The supposed return to form for the Treyarch line of Call of Duty games, Cold War didn't exactly need to do a whole lot, since the insultingly barebones Black Ops 4 didn't feature any single player content whatsoever , so just showing up with a campaign was already an improvement.
That said, for all the effort they put in to go above and beyond by offering yet another mindfuck plot, moral choices, sidequests, multiple endings, Goldeneye-style espionage segments and even puzzles (you read that right: puzzles in a CoD game), and succeeding in most of these endeavours, Cold War stumbles on what you'd expect to be the easiest part for a series that's been going for as long as it has: the gameplay is botched and dull, with downgraded physics, AI and detail, and incredibly easy on top of that, even on Veteran or Realism, which is just Veteran verbatim without most of the HUD, despite the medacious claims of the difficulty selection screen.
Enemies are dumb, taking cover behind nothing and standing out in the open like it's Operation Wolf. Furthermore it's not very satisfying to shoot them, as their reactions to bullet impact are delayed and uninteresting. It will be easy to mow them down in their hundreds, especially since ammunition is now dropped by every enemy in generic ammo satchels which replenish whatever weapons you are carrying, instead of you picking up ammunition for the specific weapons you found. This means ammo is de facto unlimited, so grab the best weapon you can find, no matter how uncommon its resupplies, and spray away.
Just about the only times you will die are unfun scripted encounters with enemy juggernauts, who laser aim onto you, cutting you down the moment you peek your nose out of cover, or one of several awful turret segments which will test your patience. There is also a Vietnam level in a rice field, in which you are given no cover and cannot go prone, leading to frustration. All of this feels like artificial difficulty and is usually quickly dealt with anyway. At no point you will feel overwhelmed to the point of not knowing how you're supposed to make progress. While that's not a great feeling, that's what makes these campaigns fun to play on Veteran: to find a way past odds that seem impossible, and there's none of that here.
There is also no gore whatsoever. Considering Treyarch has always been the edgelord of CoD developers, with the absolute brutality seen in Black Ops 1 and 2, where enemies could be blown to bits by shotguns and explosions, Cold WAr doesn't even have blood puffs and only occasionally features blood pools under bodies. This extends to the cutscenes, which don't feature any of Treyarch's trademark disturbing violence.
So the puzzles: three times over the course of the campaign you are offered to engage with optional objectives, one of which is a simple numeric padlock whose combination is hidden in documents around your base of operations and twice you will have to review intel gatherd in the missions to piece together who the members of a spy network are. They are fairly simple logic puzzles but considering we are talking about a CoD game, these feel out of place, and in a good way. They are randomized too, so you can't just google their solutions. It's a shame that the two missions they unlock aren't particularly good, being brief combat scenario on expanded multiplayer maps, similar to Spec Ops missions from old Modern Warfare games, though not even remotely as fun.
The espionage levels grind the action to a halt while you sneak around collecting evidence and stealing data from some Russian base or the KGB headquarters. they are cool, and add a sprinkle of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark to the game, but ultimately feel like they are stalling for time, to stretch out a very short campaign.
The story is alright, despite expecting you to really care about characters you will barely be aware of, it delivers some good moments, though it's not enough to prop up the easy campaign.
Dull, dull dull. It would be much better if it weren't so incredibly forgiving.
That said, for all the effort they put in to go above and beyond by offering yet another mindfuck plot, moral choices, sidequests, multiple endings, Goldeneye-style espionage segments and even puzzles (you read that right: puzzles in a CoD game), and succeeding in most of these endeavours, Cold War stumbles on what you'd expect to be the easiest part for a series that's been going for as long as it has: the gameplay is botched and dull, with downgraded physics, AI and detail, and incredibly easy on top of that, even on Veteran or Realism, which is just Veteran verbatim without most of the HUD, despite the medacious claims of the difficulty selection screen.
Enemies are dumb, taking cover behind nothing and standing out in the open like it's Operation Wolf. Furthermore it's not very satisfying to shoot them, as their reactions to bullet impact are delayed and uninteresting. It will be easy to mow them down in their hundreds, especially since ammunition is now dropped by every enemy in generic ammo satchels which replenish whatever weapons you are carrying, instead of you picking up ammunition for the specific weapons you found. This means ammo is de facto unlimited, so grab the best weapon you can find, no matter how uncommon its resupplies, and spray away.
Just about the only times you will die are unfun scripted encounters with enemy juggernauts, who laser aim onto you, cutting you down the moment you peek your nose out of cover, or one of several awful turret segments which will test your patience. There is also a Vietnam level in a rice field, in which you are given no cover and cannot go prone, leading to frustration. All of this feels like artificial difficulty and is usually quickly dealt with anyway. At no point you will feel overwhelmed to the point of not knowing how you're supposed to make progress. While that's not a great feeling, that's what makes these campaigns fun to play on Veteran: to find a way past odds that seem impossible, and there's none of that here.
There is also no gore whatsoever. Considering Treyarch has always been the edgelord of CoD developers, with the absolute brutality seen in Black Ops 1 and 2, where enemies could be blown to bits by shotguns and explosions, Cold WAr doesn't even have blood puffs and only occasionally features blood pools under bodies. This extends to the cutscenes, which don't feature any of Treyarch's trademark disturbing violence.
So the puzzles: three times over the course of the campaign you are offered to engage with optional objectives, one of which is a simple numeric padlock whose combination is hidden in documents around your base of operations and twice you will have to review intel gatherd in the missions to piece together who the members of a spy network are. They are fairly simple logic puzzles but considering we are talking about a CoD game, these feel out of place, and in a good way. They are randomized too, so you can't just google their solutions. It's a shame that the two missions they unlock aren't particularly good, being brief combat scenario on expanded multiplayer maps, similar to Spec Ops missions from old Modern Warfare games, though not even remotely as fun.
The espionage levels grind the action to a halt while you sneak around collecting evidence and stealing data from some Russian base or the KGB headquarters. they are cool, and add a sprinkle of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark to the game, but ultimately feel like they are stalling for time, to stretch out a very short campaign.
The story is alright, despite expecting you to really care about characters you will barely be aware of, it delivers some good moments, though it's not enough to prop up the easy campaign.
Dull, dull dull. It would be much better if it weren't so incredibly forgiving.