturdy foundation
When it feels like everything works right, Black Ops Cold War is a treat to play. The gunplay is fun, the scorestreaks are rewarding, and the thrills that only Call of Duty is capable of are found here. The problem is that the consistency of this is all over the place.
Skill-based matchmaking and balancing issues with guns create a lot of problems. While it was far worse in the beta, the final game still maintains these issues. You are punished for performing well. Skill-based matchmaking is in a lot of games but if it’s implemented well, you won’t notice it. The point of it is that it’s properly adjusting the matches you get put in based on how well you perform. Cold War has a problem where if you do too good, it wants to put you in matches with MLG prospects.
So you’re either slaughtering the competition or the one being slaughtered. Only ever so often did I feel I was actually playing at my skill level. The consistency issues don’t really stop there. There’s a great imbalance in weapons.
You could shoot someone first and it doesn’t matter, they’ll still kill you. Other times, that same gun at around the same distance as before will give you the kill. Sometimes your favorite gun will laser people. Sometimes it turns into a peashooter. This isn’t totally unusual for Call of Duty but it feels much more frequent in Black Ops Cold War.
When this isn’t causing tons of annoyances, the game is very fun. The gunplay is incredibly slick and that DualSense feedback is all the more satisfying after a well-earned kill. Even when you’re doing just ok, it feels like you’re being rewarded generously (though not unfairly).
Scorestreaks have been redesigned as to not reset on death. Going on killstreaks will give a multiplier to your points to help you quickly earn those higher rewards but you don’t need to perform flawlessly. You can chain together a few streaks to get the higher-end rewards such as a chopper gunner. If you’re playing the objective, it’ll also help get you there far quicker. Treyarch has created a system that rewards you for being good without being the best.
You won’t be getting “participation gunships”, though. Everything is still well-earned, it’s just you won’t be as severely punished if you’re not going on a 20 killstreak. Players who play Domination will likely reap the benefits of this system the most.
Black Ops Cold War also has a lot of really fun guns. Even though some guns need tweaking, it feels like you can pick up and use most of them. In past CoD titles, I would spend 98% of my time using the same gun or two. In this game, I use tactical rifles, ARs, SMGs, and a shotgun. I have classes for a variety of scenarios whether its map-based, mode-based, or to counter the way the opposition is playing. My class set-up is now like a playbook for myself.
Lackluster maps with one or two gems
The map selection in Black Ops Cold War at launch is very limited. There are 8 maps in the standard multiplayer. Two of these maps are way too similar (Checkmate and Garrison), they both take place in warehouse-type settings. There are a few differences like one has a plane in the middle but the overall flow, feel, and look of the map is too similar. Playing them back to back will have you feeling fatigued.
Even beyond that, both maps from the large-scale Combined Arms mode have been recycled too. Both of these maps have sectioned off parts of their map for 6v6 modes, making the low volume of maps all the more apparent. If I had to guess, they didn’t have time to make a bunch of new maps so they had to reuse what they had.
It doesn’t help that some of the other “original” maps are a mess. Cartel has a plethora of bushes that horribly reduce visibility. Miami is a camper’s haven. And a lot of these maps have just long, somewhat unavoidable, straight paths that lead to a clean sniper bullet to the head. It makes navigating all of these maps absolutely infuriating.
There are some maps, like Armada, that are quite fun. It’s layered with boats, places to swim, turrets, ziplines, and more. It’s very busy but varied. Armada without a doubt the best map and has me wishing for an Armada 24/7 playlist. Satellite, while still flawed, also presents a king of the hill dynamic. It’s fun to battle over but can easily be ruined by snipers camping in the back of the map.
I do prefer these maps over Modern Warfare’s awful maps but Cold War still has big map problems.
A return to Zombies
Speaking of re-used maps, Black Ops Cold War revives the very first ever Zombies map. This isn’t remotely bad as it does a bunch of new things with the map, namely letting you out of its building. This is the return to Zombies I’ve waited for. I haven’t cared about this mode since Black Ops 2 but Black Ops Cold War gave me a reason to care again.
It feels like Treyarch took a step back and stripped it down. There are no more unnecessary complications like gumballs and other… weird stuff. You can create a basic loadout and do some simple upgrades but that’s it. The rest of the Zombies experience is in-game which is how it should be. It’s the back to basics Zombies mode that is easy to grasp, fun to play, and does evolve the formula.
As mentioned, you can create a class. As you complete matches, you can earn purple crystals which upgrade things like perks, abilities, and more. It’s a good way to feel like you are progressing within the Zombies mode, just like multiplayer. The more you play, the more you can better yourself and allow yourself to survive to higher rounds.
For example, you can use some of those crystals to give you double the health Juggernog already gives you. Completing rounds isn’t just the only way to earn these. In Black Ops Cold War Zombies, you can “win” more or less. There’s a radio on the map that allows you to call in a helicopter for exfil.
When you trigger this, the game cranks the difficulty up to 11. It gets stupidly hard and you have to clear all the zombies out in a time limit. If successful, you board the chopper and leave. Pulling this off will net you a ton of XP and some of those precious crystals. It’s a great way to allow you to end a Zombies match without dying or prematurely ending it.
New bosses, killstreaks, powerful tools, and more all continue to really beef up the Zombies mode in Black Ops Cold War as well. Over the years, I would play the Zombies mode a few times for review and never go back. I have already made plans with friends to complete the Easter Egg which I haven’t done since 2012. This is the return to form the mode needed and I’m not sure if it was by design or due to time constraints but it paid off.
The Verdict
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War had a rough development. From switching developers to being made during a pandemic, it was bound to be flawed. Somehow, though, Treyarch and Raven Software have still pulled it together for the most part. With a series-defining campaign, a classical return to Zombies, and a flawed but still fun multiplayer, Black Ops Cold War is yet another worthwhile entry.
