Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

I am more than a little surprised at just how much I enjoyed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Having skipped the series for a few years due to being a bit burnt out on it all, Cold War manages to feel fresh and exciting while familiar at the same time. The solo campaign is over too soon, but what’s there is excellent and offers more than a simple rollercoaster of action. Multiplayer is as solid as ever, with a great variety of modes to dip in to. The combat feel is still among the best out there, making even the worst defeats still enjoyable. Zombies has great potential if you’ve a crew to play with, and brings some welcome levity to proceedings. An excellent all round package then, and well worth a look.

Sure, this latest COD does not break any ground for bringing a new and innovative COD title; however, when you look as the game as a whole, and realize that a major chunk of it was developed during a Pandemic where everyone was working remotely, and you can appreciate the title including the story, the multiplayer and the Zombies mode. Given all of this, you will probably be playing this title for quite some time given that there will be free content arriving in the future that enhances both the multiplayer and Zombies mode. If you are a Call of Duty fan, Black Ops Cold War is a decent addition to add to your game library. If you are a casual fan of the series, or even new to the franchise, then this game will still be something you can enjoy too.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War is a strong start for the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 generation. It doesn’t have the same invigorating revival as last year’s Modern Warfare, but that would be an impossible expectation. Cold War delivers a very different campaign that’s more spy thriller than epic warfare, and it’s the first Call of Duty game to thrive in its quieter moments for more than a single mission. Multiplayer is still the highlight of the package, with a satisfying old meets new combat loop and a strong selection of modes. Now we’re just waiting for a few more maps. Come on, it’s been half a week already!

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War aims for a more classic experience within the sub-saga, after the previous experiments. A very compact and complete game at its three levels: campaign, multiplayer and zombies. In addition it is well optimized for Xbox Series X and S, with special mention to the 120 fps.

The most interesting and inventive campaign in the franchise makes this well worth the price of entry. Sadly the multiplayer modes don’t live up to the high bar set by the single player mode.

Raven Software and Treyarch bring us a complete and satisfying CoD package, with a spectacular - even if fragmented - Campaign and many multiplayer modes. The new Zombi mode feels finally fleshed out and more integrated to the rest of the game and competitive multiplayer is more balanced even if missing some of last year's features, but the classical modes' maps are too few and sometimes limited. All in all, a solid CoD episode capable of keeping us engaged until the next one.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an interesting new beginning for the series: the campaign is balanced and compelling, and the multiplayer is rich and as captivating as ever.

Once again we find a CoD game with 3 separate ways of being enjoyed, and once again the zombies experience is the best part of the pack. Its campaign is not bad, and tries a couple of new things while being a bit short and shallow. The multiplayer part is the worst thing of the pack, due some balance issues and a lack of content. Fortunately that will be solved on the next few months, as CoD: Modern Warfare also managed to do one year ago.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on Xbox you get a hell of a lot of game for your money. It’s a game in which you could easily spend hundreds of hours in, and then you can throw Warzone on top. It's a great package and one that provides a thoroughly enjoyable campaign, a deep multiplayer mode, and tons of the usual Call of Duty theatrics.

A visually crisp shooter package with an interesting campaign, enthralling maps and intensive Zombie skirmishes. In each of these three areas a little more content overall would have worked wonders. A solid cohort, but definitely inferior to Infinity Wards Modern Warfare from last year.

There’s nothing revolutionary in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Nothing that screams “this is a must-buy”. But once again it’s a solid all-round package that has a little something for everybody – providing they like shooting in first-person. Its campaign is a nice little diversion with some exciting set-pieces and moments of thrilling stealth, while Zombies provides some solid fun when getting together with friends. And then there’s Multiplayer, which some will prefer over Modern Warfare‘s offerings and others will be less impressed with. Each element is far from extraordinary, but when all put together, it’s not a bad deal at all.