3/5 ★ – JimboHarman's review of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Campaign: I don’t usually play the Call of Duty campaigns, I’m more of a Zombies guy but I decided I’d give this one a go so I could review it. Yeah it wasn’t very good. I have no clue why they decided to make Bell a silent protagonist, he has no personality and it really takes me out of the experience when a game like this has you playing as the only character who just doesn’t talk. It works for RPGs because you’re meant see your character as an extension of yourself, in this it literally adds nothing to the experience. All of the other characters are sort of flat, I don’t really know what to say about any of them. No one develops in any way or has emotional depth. There’s a neat twist but that’s sort of the only thing I liked about it. My favourite mission is definitely the one where you have to infiltrate the KGB with its multiple strands and explosive ending. They attempt some Uncharted styled action set pieces but they all pretty much amount to being on-rail shooting segments. Multiplayer: It’s decent, this goes without saying but it’s not really anything you’ve not seen before. The gunplay is smooth and I do like the maps though, I just really like 1980s vibes you get with them, especially in maps like The Pines which is a new favourite of mine. I think probably the best innovation this game brings is the singular progression, so if you like zombies but don’t want to invest the time into a long match, you can hop on multiplayer for a bit to level up your guns and characters and you’ll be able to use everything you’ve unlocked in your next game of zombies. I also like the addition of prop hunt, me and my friends have hand a ton of fun on that. Zombies: This is the real reason I bought this game, I know we’re only one map into this Zombies season but so far I’m really liking it. This is the only area of the game that’s received any kind of innovation. They’ve given the player plenty to work towards with the new Skills system which allows the player to upgrade various elements of their loadout, including perks, double PaP upgrades and weapon classes. It’s a brilliant way of making every game feel purposeful. Previously you’d finish a long game of zombies and all you’d have to show for it is some XP and weapon levels, now you’ve still got that but there’s so many more avenues for progression within the game mode this time round. They’ve also balanced the gameplay significantly, no longer do you start the game with a wonder weapon, this time round you start with any weapon you want but to balance it out there’s the new weapon rarity system. The low rarity variant of any weapon won’t last you very long so even though you can start with an LMG, you’ve still got to upgrade it’s rarity using scraps to bring it up to the same level as a weapon you’d get from the mystery box. A lot has been done to streamline the experience, you can now craft the tactical grenades you want, including monkey bombs which may sound OP but they’re not cheap, which balances it out. You can also buy ammo for any gun, again it may sound OP but it’s really expensive and it makes high round attempts fully skill based rather than limiting the player to the ammo in their gun. I also really like the new exfil option, now not every game has to end in a game over. You can actually win now and get some more rewards for doing it. Also the Ray Gun is good again, like super good but it’s extremely rare to get in the mystery box, I’ve only got it once in about 19 hours of playing but it was so worth it. Now to just give my thoughts on Die Maschine, the first Cold War Zombies map . While I think a bit of charm has been lost visually since Black Ops 3 seeing as every single map in that game had such a strong and unique visual style compared to this map which basically just looks like multiplayer, I do really like this map’s aesthetic. It looks like the most lived-in zombies map so far with all the graffiti and lights in and around the bunker, it tells a story- it’s clear that for the last 40 years people have been squatting there and teenagers have been hanging around it, exploring the creepy abandoned location. In a way I think it makes it the most relatable map because of how grounded it is. The map is a little simple, I usually get Pack a Punch and the wonder weapon by about round 9 and from there it’s just getting points and scraps to buy upgrades and if I’m planning on using the weapon I started the game with which I usually do there’s no point in hitting the box, so I do think the setup is a little simple. Maybe if the D.I.E. Upgrades were worth getting there’d be more to do but they’re literally worse than the base weapon. The simplicity does make the map easy to get into for a bit of fun but I also think it kills replayability a bit. The wonder weapon is really cool though, it’s got infinite ammo so it’s perfect for high rounds but it takes a lot of skill to recharge the ammo, balancing the weapon.