CoD: Black Ops Cold War is releasing in a few weeks. With the release, there are a ton of questions around the future of the CoD franchise and the top Battle Royale mode - Warzone. In this blog, I want to take you through my thoughts and concerns for the latest addition to the Call of Duty series.
Let me start by saying that Treyarch typically does not miss when it comes to making a GOOD Call of Duty. In my eyes, Treyarch has the best track record when it comes to fun, enjoyable and competitively tuned Call of Duties. For those of you who do not know, Call of Duty is made by several different developers that rotate each year. The latest three have been Sledgehammer Games (Advanced Warfare + WWII - flop), Infinity Ward (CoD 1, CoD 2, CoD 4, MW2, MW3, Ghosts, IW + Modern Warfare) and Treyarch (Cold War, Black Ops Series + World at War). The different developers is why Call of Duty games can feel very different from title to title.
My main concern about the release of Cold War is: What is the impact that it will have on Warzone? Initially, Activision stated that Warzone will be it's own standalone game mode with Cold War being incorporated into it. This is interesting because Modern Warfare Warzone and Cold War are run on two different engines and the gunfights from each feel VERY different. Therefore, if they incorporate guns from Cold War multiplayer into Warzone, the guns will feel very different. They will have different recoil patterns and will even graphically appear different (MW graphics > Cold War graphics - by a longshot. This holds true at least from the beta). The safest option for MW and CW is to incorporate maps and points of interest from Cold War into Warzone.
When I played the Beta and Alpha, I was not super impressed. The graphics felt like we took a huge step back, the movement did not feel super fluid and the maps are not great. The only reason why I am not too worried about this is because I don't see myself or a large portion of Warzone players going back to grinding multiplayer lobbies like in the past. The last CoD I actually enjoyed playing multiplayer was probably Black Ops 3. Aside from this, I don't believe the current player base is as interested in hardpoint/domination as they currently are in Battle Royales. However, I will say that if the Search and Destroy feels good in CW (decent maps mainly) - you could definitely find me playing a few Search and Destroy Wagers/Tournaments.
Cold War Pros:
- Time to Kill felt good. Modern Warfare's time to kill (multiplayer) is way too low which entices camping.
- FOV slider for all platforms. Now all consoles and PC players will be on the same playing field when it coms to FOV (field of view). I think this was a huge W for Call of Duty players
- Attachments now show exactly what % they increase or decrease a guns statistic (aka +20% recoil control)
- Health Bar - this is key in multiplayer. If people still manage to say "ONE SHOT" when they aren't....well let me say it might be time to find new teammates
- ZOMBIES! One of my favorite game modes to play. New zombie maps are coming! Going for high round games, easter eggs and challenges are always a good time
- Prestiges appears to be back - W. Not sure why they were ever removed in the first place
Cons:
- Maps need to be reworked to the traditional 3 lane map style. I was not a fan of any maps from the beta
- Movement felt clunky
- Shotguns are considered a Secondary (you do not need overkill to have a shotgun as backup) - L
- Snipers were hit marker central (Pain)
- Scorestreaks are confusing. According to Shroud, just remove them (via Dexerto). I actually agree that scorestreaks do ruin the multiplayer experience. It's great when you are getting them but brutal when someone else has a chopper gunner
I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on Cold War. Leave a comment below! What are you hoping to see when the game fully releases? Regardless of all my concerns, I am still excited to try out Cold War!
Could not agree more with you Pvt. Kowalski. Definitely gona be playing CW initially and to go for attachments/camos, but we'll see how long it lasts. IW is definitely really good in terms of developers making solid games for CoD
Personally I’ve always enjoyed IW titles WAY more than the rest. So coming into this years game I was already a bit skeptical in that regard. But I’m with you. Battle Royale is the wave now. MP is kinda fun at first, but after awhile it’s all BR. The only reason I play MP is to grind gun camos and unlock attachments for guns to use in WZ. I’ll give CW a try at first, but if there’s no Cold War BR, it’ll be a short lived thing for me.
100% that is definitely a possibility. They could be trying a few things out to get the community feedback before releasing the full game. Treyarch typically does a great job of developer feedback unlike Warzone.
We have basically the same concerns, but do you think its possible that Treyarch made the beta this way so they can address all the problems people are complaining about before they actually release the game? Not like warzone now where no problems are addressed.