New Year – new Call of Duty. Although this fall, according to the schedule, we were supposed to receive the game from the studio Sledgehammer Games, something went wrong and the poor fellows from Treyarch (with active participation Raven Software) had to put together another blockbuster in just two years. With a story campaign, multiplayer and immortal zombie mode. All PlayStation 4 owners have already been able to try one item from this list – alpha testing of multiplayer took place last week Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
They know better
Last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare impressed even the audience that had not shown interest in the series for a long time with its online component. The dramatic improvement in the quality of many elements, including shooting, animations and sound, instilled faith in a bright future Call of Duty – some players didn’t even want Modern Warfare abandoned after a year for the development of the next part. But Activision remains true to traditions – billions are never superfluous, especially if you increase prices for versions for new generation consoles.
Quite predictably, the creators Cold War did not use the developments Infinity Ward and decided to go their own way – each team has its own vision. Therefore, you should not expect a second from the new product Modern Warfare. And the point, of course, is not only in the mechanics, but also in the quality. The weapon in the hands feels equally “toy-like”, the shooting sounds are not so rich, and the animations when reloading do not cause delight. In addition, the “alpha” was not without periodic drops in the frame rate, moments with lags and problems with lighting on one of the maps – on “Miami” the light bulbs seemed to shine brighter when you run up to them.
Players complained about the simplicity and power of quickscope in alpha, but in the full version sniper rifles will not be nearly as powerful.
That is, in a sense, this is a step back compared to its predecessor (if we consider it the last part of the series, and not the previous game of the studio), but at the same time, the gameplay here will appeal to those who were not delighted with the last games in the series. This is a classic Call of Duty, in which they seemed to try to add as little unnecessary stuff as possible. The doors were annoying Modern Warfare – they are not here. Characters with “abilities” in Black Ops 4 – they’re not here either. Although it’s a pity that the first aid kit mechanic from the fourth part was removed here – out of habit, after being wounded, you press L1 and waste a valuable stun grenade.
You can’t stick to the wall https://ninbetcasino.uk/ with a weapon, there’s no more tactical running – after Modern Warfare it can be difficult to get used to all this and the new product seems less dynamic than the previous game. Therefore, the decision to continue supporting the battle royale from the last part looks strange – of course, Warzone turned out to be a big hit and will continue to generate profits steadily, but the difference between it and the multiplayer of the new product will be too noticeable. New audience (hello, Russian PS4 owners!) will not understand at all how these components are related to each other.
When you constantly capture all the points in Supremacy, it is unlikely that you will be able to change the course of the match alone.
But overall, I liked the multiplayer – precisely because Modern Warfare it didn’t grab as much as in earlier ones Call of Duty. The TTK (time to kill) is especially pleasing here – it is not as low as in M.W, but not too high – almost ideal. And the most important thing for me is that the sounds of opponents’ footsteps can be heard very clearly, you can determine with an accuracy of a split second when they will run around a corner or go down the stairs. True, many players began to use the “Ninja” perk, which muffles steps.
There are some complaints about the game, and so far they are mainly related to the design of the cards. The playlist of classic modes, where teams fight six on six, featured three maps, and two of them seemed to me to be large for such squads. In Miami and Moscow, when I played Team Deathmatch and Murder Confirmed, the aimless running around looking for someone was a bit much compared to the desert map – each time I hoped that they would vote for it (yes, voting for the next map is back). But in the “Strong Point” mode, these locations began to sparkle with different colors – the dynamics are much higher. Otherwise, the maps are good – they are visually diverse and allow you to use different tactics.
The desert map allows you to either be a sniper sitting on the edge in the sand or fight more aggressively in the other half of the location.
The other two maps are designed for battles between two teams of 12 people each in the “Supremacy” mode – they are much larger than the others. They are not at all similar to each other: one resembles a classic card from Battlefield with six points, tanks and snowmobiles, and the other offers to fight on the high seas, riding between large ships on boats and jet skis. There is no feeling of a lack of players here, since the locations are large and open, and exciting sniper duels occur regularly. But personally, I still hope that more attention will be paid to the more classic modes in the full version – in Call of Duty many play for them first and foremost.
The agony of choice
In the new game Treyarch abandoned the Pick 10 system, making something like a system from Modern Warfare. Class equipment includes a primary weapon with five attachments, a secondary weapon (pistol, shotgun), two grenades (or C4), tactical equipment (for example, a field microphone that shows enemies in a small radius on the mini-map) and three perks. Another slot in the inventory is occupied by the “Joker” – a standard “chip” Black Ops, allowing you to get a special bonus. In the “alpha” there are only four such “Jokers”, but the bonuses are really useful: three additional perks, three additional slots for weapon modules, additional combat and tactical equipment, as well as the ability to take with you any two types of weapons – at least two sniper rifles.
There are a lot of weapon attachments – even though more than half of them were blocked in alpha, it was still difficult to choose. You can change sights, butts, magazines, handles, muzzles, receivers – everything significantly affects the behavior of guns. With some it is more convenient to control recoil, with some the range of destruction becomes longer, with some it allows you to shoot more accurately from the hip or aim faster after running. If you choose the “Joker”, which grants three additional cells, you can create almost the weapon of your dreams.
One of the main innovations Cold War associated with killstreak rewards. Here they are awarded not for the series, but for the points earned, which are not reset after death. The player receives bonuses for consecutive eliminations of opponents if he does not die himself, so that armed users will still call airstrikes and helicopters faster than others. But even the incompetent now have a chance to call in spy planes (in other words, UAVs) and carpet bombing. I didn’t notice a big difference between this system and the classic one – players still activate a lot of rewards, but after using them they now have to wait 90 seconds before they are restored, even if the necessary points have already been accumulated.
After the fifth kill in a row, the number of bonus points stops increasing, but there are still a lot of them.
On the one side, Cold War seems like a step back after Modern Warfare. If last year Call of Duty you liked it, it’s hardly worth switching to a new product – it’s inferior in quality. But if creation Infinity Ward I didn’t like it and wanted something more familiar, Cold War seems like good entertainment – shooting is enjoyable, there are plenty of weapons and attachments, and TTK is absolutely amazing. The only thing that’s a little frustrating is the size of the cards – make them a little more compact and the game will become more dynamic. But you can probably get used to this, but how will such multiplayer be combined with Warzone – a very big question.