One of gaming’s biggest annual holidays, the launch of a new Call of Duty game, is here once again, and it’s a bigger deal than usual this time around with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. This is a new Call of Duty for a new console generation, and if the reviews coming in are any indication, the series is entering the next generation on the right foot.
After leading the franchise’s foray into more sci-fi-heavy titles throughout most of the 2010s, Treyarch has borrowed a note from last year’s Modern Warfare reboot and taken the Black Ops subseries back to its Cold War-era roots. In doing so, however, the studio has shaken things up with new multiplayer modes and key gameplay tweaks to both existing multiplayer and the returning Zombies mode. All of this is on top of a new dynamic single-player campaign developed by Raven Software that lets players’ decisions affect how it ends.
Given that it’s only been two years since Treyarch last dropped a new COD title with Black Ops 4, it wouldn’t be all that shocking for the game to end up feeling rushed and underwhelming as a result. However, judging from the critics so far, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is, for the most part, far from underwhelming.
Gaming Trend (David Burdette)
Black Ops has absolutely returned with a vengeance. The fast, frantic pace is still there, and the gunplay is still just as great as you remember it. While the campaign may be the weakest part of an overall phenomenal package, it’s still very satisfying and the espionage narrative packs a punch. The modes people are going to play the most, multiplayer and Zombies, are the strongest parts of Black Ops Cold War, and offer the best first person shooter gameplay in video games.
Score: 9/10
PCGamesN (Jordan Forward)
Despite some minor technical issues and some undercooked campaign missions, this is a superb offering from Treyarch and its supporting development studios. The campaign is playful and imaginative, multiplayer offers the best 6v6 experience in years, and Zombies returns to show just how badly Infinity Ward dropped the ball with Modern Warfare’s third mode, Spec Ops.
Score: 9/10
PlayStation LifeSyle (Chandler Wood)
While perhaps not as visually splendid as last year’s Modern Warfare, it gets the Black Ops series back to boots on the ground, introducing new characters and elements while lending adequate time and attention to series favorites. Treyarch expertly steps in to continue the recent interconnected Call of Duty franchise shift, exploring and evolving the series while still creating a game that not just retains but oozes that signature Treyarch style. Perhaps more than any Call of Duty game before it, I’m more excited than ever to see where it goes in the future.
Score: 9/10
Game Informer (Daniel Tack)
As always, each part of the whole stacks up differently, but the annual Call of Duty release is once again a polished pearl of first-person shooting, even if it doesn’t shake up established systems... If Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War excels at anything, it’s options. This isn’t uncommon for a Call of Duty title, but with a vast array of game modes for myriad player profiles and a fun campaign that retains a summer-blockbuster feel while getting weird and wild, the ride is a good one.
Score: 8.8/10
VentureBeat (Dean Takahashi)
As I explained, multiplayer makes this whole game worth the purchase price. I have only grown more fond of it the more I have played.But I could tell developers had to cut corners in some places. The hair tells me that it’s really hard to do both PS5-Xbox Series X/S and PS4/Xbox One games at the same time. The story could have had more depth, and the list of missions could have been longer. I realize the circumstances under which this game came out, and so I do think it’s a heroic effort.
Score: 8/10
IGN (Ryan McCaffrey)
Call of Duty’s moment-to-moment gameplay is still primarily a well-dressed shooting gallery, but Black Ops Cold War succeeds in making its quiet time a defining part of its experience rather than just a deep breath between the loud and explode-y sequences. Its story is less successful at leaving a Black Ops 1-level mark, but the importance placed on finding and deciphering evidence as well as the multiple endings give good reason to stick with it beyond its typical six-ish-hour runtime.
Score: 7/10
GamesRadar (Alyssa Mercante)
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War feels like a game that’s sorting out its identity after government experiments left it obsessing over numbers and presidential assassinations. It’s like it wanted to be different, but not too different, and I wish it went for broke.
Score: 6/10
Overall, people really seem to like Black Ops Cold War. While opinions seem to be a bit mixed on the campaign and its more dynamic structure, the general consensus with the multiplayer so far is that it ranks among the best of the series. That being said, it’ll be interesting to see if Treyarch is able to keep that positive momentum going. The developer hasn’t revealed much about its plans for post-launch content, but it has confirmed that it will kick off the game’s first season next month, which will see the introduction of an updated progression system designed to integrate Black Ops Cold War with Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
From the looks of it, there will be a lot of content to look forward to in the coming year, but whether everyone will be able to experience all of it is a question that’s been on a lot of people’s minds. At a massive 136GB currently, Black Ops Cold War’s file size can take up nearly half of players’ storage space, depending on platform, and it’s not immediately clear if Treyarch will be able to do much to keep its growth in check as future seasons go live.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.