Call of Duty: Warzone - FEVER GONE BUT ITCHY

Wasn't expecting much from Call of Duty: Warzone's seasonal addition, Zombie Battle Royale, but this blink-and-you'll-miss-it mode is a salve for a world that never got as far as a Left 4 Dead 3. Being a modern warfare zombie is actually so much fun that, if you manage to gobble up enough purple serum, returning to human life leaves players acutely bereft - no longer able to hold down L2 to cue up an enormous, distance-munching, leap. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War & Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - THE HEAT (THE ENERGY)

 

Available to everyone with applicable hardware this weekend, the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beta builds on the snappy Alpha by allowing players to experience the doldrums of being lumbered with set weapon loadouts - never particularly helpful - and, when they finally unlock the Create A Class option, underpowered weaponry with occlusive iron sights. 

Still, I'm enjoying Treyarch (Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studios, Demonware, Beenox and Activision Shanghai)'s hot war simulator, mainly because the multiplayer levels aren't staggered into a series of irritating head-glitch locations. Action is, thankfully, a little more free-flowing than last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (currently attempting to steal its little brother's limelight by resurrecting a fan favourite shotgun from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2). I've barely scratched the surface but, if I were to lodge a complaint, it'd be that there's precious little detail or visual cues separating the character models assigned to my team and the enemy's. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - PUMP OR AUTO

Response to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's alpha seems to be mixed, with many disappointed that this year's title delivers less of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's audio-visual luxury. Absolutely Treyarch (and Activision Shanghai, Beenox, High Moon Studios and Raven Software)'s game is less interested in gun club fidelity but Cold War's overall sound design is much more readable. Foot steps in particular were superb in this Alpha, allowing players to make quick decisions based on reliable, actionable, audio feedback. That's something that Modern Warfare, particularly Call of Duty: Warzone, has never quite achieved.

My personal complaints are the latency issues that always seem to plague the Treyarch releases - opposition players and their weapons pointing in completely different directions to the way they're actually firing or the broken camera angles that mean what you're seeing and what your opponent are seeing never quite synchronise. The latter most often expressed in killcam watching that sees your character bounding into frame and taking hits, following a confrontation were you never even saw a pixel of your assassin. Balance wise, scorestreaks are heavily weighted towards the end of matches, when the dune snipers have finally amassed enough points to unleash Huey helicopters, meaning otherwise sedate games can become meat grinders in their dying seconds. Still the classic run-and-gun gameplay is obviously there and, thankfully, weighted towards players who seek confrontation rather than vertical power positions.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - BABYLON SOCIAL

A quick look at the Miami level in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Alpha. This is the first game I really broke away from the pack and started going on decent streaks (well, the second - the PS4's Share feature is so fussy about how it's accessed, superseding inputs when you're, understandably, fretting about the eternity of vulnerability you're exposing yourself to just by calling it). So far, I'm really enjoying shotguns as secondary weapons - nothing beats cycling to a SPAS when you're much too close to a circling enemy.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - I DIED DEAD IN THE STREETS

JackFrags sounds a bit on the devastated side to report that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has moved away from the more (ahem) tactical movement and gameplay seen in Infinity Ward's last entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, returning to the roaming, arcade action seen in the previous Black Ops games. Frankly, I couldn't be happier. Although my first-person ability is way past its prime, I could never get into an interactive model that incentivised hiding and creeping over the rush of ambushing clueless players.

PS5 - Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

As a non-American it's difficult to process the intent behind Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's meticulous rendered CG Ronald Reagan. Since lead developer Treyarch have priors with uncritical portrayals of controversial right-wing figures - 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II featured Oliver North as the player character's CIA adjacent handler - I think we can assume Dutch's portrayal will be similarly fawning, reminiscent of the gravely statesman seen in early Michael Bay movies. Anyway (to focus a little more closely on Cold War as a gameplay proposition), looks like players get to zoom around airstrips in Chevy pickup trucks, releasing explosive, radio controlled cars. Like the killer in The Dead Pool.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - SCAVENGE

Still plugging away at Call of Duty: Warzone when I can. After a couple of weeks spent banging my head against the wall playing opposite PC players who, I'm sure, have acquired their tremor-free gunfire and impeccable situational skills through heavy lifting (rather than, say, running cheat scripts), I decided to limit matchmaking to PS4 only. Immediately seeing a lot less clairvoyance, it has to be said. Click the video above for a particularly hot post-Gulag drop.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - HEAVILY MEDICATED

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's basic multiplayer hasn't really clicked with me. Although it hasn't particularly stopped me playing, I haven't enjoyed that lobbies revolve around a matchmaking algorithm that seems to want players to feel like they're constantly underachieving. If, like me, you labour under delusions of adequacy, the constant fight to keep a neutral kill to death ratio saps the fun out of the game. Which is why I'm probably enjoying Warzone so much. Instead of three-lane maps stacked with nesting opportunities, the massive battle royale map allows players to move around in ways that pleasantly mix cautious creeping with explosive, momentary, daring.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - GULAG

Menu turnaround can be pretty brutal in battle royale games. One poorly judged landing spot and you can be bounced out of a game as quickly as you arrived. With this in mind, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Warzone modes have introduced a nifty safety net feature - The Gulag. After your eliminated for the first time, rather than be dumped straight to a results menu, Warzone plays a short cutscene that sees your player character dragged off to a Soviet era prison (with an interior modelled after The Rock's shower room shoot-out) for a short, twitchy chance to battle your way back to the main game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - WARZONE

Out today is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's battle royale mode / free-to-play launcher, Warzone. Despite a truly titanic download - especially if you haven't forked out for the full game - I managed to squeeze a game in before bed, choking it up in the final circle. Like Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's Blackout mode, Warzone manages (despite an absolutely enormous playing area) to retain the snappy, run-and-gun feel that made the franchise's name.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - ROLLOVER

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's supply stream has me back on the treadmill again, checking in every day to play a couple of games, earn a win and get that reserve skip. That's the appeal really, you don't have to learn any new systems or even set aside a significant amount of your time, you can just drop in, rack up the kills then go and do something else. It's relief valve gaming.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - TIGERSHARK

Looted Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's latest supply stream weapon off a big spender - the Tigershark LMG - and went on a mini-tear. Considering how terrible the last couple of unlock guns turned out to be (the Switchblade sub-machine gun in particular was a massive disappointment, hitmarkers for days), at least this pig handles like something worth chasing. It's a good job really, it's pretty obvious Treyarch and pals have re-adjusted the grind bars to fill significantly slower since the latest patch, that coupled with a shorter event window points to yet another spend prompt in a game absolutely lousy with them.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - FLAT SHARE

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is free this month with PS Plus meaning lots of lots of new players who have no idea what's going on. While not quite on the nuclear streak level, I'm happy with these 15 consecutive kills, especially since (compared to Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII at least) Modern Warfare's multiplayer maps have chaotic layouts, tricky sightlines and fragile player characters.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - TACTICAL ESPIONAGE

When not avoiding having to write up my favourite films of 2018 list, I do like to slowly circle the out-of-bounds gas in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's Blackout mode. Whereas everyone I watch on YouTube likes to steamroll around, obliterating everyone they come across with pinpoint accuracy, I prefer to get my belly on the ground, waiting for people to turn their dampened, distant crunches into full-blown, impatient mistakes.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - SNEAKING MISSION

The sound mix isn't quite perfect yet but it's amazing how many clues you can get to someone's location in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's Blackout mode if you just stop moving for a second and listen. So, you know, I'm not camping, I'm playing tactically.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - PUSHING LUCK

I'm not sure if waiting for a vulnerable enemy to get to cover before opening fire on them, then immediately making myself vulnerable by hurling a concussion grenade (while charging forward and reloading), demonstrates the ice in my veins or the complete inability to correctly assess a safe path forward. Given that I cannibalised an Operator Outlaw sniper rifle to buff my herky-jerky DMR, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - BASE

My second solo victory in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's Blackout mode involved lots of crouching and staring at doors that no-one wanted to open. Turns out that's a valid strategy. Since that video is incredibly boring, here's another two clips of me killing a good chunk of people while either hiding in tall grass or running around like a headless maniac.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - SKULK

Skulking around and ignoring enemy loot as I commando crawl my way into first place on Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's Solo Blackout mode. Stick around to the end to see how close the game was (thank you desiccated tree) and how bad a sportsman I am.

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII - OUTGUNNING

It's that time of the year again! Posting at 20XX slows to a crawl thanks to all the Christmas season games coming out. Even with a generation best multiplayer suite, the jewel in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII's crown is the Blackout survival mode. Like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite before it, this battle royale game type forces players to cope with rapidly shrinking safe zones and dozens of other contestants, each armed to the teeth and out for blood. Death can arrive swiftly, starting areas are swarming with panicked users desperately trying to locate any advantage - get your hands on an assault rifle and suddenly everyone around you is in deep shit. The above gameplay clip memorialises my team's first Blackout victory, arriving at the end of a long night spent failing miserably.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - OUT OF BOUNDS

Thanks to the lack of campaign I'd pretty much written off Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Although Call of Duty: Black Ops III's single-player was well below par for the series, the threat of an increased focus on the obtuse meta of Nazi Zombies and other, reheated survival gameplay wasn't really registering as fair compensation. Based on this clip though, Treyarch and Raven Software's new Blackout mode could be something special, combining polished, series standard shooting mechanics and frame-rate stability with en vogue battle royale gameplay.