The final hour or so is…well, no spoilers, but I was utterly hooked. I came into the single player of Cold War expecting what I used to play – that is, an explosive rollercoaster – turned up to 4K and full of pizzazz, but what I got was a genuinely well-paced, thoughtful action movie experience that took some weird and wonderful turns almost constantly. Once solved, we go on a short mission where the bullets start flying again and that lovely, crunchy combat rears its head. Without all of the clues they will be impossible to solve, and it seems that the answers are randomised for players so even looking up a guide will still need a bit of detective work to properly solve. These require intel to be found in other missions that then leads to us having to solve the puzzle in order to make the mission a success. There are also optional missions to complete that will affect certain aspects of the game and the ending. It’s hardly Dishonered, but it’s far more than I expected and gives the story that bit more gravitas. I’ll steer clear of specifics, but here specifically there are multiple avenues for success which is a welcome addition. There are some excellently designed set pieces where shit hits the fan in the most explosive way, sandwiched between down time back at the safe house where we can talk to the various members of the team, or taking on the role of an insider attempting to help the team infiltrate a building. The campaign isn’t overly long, though that is generally the case with a COD game, but what’s here is smartly paced and utterly brilliant. It was these moments that really made me sit up and pay attention, feeling as they did more akin to an Arkane-style game. Of course, the fast-paced, slick shooting that COD is known for is present and correct, but there are a good few down moments too non-shooting, explorative, stealth based and exposition heavy sections that last longer than I ever thought I’d see in a Call of Duty game. Having last played Advanced Warfare I expected a bit more than a simple run and gun affair, but there is much more here than meets the eye. Elsewhere, characters reference previous events that went over my head but are clearly there to give returning players some cheeky winks and nods.Īside from all of these interwoven threads though, the story here genuinely caught me off guard. Lads named Mason and Woods feature, and even a certain character that I know of from other COD titles too. I’ve also not played more than a mission of any of the previous Black Ops titles, so I’m wholly unfamiliar with the history and any continuity of the series.Īll that said, I think Cold War is fucking excellent.Īs I say, I’m not au-fait with the Treyarch COD timeline, but there are certainly characters and threads running through this that even I can tell sync up with previous games. Warzone aside, I’ve not really felt that itch to pick one up pretty much the entire generation. It’s been a few years since I delved into Call of Duty proper.
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