Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the continuation of the popular series of first-person adventure shooters set during the "Cold War." Treyarch realized how important a single-player campaign is for the franchise, so they created an epic action game about super spies, mixing the usual shooting gallery with dialogues and stealth. The game also offers its own set of multiplayer modes and a zombie mode. There is integration with Warzone.

As befits a spy blockbuster, the campaign features non-linear stealth. The player is placed in a micro-sandbox where they are offered, like Sam Fisher, to covertly explore every nook and cranny, avoid patrols, and hide dead enemies in trash cans and lockers. The stealth is undemanding—if the cover is blown, the mission can be completed the old-fashioned way, making noise with everything that shoots and explodes.

Since Cold War belongs to the Black Ops series, everything is more arcade-like than in Modern Warfare. The shooting mechanics are hitscan. More time is needed to kill (TtK around 400 ms) and holding the weapon is more difficult. There is a delay before entering aiming mode. Players also have more health. Movement has become simpler, but there is a slight delay with any action, simulating weight.

In multiplayer, there are no "killstreaks." They have been replaced by "scorestreaks," awarded for each useful action and not disappearing upon death. Even a complete novice can call in a UAV or artillery strike by the end of the match. But spamming abilities won't work either, as each use is blocked until the timer resets, limiting experienced players.

The events of Cold War take place in the 1980s, which is directly reflected in the appearance of the characters and the design of their clothing, the visual style of buildings, transportation, weapons, and other content. For example, the streets of night cities are lit with neon lights instead of simple lamps.

The prototypes for the locations for both single-player and multiplayer games are popular "spy" places in the public consciousness: East Berlin, Istanbul, Miami, Moscow. The era of the Vietnam War is also represented with a couple of maps. Following the setting, the single-player maps are well-crafted and quite extensive, just the mission at Lubyanka alone is worth it.

Multiplayer was less fortunate —the structure of the maps is either "figure-eight" or "three lanes," and the detailing is far from ideal. The fiercest battles between players boil down to one or two intersection points. At the same time, all routes are well-covered by snipers, and players of other classes often struggle to find a place for return fire.

Due to color correction, distinguishing enemies at a distance is difficult, as their camouflage blends with the environment. The map sizes are poorly adapted for different multiplayer modes and the number of participants. All this has led to players finding it more advantageous to sit in ambush and play defensively rather than launching crazy raids.

The Cold War campaign reflects the confrontation between the USA and the USSR on the invisible front of spy and intelligence battles. According to the plot, CIA agent Russell Adler, along with the protagonist and a team of operatives (including the well-known Woods, Mason, and Hudson), must stop the Soviet ultra-patriot "Perseus," who intends to carry out sabotage in Europe and change the course of the Cold War in favor of the Soviets.

On this path, the player will be confused by propaganda, brainwashed, and framed at the last moment. The story is presented intimately, from the first person, and the player knows no more than their character does. Scattered across the levels are collectible items that serve as clues left by suspect NPCs in a couple of side missions.

The staging emphasizes the spy focus of Cold War. There is less continuous action with explosions and mowing down hordes of enemies, and more cutscenes with character chatter. To enhance immersion, a simple dialogue system has been added to the game. Players need to follow the conversation thread to give the appropriate response.

Since the player acts as part of a CIA squad, an operations planning base has been added to the game. There are other activities there: viewing clues, talking with other characters, scripted interactions between them, and video games. Since action regularly alternates with chatter, cutscenes, and dialogues, the plot as a whole and the characters, in particular, will remain memorable for a long time.

Each mission has elements of variable completion depending on the actions taken or the responses chosen in dialogues. However, the Cold War plot is linear, and the narrative thread won't change based on decisions made in missions (they are mentioned in the epilogue). The campaign can be completed in 5 hours, but players have enough motivation to do it twice to uncover all variations.

The standard set of modes for any Black Ops game — "Team Deathmatch," "Deathmatch," "Search and Destroy," "Domination," and "Kill Confirmed" (each for 10-12 players) — has been expanded by the developers with several new ones:

В игре нет заданных классов. В духе Modern Warfare (2019) каждый строит свой класс, укладывая в экипировку 3 перка, 2 оружия, смертельное/тактическое снаряжение или полевое улучшение, «подстановочный знак».

Сочетание перков, элементов снаряжения/улучшения определяют стиль игры, класс персонажа. Подстановочные знаки — дают большое преимущество в каком-то конкретном направлении. Элементы экипировки можно поменять в любой момент.

На релизе Cold War предложила один зомби-эпизод на карте Die Maschine, как дань памяти самой первой зомби-карте. Есть в этом режиме и сюжетная кампания. В начале 80-х агенты спецгруппы ЦРУ «Реквием» попадают в бункер времен Второй мировой, им нужно раскрыть старые секреты, способные пошатнуть мировой порядок.

Одновременно на место прибывает конкурирующий отряд советского спецназа «Омега», чьи специалисты жаждут изучить секреты немцев, чтобы использовать их во благо СССР.

Геймплейно Cold War предлагает классический для Black Ops кооператив: 2-4 игрока должны выживать на протяжении длительного времени, перемалывая орды живых мертвецов, для удобства разделенных на раунды (волны). Чем выше раунд, тем больше зомби становится, тем они сильнее и больше опасных боссов добавляется на волну.

Режим предлагает несколько арен, как хорошо знакомых, так и новых. По дизайну стало больше открытых пространств и бонусных зон, появились подземелья, создаваемые случайным образом. Вместо уникальных персонажей — оперативники из мультиплеера и объединенная система развития и прокачки.

Только в зомби-режиме, в дополнение к «Улучшайзеру» (всё также улучшает параметры любого оружия), все «стволы» обладают собственной степенью редкости. Чем более редкая пушка, тем выше её урон и число устанавливаемых модулей. Так все виды оружия сохраняют эффективность даже на поздних раундах.

После убийства нужного числа ходячих мертвецов открываются «полевые модификации» — мощные способности для всего отряда, вроде сильного лечения или улучшенной маскировки.