So I just streamed for 12.5 hours (about 10.5 hours on Cold War) and I gota be honest, I am pleasantly surprised with the game. Cold War got a lot of heat and mixed reviews on launch, but I enjoyed the time I spent playing Multiplayer and Zombies. In this blog, we'll break down each experience with some pros, cons and a letter grade to finish it off. Please feel free to comment below your first thoughts on the game! You can sign in with any gmail account.
Multiplayer
Right off the bat, let me just say I am HYPE they brought back Prestige. It has been such a staple in every single Call of Duty and I was personally shocked when Modern Warfare did not continue the tradition.
Pros
Time to kill (TTK) is good which is typical Treyarch fashion. TTK in MW is way too quick which promotes camping. Longer TTK means better players with better gunskill will typically have the advantage in a gunfight. Obviously positioning is still key, but think about MW - you can literally die before even seeing the player. Longer TTK gives you a chance to make a play.
Gunfights feel good + smooth. You cannot discount how important this is for a Call of Duty. If everything feels off (maps, guns, weapons), having smooth gunfights can save your game. This partially has to do with the longer TTK.
Health Bar - I am a HUGE fan of health bars in shooters. Now, you don't have to worry about your teammate's brutal "One Shot" callouts. You can see exactly how much health the enemies, yourself and your ally's have (I turn off ally health bars)
Stims can be used quickly and they regen very quickly. Big fan of this as it allows aggressive players to continue to push forward
Cons
Movement - the movement has improved since the beta but it is still very clunky compared to the Modern Warfare/Warzone engine. No disputing this
Graphics - I typically do not care about graphics in a game, however, when you go from MW's engine which looks CLEAN to Black Ops 2-esque graphics, it's not pleasing to the eye to say the least.
Stun and Grenade fest - I am a bigger fan of the old "Pick Ten" system when it comes to deciding loadouts (thinking BO2, BO3, BO4). The reason for this is because almost all players would rather have an extra perk or attachment than they would a stun and/or frag grenade. Look at the picture below for reference:
each attachment, gun, perk, etc, would take up one slot of your ten allowed slots. Cold War deviated away from this system, which ultimately means every player's loadout has one tactical and one lethal equipment. Most players will choose a stun, flash or stim with the lethal being some type of grenade/explosive. Not a fun multiplayer experience
Colors - enemies blend in the map which is no bueno. Very tough to spot enemies especially when they are head glitching. Could be an early problem that gets resolved with playing time
Scorestreaks - simply because I still have no clue how they really work (help me by clarifying in the comments plz)
Footstep audio is brutal. Cannot tell for the life of me where someone is at any given time. Sometimes you hear people clearly and other times you can't hear a thing. Very unreliable
Guns don't seem well balanced. Everyone that's sweating is running an MP5 AND the M16 has already been banned from some tournaments. Seems like this will be the meta going forward
Also, WHY is a shotgun considered a secondary????? The quickest way for this game to die is if everyone runs a shotgun secondary
Undecided
Maps - Some maps are good and some are absolute trash (Yes, I am talking about you Satellite). Also, I think Miami is one of the worst maps designed. Gimme the smoke. Cartel has to remove the bushes. It's enough that I have to face bush wookies in Fortnite and Warzone. Please don't bring them into Cold War. Big fan of Moscow, Armada, Checkmate and Garrison
Zombies
Many people do not know this, but the Zombies mode in the Black Ops Series (+WAW) has ALWAYS been my favorite to play. I am very excited for Zombies to be back. On my first run through, Mfans guided me to power + Pack-a-punch before getting disconnected around round 12 - As a solo, I made it to round 41. GG
Soon, I will 100% be coming out with a Die Maschine Guide to Survival begcause there are a few things about the map you should know if you want to go for high rounds (Weapon Tiers, How to craft armor, How to get additional weapon Pack-a-Punch features)
Pros
Pause Feature - host can pause the game at any time (even with a party). Big W, especially for us Zombie Slayers that like to go for ultra high rounds
Rejoin Feature + Leave Feature - Lil 2 for 1 here, but you are able to join your friends mid-game. Your teammates will spawn in at the end of the current round. When teammates leave, the next round (and every round after) will be adjusted to the amount of players. AKA if you start a game with 4 players and they all leave in round 9, to start round 10, the zombies will adjust in round spawn rate to match a solo game. I thought this addition was a MASSIVE W
Health Bar - Again, big fan. Love it on both Zombies and Players
Weapon Ranking - Ranking up Weapons will carry over levels into multiplayer (and fingers crossed, hopefully Warzone)
Nostalgia - the first (and only thus far) map is Die Maschine. Once you spawn in, open your first door, and realize the map is Nacht Der Untoten, it'll immediately bring back memories of your first Zombies experience (Nacht was the 1st Cod: World at War Zombie Map aka the first zombie map ever)
Simplicity - through the years, the Zombies maps continuously got more complicated and confusing. I am a fan of long and complicated when talking about Easter Eggs, not tasks like turning on the power and activating Pack-A-Punch. In Die Maschine, the mini-map + indicators tell you where to go. Big W
Other Positive Additions - Ammo crates throughout the map, craft-able Monkey Bombs (that also kill zombies in very late rounds), Armor, Ability to buy all 6 perks at any time
Cons
Pack-a-Punched Weapons are very weak in "early" rounds. Since there are 3 Pack-a-Punch tiers, this makes sense. However, if it is your first time playing, you'll notice that your pack-a-punch weapon really starts to struggle in the mid-10s (15+). At this time, you should really be getting your weapon to Pack-a-Punch tier 2. I was very surprised when I saw how weak the guns started to get early on. This is just an adjustment and loosely considered a con.
Megaton Zombies - just annoying to kill. The more teammates you have, the higher his health. When he dies, he splits into two zombies that spit poison at you and rock you with haymakers like Mike Tyson.
Points (Essence) - They adjusted the point system to only give a player Eessence for kills. Players no longer get +10 for every bullet hit. Therefore, they have increased the difficulty of the game by making Essence come by less frequently. In other Zombies Maps, points weren't as important in later levels, but when you need 30,000 Essence for your Tier 3 Pack-a-Punch, it becomes very important to stock up where you can.
GRADE
Despite all the cons in the multiplayer section, I gota give Cold War the grade of a B. A lot of people will disagree, but I am actually enjoying the game so far. I think part of this has to do with the fact that I had very low expectations coming in. Ultimately, I do not think Cold War matters too much because Warzone will still be the main focus of the CoD series. I am very interested to see how the integration works in December.
We'll be streaming more Cold War this weekend! If you would like to watch, join here at Twitch.tv/MRagsTV
Comment below your thoughts!
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