The Call of Duty renaissance continues. After last year’s reboot of Modern Warfare, this year's entry likewise returns to another golden age CoD classic - the world of clandestine missions and conspiracy theories of the original Black Ops. Familiar faces and armaments are at your disposal to save a world once more on the brink of nuclear conflict. The launch game will come packed with new modes and fan favorites across Campaign, 6v6 Multiplayer, Combined Arms, Fireteam, Warzone, Zombies, and a new installment of Dead Ops Arcade.
In the twilight of the cold war, a long-active Soviet agent plans to unleash a catastrophe of unimaginable magnitude. The United States once again looks to Mason, Woods, and Hudson to avert an all-out conflict with Russia. The secretive CIA handler Russell Adler and his team further flesh out the cast. The Department of Defense will spare no expense as they send your team around the world to unravel this conspiracy, from Amsterdam to Vietnam and even into the heart of the Soviet Union.
Raven Software makes their debut as campaign lead to pay homage to their first Call of Duty project as well as introduce several new elements to the franchise. For the first time in series history, players will create their own operator, down to their psychological profile which changes their gameplay attributes. Missions offer non-linear objectives, branching paths, dialogue choices, bonus objectives, and side missions to alter the storyline and the ultimate ending. Some missions have been compared to Hitman with multiple options to complete an objective in a living mission zone. Raven has described this as a passion project to recapture the conspiracy-laden "between the headlines" feel of a historically-grounded, character-driven Call of Duty campaign.
Treyarch returns with their signature fast-paced, high octane 6v6 skirmishes the studio is known for. Also in rotation is the 12v12 Combined Arms playlist with large maps, vehicles, and an array of objective-based game modes. The new Battle Royale-inspired Fireteam playlist rounds out the core of launch game modes, as 10 teams of 4 players each will battle to come out with the top score with entirely new gameplay loops for Call of Duty. Scorestreaks return, allowing you to retain your score accumulation after each death, but requiring multipliers in a single life to generate enough score for the most powerful payoffs. The Prestige system also returns after a hiatus and will be crucial to player progression. Loadout customization will maintain a traditional Call of Duty system, with Wildcards turning it on its head to offer deeper personalization.
2v2 Gunfight, new Warzone content, and remakes of fan-favorite maps will arrive on December 10 with the onset of Season 1 online multiplayer. As with last year, new maps, weapons and other content will be free for everyone, and the game features a seasonal battle pass in lieu of loot boxes. Player progression will also be synced across Cold War, Warzone and Modern Warfare. Cold War operators and weapons will be seamlessly integrated into Warzone.
Cold War will launch with a new episode in the Black Ops Zombies canonical universe, Die Maschine. Requiem, a CIA-backed task force lead by Grigori Weaver investigates the mysterious quantum activity at a hidden underground facility. The rival Soviet Omega Group will compete against the players to uncover the secrets behind this paranormal activity. Progression across multiplayer and Zombies is synchronized to unlock gear for use in both game modes. The new exfiltration system gives players the option to escape to a landing zone for rewards, but unleashes a desperate horde of Zombies to try and stop you. Many of the vintage Zombies perks and weapons will return, while new crafting and rarity systems add an additional layer of depth to the system. This will be the first time in Zombies history players can team up via cross-play. As with multiplayer maps, new Zombies episodes will be free, making it easier than ever to keep play groups together.
Reviews:
