Black Ops Cold War on Xbox One X

The Cold War is coming to our console

If there is something that characterizes the saga Call of Duty is the variety of plots and subsagas it contains, and one of them is Covert operations with Cold War in this year’s installment. The cold war returns to our consoles and the double spy game will take us on infiltration missions or spectacular missions in Vietnam.

As in every installment of this Black Ops franchise, the manager is Treyarch Studios , which brings back iconic characters Frank Woods O Alex mason and the presentation of one of the new protagonists, in addition to one of the mysterious: Russell adler. Here, we stop to point out Treyarch’s good intentions and work on crafting a small, changing narrative system.

But the mission, as in any good spy movie and more with the Cold War between the two, is to stop a mysterious Russian agent (whom no one has seen in person), Perseus, in his attempt to activate a nuclear warhead and detonate the entire United States arsenal on American soil. So far I can read so as not to spoil one of the best stories I’ve had with a Call of Duty.

Frantic action, stealth and popcorn

In order not to change, to begin with we will take control of Mason on a mission to stop and question one of Persée’s cooperators, and this is where we prepare a good bowl of popcorn, from the call campaigns of a good call of duty is action, explosions and a good chase with bullets whistling through our ears. In this the Treyarch formula does not change, good introductions in the form of cinematographic animations, historical characters to give it a certain “historical rigor” like the president Reagan.

the shooting It’s still a delight, a hallmark of the house and it’s very easy to do quickly with the aiming system, the active reloading (the magazine is changed while still aiming the target) and the rest of the franchise mechanics. New animations with each weapon, its different magazines and reload types, as well as the character’s movements will make us feel more than ever in the action.

In each mission, as a novelty, the possibility of collecting evidence is included that we will later use to solve optional missions that will expand the story. So we replaced the old collectibles, which were really unnecessary when it came to tracing, to include an incentive to explore every place we visit.

And also, practically in every mission we will have moments in which we will have to choose in certain dialogues, and depending on what we choose, certain events could occur in the future or others, although the core of the plot does not. not change significantly. Whether or not they choose to kill a target, forgive a spy, or give them what they deserve, they can have consequences in terms of what may happen to an additional character in future main missions, although I stress that you will just be a viewer of a little clip that will change depending on your actions.

After a quick start, a new feature arrives in the saga, which consists of “creating” a character with the code name “Bell” to which we can give some attributes. These two modifications will make us faster, more resistant or with as many advantages in combat to adapt them to our way of playing.

Call of Duty has always been known to be action packed, although it has also had some legendary stealth or sniper rifle infiltration missions. Here, we will also have our doses, even if at the end I felt a little decaffeinated. We will have to infiltrate the KGB facilities and we can do so by bribing the guards, blaming the high ranking officers or as a “ghost”.

This change of pace becomes tedious in missions of this type, perhaps leaving aside what has characterized the saga since 2005. In runtime, they are always as short as the others, but “thanks” to lazy artificial intelligence, we can go around in circles repeating large areas; It’s quite frustrating, but when it comes to loading weapons, Treyarch knows how to please the classic player.

In general, I really liked the story and the way of telling it, to introduce the dialogue and the decision-making options for the first time, but the feeling that everything happens in the blink of an eye to me. left a little dissatisfied. Perhaps the last missions redeem themselves a bit, even with a “little trip” in mind mixing Vietnam and paranoia caused by the MK Ultra program, giving the player their annual dose of explosions and “Michael Bay” action. “, while leaving the final bitter taste and a feeling of forced finish.

Some audiovisual improvements worthy of the beginning of the generation

Cold War looks good even on Xbox One X, with some really eye-catching lighting effects and next-gen graphics, we might be facing the best polished Call Of Duty so far, and it’s got an improvement. significant on Xbox Series X at the same time very smooth performance at 60 FPS. The quality of the textures, the ray tracing and the fluidity when moving the camera make this Black Ops a marvel that will leave us speechless on more than one occasion.

Maybe, like every year and after the promises of an evolved graphics engine, I miss more risks in terms of character physics, enemies, behavior of objects during shots and destruction scenarios. Not only are all of these things missing, but it looks like the dev team didn’t waste a second implementing typical physics when shooting a vase or monitor like in previous installments. , in which they could be destroyed.

Some textures, like Adler’s leather jackets or bombers, appear photorealistic to the naked eye, but in motion they feel stiff. But on the contrary, faces like those of the protagonists or of Ronald Reagan himself are very successful.

As for the sound part, the development team went all out, bringing us some truly spectacular weapon sounds, thunderous explosions and other special effects that fully immerse us in the action. Like every year, the game is completely dubbed in Spanish, with voices already known and who have done a great job.

On the other hand, some characters are awkwardly dubbed, as happened in the previous installment, Modern Warfare, with the participation of Spanish actors who are not professionals in this field, such as voice actors. Putting the spotlight on José Coronado as Emerson Black, and with Nawja Nimri, totally takes me out of the action. Well-known voices are good, but they can never match the great work done by talented and experienced voice actors.

Special mention to the soundtrack, which includes songs from the late 60s to the 80s with a spectacular repertoire that takes us straight into another era. This is accompanied by ambient themes which perfectly complement the action of each scene and which demonstrates the great care Activision puts in the musical compositions.

Multiplayer mode and zombie mode: more of the same

The Call of Duty formula has always included a multiplayer mode to extend the experience, offering great team battles and the recent advanced Battle Royale formula with Warzone, compatible in this episode and which will later offer Cold War content for everything. the world.

There are no major changes this year, although fans have what they want with its classic team duel, confirmed baa, dominance or seek and destroy modes, as well as the inclusion of a few new modes. which do little to add. The Cold War continues in the Year Line, introducing small changes to the class setup, but for all intents and purposes it looks more similar.

If something works, why change it, they say, and while Activision has great commercial success every year, that is not reflected in a necessary evolution that removes the great curses this mode has. Poor balance of connections, despite the presence of cross play, can put us at a disadvantage and other common failures of every installment, like a mad respawn that makes us look totally exhausted against the enemy side.

But as always, it’s fun knowing the maps, the behavior of the weapons and getting the controls, tailoring the classes to the way you play and finding the modes that feel most related to you. With just 8 starting maps, it looks like the content is a bit short, although in a few months more maps and events are expected for Multiplayer and Warzone.

And if you’re Zombies, you’ve got your good dose of undead wave extermination, with its own story and mechanics and in my feel, with slightly tighter gameplay. It remains to be seen whether Treyarch lives up to its own creation, adding some good cards that players are interested in.

There are no major changes, so it will appeal to regular players, who are looking for fun killing zombies and revealing all the secrets of the map, unraveling the mystery and successfully trapping the player in its intoxicating setting. full of mystery.

Conclusions

If you are a Call of Duty fan like me you might be a little disappointed at both with the short duration of a story which is one of the best I have played with Modern Warfare or the Infinite Campaign. Warfare, but that can be replayable if you want to research the tests needed to access the two optional missions.

The pace is cut in the middle of the game with somewhat tedious missions where you have to infiltrate and get information, and what starts off in a spectacular way is having a sniffing stage and trying to complete the spy game on the as soon as possible. Still, the final missions and a few that lead up to the Vietnam War are as epic as they are spectacular, and it feels wasted, like the times we control the helicopter in the Saigon jungle.

The variable of the dialogues and the different endings depending on our actions, contrasts with how they have been conservative in both the physics engine, multiplayer or Zombies mode, which gives the final feeling of satisfying the die-hard fan. and walk away from the veteran player they seek be surprised every year.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available for Xbox One on your standard edition, Xbox Series X | S on your Multigenerational editing, Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and PC. Here is the game trailer: