Late last week, console owners Playstation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro got the opportunity to take part in the alpha test of a multiplayer shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War… Thanks to this, we made the first conclusions about the new creation. Treyarch…
As known, Call of Duty 2023 turned out to be a problematic project due to the conflict between Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games… The development of a shooter about the war in Vietnam stalled, and to save him Activision hastily redeployed Treyarch, forcing it to prematurely end post-release support Black ops 4…
Call of Duty 2023 was turned into a soft restart for Black Ops, Raven was set to make a single, and Sledgehammer was completely suspended from work (it is not even listed among support studios).
Given that Black Ops Cold War is a cross-gen project, it will inevitably be compared to last year’s creation by Infinity Ward. And this has already caused a surge of discontent from some players.
Many, when meeting with alpha, were unhappy with the overall quality of graphics and animations. Visually, the shooter looks like a refinement of Black Ops 4, and not like the development of Modern Warfare 2019. The pleasant sensations for which the animators of Infinity Ward were so praised are also missing.
However, Black Ops Cold War does not seem very outdated, and this is not the case with Ghosts… The new shooter looks nice, although the presented build suffers from problems with loading textures and objects. We regularly saw blurry posters and buses with hexagonal wheels, and on the Satellite map, the texture of the ground was loaded right under the nose.
Optimization is also lame, with owners of the base PlayStation 4 hitting hardest.
In terms of animations, Treyarch has made faster gameplay and faster animations, which goes against Infinity Ward’s focus on detail.
As part of testing, gamers were offered two variations of the game: 6v6 (with rotation of modes Team Deathmatch, Domination and Kill Confirmed) and larger 12v12 brawls, dubbed Combined Arms…
The first option is the classic Call of Duty. Three maps were available to choose from – Miami, Moscow and Satellite… Treyarch did not reinvent the wheel and follow the Infinity Ward path, which over-inflated the size of its cards and made a lot of miscalculations, due to which everyone ended up hiding in corners, placing claymores and trying to snatch an opponent from afar.
In Black Ops Cold War, maps are made according to the classic “three lines” system, and at least one of them must be in open space, and another one in tight corridors.
Satillite is the most fun card. The action takes place in the desert of Angola, where an American spy satellite crashed (consisting of an open line in the desert, a line in caves and a line in a canyon). She came across on alpha most often, and already on it serious changes in the formula were noticeable.
The fact is that players from Modern Warfare will be uncomfortable in Cold War, because the balance is built differently. Dropshots do not work here (however, many stubbornly tried to jump like mountain goats), and most snipers die pretty quickly. This is all due to the fact that it is no longer possible to hide in a corner. Yes, there are places in which a sniper is able to hide, but they are quite simple to smoke and there are simply no invulnerable positions.
This can be seen on the Miami urban map (two open lines on the coast and the main street and a line in narrow streets). In the center, one of the sides has a balcony where campers like to gather, but it is quite easy to destroy them by going from the rear.
The most controversial was the Moscow cranberry map, because it has only one line open for shooting. The emphasis is on gunfights in narrow corridors, and the center is a subway station with a destroyed roof. On it, it is better to abandon the machine gun and pick up the PP. Also, the adherents of the chopper gunner call will have problems – it will be problematic to hit someone on the city streets.
Combined Arms has already been dubbed by many as an attempt to kill Activision Battlefieldalthough Treyarch experimented with the technique back in Call of duty 3… The mode was available Domination (capture points) and two maps Crossroads and Armada…
Crossroads is a snow-covered map with several buildings. In addition, we can contemplate a unique sight called camper tanks (no joke). This may not be to everyone’s liking, given that the dynamics in the same Battlefield was slower. On the other hand, Armada is more interesting. This is a nautical map, in the center of which is a Soviet submarine, which they are trying to raise from the bottom of the ocean using a special vessel. In fact, the location turned out to be two-level: jet skis and boats are rushing through the water, and players are running along the decks, moving between ships using cables. In any case, you will have to go down, because three control points are near the water. This map also opens up opportunities for snipers, which not everyone likes, but due to the normal visibility of opponents, the chances of survival are quite high.
Overall, Cold War appears to be a faster and more arcade shooter than Modern Warfare, with Treyarch’s creation being more friendly to newcomers or those who are hard on Call of Duty gameplay. This is also achieved by revising the balance of perks. We have already noted above that being a sniper in a new game is difficult. The fact is that they won’t let you just stand or lie on your belly – the famous Ghost perk will not hide a stationary player from the UAV, so you need to constantly move. And if the enemy uses the Tracker perk, then it is enough to aim at the sniper so that his followers can see him on the mini-map.
By the way, the idiocy with the radar from Modern Warfare 2019 is a thing of the past – the classic mini-map has returned, on which enemy shots are highlighted. The developers also tried to work on the sound, so there will be no more Infinity Ward-style stomping. However, the ideal result also cannot be called. In the same Battlefield, it was possible to estimate the approximate location of the enemy by sound, while Treyarch turned out to be very quiet. You can also scold Black Ops Cold War for the sound of weapons, which resembles rattles.
When it comes to customizing the class, fans Pick ten may cry because the system never came back. Instead, the system is available Gunsmith, allowing to hang up to 8 modules on the main weapon. Special cards have not gone anywhere either. For example, you can attach modules to the main weapon as much as possible (by default, you can select only five modules), equip six perks instead of three, put the main weapon in the slot for an additional weapon, and so on.
Additionally, you can take a field upgrade: a mine, a jammer, a field microphone and a mini-installation of an air defense system.
Instead of killstreaks in Black Ops Cold War, the developers have proposed scorchstrikes, which instantly makes the game more accessible, because after death the counter does not reset. Treyarch is trying to balance this by increasing the cost of calling support. On the one hand, this does not allow you to summon something powerful at the very beginning of the round. On the other hand, even a standard UAV turned out to be quite expensive.
There is also a downside. Due to the high cost of killstreaks, most of them are used in the second half of the round, and the played teams of players do it simultaneously. As a result, the sky is filled with several helicopters and a chopper gunner, which prevents opponents from requesting support.
Killstreak balance also raises questions. For example, napalm is simply pointless. It is easy to hide from it, and the fire does not interfere with movement. If in other games in the series napalm allowed you to cut off part of the map, now it’s just a weak blow. Let’s hope that the developers will correct this misunderstanding.
Matchmaking also caused a lot of criticism. Apparently, Treyarch made mistakes in the system. SBMM (Skill-Based Matchmaking), which caused a real drama in the Call of Duty community. The fact is that after only three to five pleasant matches, the player can be thrown for three to five matches to the veterans of the series, who will leave a wet place from an unprepared fighter. Then everything is repeated. Therefore, many demand from developers a system CBMM (Connection-based Matchmaking).
Parameter A.D.S. The (Aim Down Sights) weapon has changed a lot compared to all previous parts. The character takes aim extremely quickly on all guns (including sniper rifles and machine guns), and even attachments on weapons do not affect this. The sensations are fresh and unusual, but it doesn’t have to be that way, because afterwards a fast A.D.S. will cause imbalance, for example, snipers may appear killing with “quickscoop”, or it will become possible to make unbalanced builds of guns.
Summarizing the above, preliminary conclusions can be drawn. Black Ops Cold War brings to mind the original Black Ops and addresses the shortcomings of Modern Warfare 2019. In addition, the entry threshold for players has decreased due to more arcade gameplay.
The big picture will only become clearer during beta testing. But Treyarch definitely got us interested.
Worked on the material: Vadim Syedin (Vadimeys), Alexey Sarafanov (ASarafanov) and Kyle atreides…
Read also: From Miami to Moscow: First Details and Trailer of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Multiplayer…
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