Another year another Call of Duty. This year we’re going back to the Black Ops franchise with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Traditionally, the Black Ops series has been the one where I spend most of my time. Black Ops 2 saw me prestige 4 times, I spent an absurd amount of time in the Blackout BR. Cold War is the standard fare you’d expect featuring the 3 prime modes Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies mode.

Cold War‘s campaign centers around 1980s Regan Era Cold War with Russia and the CIA’s off the books squad of secret operatives. Following the hostage crisis in Tehran, Regan has the team go in and clean up the people responsible for the event and in doing so, they learn of a double agent, named Perseus. Knowing about this double agent and the simple fact that there’s currently a broken arrow out there somewhere, the squad led by battle worn Russel Adler, set out to find this man known as Perseus. Players take on the role of a customized operative known as “Bell”. Black Ops fans will recognize series regulars Alex Mason and Frank Woods as well as a few other cameos across the 6-7 hour campaign.

This particular Call of Duty game does thing a little differently than those that came before. Usually the levels all involve running headlong into a warzone or situation full of enemies, bullets and little collectibles and while that’s still the case, there are some levels that require stealth, interrogation, some decision making(which adds some replay value)and meetings with the other members of the crew at the safe house learning more about them and their background and exactly what they think about Bell. I definitely think that the Black Ops team has some aspirations to build a game in the Call of Duty world that features more missions that are more akin to Splinter Cell.

Multiplayer seems to have received a more stripped down overhaul which I have to admit is a really welcome return to form for me. Modes like TDM feel more fast paced and great all around. HOWEVER… and this is a BIG one… Something is definitely wrong with the MP. To start, the skills based matchmaking feels off. And not by a little – by a lot. Full disclosure I’m not a world fire starter in COD. I’m pretty average at best. That could be due to my high latency and slower internet speed but that’s just how it is. In one match, I may rack up a 2.5 K/D ratio and then the next match .30 with 6 kills. Again it could be my internet as the culprit but I don’t think it is.

Another issue I’m noticing is just how fast the spawn flips happen. In one game it seemed to be flipping as fast as I was dying. At one point I spawned in and was killed immediately by someone at our spawn to respawn at the opposite side of the map to be killed 2 more times by the same guy sitting in the new spawn point. An incredibly frustrating experience that was hardly an isolated incident.

Another incredibly important thing to report on is the online experience has been mostly dreadful. Pulling sights up in the middle of the game just as you’re about to enter a gun-battle results in a slight lag which more often than not will end poorly for me. Again, it could be my internet though unlikely since it’s happening to my friends in urban areas as well. And then there’s a great big elephant in the room. The game/system crashes. Over the weekend, myself on a Series X and another friend on a One X kept experiencing UI errors that would pop up which most certainly be a precursor to a major event looming on the horizon – a full on system shut down. Not like overheating bug that some games have but a call somewhere to shut the machines down. We’re not the only ones complaining about it all and I was seeing many people reporting these issues over the weekend on Twitter.

The other thing to note is that the number of levels, sure feels like slim pickin’s. The levels are great – especially Satellite – but sure feels like we’re hitting Moscow and Miami a lot more than others. I’m looking forward to seeing what other levels are coming down the pipeline.

The Zombies are back! If you’re unfamiliar with what the Zombies mode is, allow me a quick moment to enlighten you. Zombies is where teams of four fight back the never ending zombie hordes earning money to spend on power-ups, ammo, better weapons etc. Fans of the Zombies mode are likely reveling in returning to the battle against The Undead Reich. Much like MP, Zombies also received a bit of a stripped down return to form which I also think was high time. I’ve had more fun playing zombies this go around than the last one and I think hard core fans of the mode will love every moment of the zombie filled mayhem co-operative mode.

I really enjoyed the slight changes taken with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The standout levels are ones that take the series to a slightly different direction than the balls to the walls action sets. I honestly think this is the strongest and most fun multiplayer experience in the franchise in a while but they really need to iron out those crashes hurry up and get more maps into the hands of players and open up more operatives.

Pros:
– Stunning graphics. Ray tracing on Xbox Series X is incredible
– Fantastic soundtrack
– A return to a more basic multiplayer experience is a welcome change
– Zombies received a more simplistic approach as well

Cons:
– Spawn flipping is far too frequent
– System crashes/UI errors
– Unbalanced skills based matchmaking
– Not enough MP levels to play