Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War (CAMPAIGN) - Game Infinite Review

Cold War’s campaign can be summed up in the phrase of “stop mysterious bad guy with bomb” The Call of Duty franchise has had varied success with campaigns. Some of their campaigns have become beloved or even infamous. It has given us twists, ominous antognists, and amazing set pieces. The Black Ops series is one of the best at delivering quality narratives.

Black Ops Cold War’s campaign is incredibly low effort. The leaks of development troubles and massive rush are apparent most in multiplayer, but much so in the Campain. The campaign features still frame cutscenes where two characters talk over images. The game features inconsistent silent protagonist. The game’s villian is a boogeyman only seen in a low effort static portrait image. You read that right; the game lacks an “actual” villian. The meeting room in between missions feels small, static, and low effort. Everything about this game screams rushed, bland, and cookie cutter.

There is an attempt at a “What do the number’s mean Mason!?” level twist, but it is obvious, weird, dumb, and just feels unearned. I won’t spoil it, but it just feels so unoriginal and unnecessary. Plus, what the twist is could have opened up for a good ethical dilemma, a gray area situation, but instead they opt for a bland “stop bad guy with bomb” black and white option.

This year’s Call of Duty is just evident of all the news of development trouble Activision’s studios were in. It feels like the rushed due at midnight, group project that it is. Activision is where Ubisoft was years ago when they realized the teams needed more time to build each Assassin’s Creed, but I doubt Activision will do what they need to do and skip a year to let each developer have an extra year to catch up. I think 2021’s Call of Duty will be in major trouble as they will have even less time to build that game.