Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is planning to integrate Call of Duty: Warzone at the beginning of December. While this seems like a great plan at first, many fans are starting to have some concerns prior to the merge. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has only just released to fans, and players are realizing it is a very different experience.
While combining the force of Call of Duty: Warzone with the design of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War seems natural, the two games are fundamentally different. While they both belong to the Call of Duty franchise, the way they feel, operate, and handle balancing may be too much for fans to handle come integration.
This is not to say that integration is a bad idea but rather that it may have some unintended side effects for the Warzone community. There is a certain feel and design built into the foundations of Call of Duty: Warzone, and this core resonates with the content from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which makes sense considering they run the same engine. As the game nears integration with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, fans are starting to see more differences than similarities between the titles. It is these differences that may harm the core experience that fans love and change the Call of Duty: Warzone experience forever.
Weapon Balancing
One thing that many fans noticed immediately upon entering Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the guns. While many bear familiar names, they function differently than expected when coming from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The guns feel lighter, have dramatically less recoil, and their damage seems a little off. It did not take the community long to decide that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War needs a weapon balance patch.
While some of these community complaints are standard for a new release, others are part of the core engine itself. The game automatically feels different due to the guns being such a major part of the action, and this difference has a chance of impacting the Call of Duty: Warzone experience when Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War weapons start being integrated.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and, by default, Call of Duty: Warzone have taken special care in how their guns are balanced and perform from their innate feel when firing to the accuracy of each rifle. Even when they put out unbalanced weapons, the guns have an authentic and vibrant feeling to players. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's weapons simply don't have the same effect and impact. While some changes for next-generation consoles have been made, (PlayStation 5's haptic feedback with Call of Duty weapons, for example), the overall gunplay feels flat and unexciting when compared to Modern Warfare.
Gameplay Style
The other concern that has the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War community talking is the gameplay itself from the variants in the game modes to the way that players navigate the battlefield is linear and traditional to the Call of Duty: Black Ops foundation. While this makes for a great classic experience, it lacks in detail and definition found in Call of Duty: Warzone. From tactics involving doors to busting through windows, the world feels dynamic and the environment invites players to travel their own path as the zone slowly closes.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does not operate this way, as levels feel linear with pre-defined paths for navigations through each one. Players can take one of three routes, and combat can come down to whoever has the stronger gun. The cover is either fully blocking shots or not at all, and player confrontations boil down to weapon choice and damage. Accuracy only matters in a relative fashion creating a very basic gameplay cycle that is exceptionally different from the Call of Duty: Warzone experience.
While Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does innovate upon standards, it is still classic enough to the Black Ops spirit to make it defined and toned as a Black Ops game. This would not be a problem if it was not for future integration with Call of Duty: Warzone. The developer is going to have to compensate for the differences, and when Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War content starts appearing, they will need to decide the future of the Call of Duty: Warzone experience.
The Warzone Experience
While integration with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will happen whether fans want it or not, the developer is going to have to make a choice. Either Call of Duty: Warzone will have to adapt to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's content, or Black Ops Cold War is going to have to adapt to Warzone. In either equation, the game is going to change, and if the newer title does not conform to Warzone's current build, then the gameplay cycle has a chance of shifting into something the community doesn't want.
The Call of Duty: Warzone integration is going to have to be handled carefully. The developer can add content to the game, but at what point does that content no longer resemble Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War gameplay. Further, if it doesn't resemble Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's gameplay, is it really integrated content or just simply another Call of Duty: Warzone update? Operators, skins, and weapons can all easily be ported over, but once they are, the developer will have to choose which game's culture the new features will favor.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.