The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War campaign is full of the intrigue seen in classic spy stories, and part of what makes it work so well is the new features added to the latest Call of Duty title. While an espionage thriller will not work for every Call of Duty game, such as the more military-focused Modern Warfare campaigns, many of the additions made in the latest Call of Duty campaign can (and should) carry over to the next entry in the series.
While the Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War storyline hinges on a massive final act twist that pulls from real-world mind control experiments, the campaign truly excels due to its gameplay and the interesting ideas introduced by developer Raven Software. From entirely new features such as optional dialogue trees and Safe Houses to forgotten ideas such as side missions, the campaign feels like a major step for the Call of Duty franchise. With major story choices to make and two vastly different endings as well, there are plenty of features from Black Ops Cold War that need to return in the future.
Dialogue And Safe Houses: Adding Character To The Cast
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s campaign includes what is possibly the least CoD-like feature to ever appear in the series: dialogue trees. In certain story moments, players will be able to choose different dialogue options when communicating with partners or the game’s antagonists. While some dialogue choices ultimately result in no difference, many have direct changes on what is said by the characters and how the latest Black Ops story progresses. One interaction can see a villain provide a hint regarding the game’s big twist, while that same interaction can lead to both the player character and his adversary threatening each other.
However, dialogue trees really shine in the safe houses of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. These HUB areas can be accessed between each major mission of the campaign, giving players a breather and allowing them to talk with their team between each story event. These optional conversations add tremendous amounts of backstory to the other members of Adler’s team. Where previously, a random team member like the MI6 agent Park would have been an afterthought, her backstory is told in a meaningful way.
Intriguingly, this deeper supporting cast has an impact on the other Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War modes as well. With campaign characters filling the roles of operators in Black Ops Cold War Zombies and multiplayer, using a character like Adler becomes more enticing after learning the backstory on his scar during the campaign. Previously, only Call of Duty icons like Captain Price and Frank Woods stood out as memorable, but due to the safe house conversations in Black Ops Cold War, even smaller characters feel fleshed out and more important. As such, safe houses and dialogue trees should return to Call of Duty’s campaigns going forward.
Mission Paths and Side Quests: Giving Freedom To The Player
It is hard to believe that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is Raven Software’s first original Call of Duty campaign, as the team’s experience with other titles helped it knock a campaign out of the park on the first go. Missions like Desperate Measures offer an incredible level of variety, giving players 5 ways to complete a specific objective. Each route players take plays completely different from another path, with one objective seeing the use of Nova 6 poison and another seeing players convince a prisoner to provide an assist through dialogue. Players can go a non-violent route as well, adding even more variety to the mission. With each path also providing new shreds of story info, the systems in place give players true freedom while heavily encouraging replayability.
Aside from open-ended mission types, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War features side missions. Not seen since the campaign of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, these optional quests add quite a bit pf fun to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s narrative. Providing an actual use for intel discovered in the campaign missions, the side missions task players with solving fun puzzles before jumping into the level. Fitting of Black Ops Cold War’s 1980s era and seeing players either decode hidden messages or track down undercover agents, these missions are yet another highlight of the campaign that should stick around. While a new Modern Warfare campaign would need to include a more contemporary kind of puzzle, a return of this format would be great to see.
Different Choices and Endings: A More Rewarding Narrative
There is a lot to love about Black Ops Cold War’s campaign, and one of its biggest strengths is the choices that can be made throughout the events of the game. While some choices occur directly in on-rails cutscenes, making players come to terms with the dilemma of saving one life over another, others are more hidden away. For example, in one of the earliest campaign missions, players can save or silence a captured informant. After clearing out his attackers, the informant can be talked to. Players can choose to release him or kill him in this conversation, but if they go over to the table nearby, they can learn that the informant is a double agent. While this discovery could lead to the threat being eliminated right away, the informant surviving can lead to an extra objective later on where players fix their mistake.
Every choice players make is summarized in the game’s ending, showing just how many different choices there are. Ultimately, though, there are only two main endings to Black Ops Cold War’s story, with a “good” and “bad” ending being decided based on the final choice of the player following the game’s twist. While this is a far lower ending count than Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, it is great to see multiple endings return to the franchise. Raven’s decision to have two entirely different final missions for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War based on the player’s final choice is different as well, showing just how much effort went into the campaign’s finale. While one ending is clearly non-canon and just for fun, as many characters that appear later in the Black Ops timeline are killed, different endings should still be explored in the Call of Duty campaigns going forward.
Beyond these major features, there are other Black Ops Cold War additions that can make a comeback as well. While Black Ops Cold War’s character creation may not be loved by everyone, the choice of skills like extra health, damage, or fire rate that accompanied that creation should return. The body shield mechanic could make a comeback as well, as it provides another advantage in large fights, and campaign challenges are a small but fun reward for doing everything in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s story. While these features are not as important as dialogue, side missions, and endings, they are all positive aspects of the latest CoD campaign. With so many things done well, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s campaign needs to be the new template for future installments in the series — Black Ops and otherwise.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, And Xbox Series X.
