2/5 ★ – SaintzGB's review of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

So this one I'm a bit divided by actually. I feel it has some good parts, but sort of devolves into similar failings as vanguard, and I'll explain how. Again, as usual I'll split this Call of Duty review into several pieces. Firstly, with campaign. I like the general gameplay, its not as indepth as MW2019 or MWII but its definitely better than Vanguard. The stealth/mini free roam segments are good fun. It also doesn't have such annoying achievements as other COD games. However the story is a bit weak to me personally, and the choices are ridiculous. So first thing: changing the voice actors again was stupid. Hudson and Mason had already experienced VA changes, but Woods didn't need it, and Mason's VA is so generic and sounds bored. Adler is great character, and the concept of Bell is cool enough. Lazar is fine although you see him far less than Park so the choice involving those two later is a waste of time as you're biased towards one most likely. I also ran into a few texture bugs which looked pretty rough, these weren't small bugs either. Stuff like the entire screen being covered by a weird black mass during the plane sequence. I also remember the glitch with cutscenes in this game when it first released. I think what really grinds my gears about this game is the 'Lie' ending. Without spoiling too much, it basically retcons Black Ops 2 entirely with this ending. I don't care if its canon or not, it's stupid. I do really like the code breaking minigames though, and the fact that your choices can result in personalisation unlocks for MP. Multiplayer is a waste of time. Half of it doesn't work properly, such as the customisation/blueprint system often won't load weapons for some reason, multiplayer also can bug out and not put you into full lobbies for some reason. I ran into this and had to entirely reinstall MP. Also that vehicle kills achievement sucks. Worst part though is the SBMM, which is REALLY strong here, worst of any COD. I went into match 1 after installing, and immediately had the sweats and the campers on full alert, and it was a nightmare. Also so many people run that blast shield style perk that allows you to take less explosive damage, except that thing is so broken, that you can be hit directly with an rpg and not even lose half your health. They should have changed this immediately but just couldn't be bothered. Also, this is where it follows Vanguard's lack of identity. You have a game set in the 80's, with maybe a bit of supernatural stuff due to zombies, sure. But then you go to the store, after the games life cycle is over, and literally all of it is ridiculous bundles that ruin any concept of it being a grounded war shooter. Like you have finishing moves where you summon hellhounds, or lazer guns or whatever else, it's just ridiculous. MW2019 did so well at making interesting bundles that weren't too ridiculous and still stuck to the concept of it being a military game, the craziest thing being a set of knives that turn people into little cubes. I think the reason its become so outlandish in the last 2 games is due to warzone, and people wanting to flex these dumb customisation items in game. Similar to BO3. Zombies is pretty good, but with a couple of flaws. I'd say overall the core gameplay is really good, but actually might be a little too easy? My best friend has never played zombies before and after like 5 matches we were hitting high rounds and doing the easter egg easily. It's not the worst thing ever, I just would like a little more of a challenging mode, or a difficulty slider perhaps. Speaking of easter eggs, I actually did most of them on this game. A first really, as any other zombies easter eggs are annoying as hell, but these weren't. However I'm a bit disappointed that they took campaign missions/multiplayer maps and just plopped zombies on them, added the zombies items like the box and perks, and changed the contrast. I'd have liked something new. Even the first map is taken from an older COD, and dead ops arcade has some reused assets too. First person mode on that was quite fun though. I think this game was hampered by release dates and a lack of time to develop, especially as Treyarch took over for Sledgehammer, who couldn't complete the game in time. This is why it uses a sort of modified BO4 engine. Shame, really.