What we know so far: The campaign mode of ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’

The new Call of Duty’s campaign is set in the ’80s and is a direct sequel to the original Black Ops. 

The secretive and paranoia-ridden world of Black Ops returns in the campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – this year’s entry to the long-running Call of Duty franchise. 

Following its absence in Black Ops 4, the story-driven, single-player mode is back, touting a previously unexplored setting, a new story, and several key gameplay changes. And, we were given a special look at all these features in a recent media presentation. 

Here’s what we know so far: 

Blurring the lines between truth and deception

In the same way 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII brought the franchise back to its boots-on-the-ground roots, Black Ops Cold War is abandoning the sci-fi-esque story of its predecessors in favor of the more grounded and historical revisionist take of the original Black Ops. 

“While other games are ripped from the headlines, Black Ops lives between the headlines,” said Dan Bundrak, creative director at Raven Software, one of the developers of the game. 

“It’s not the history you know, it’s the history that you think you know”

“The Cold War campaign takes place in 1981 – a year that saw two global superpowers lock into a nuclear’s arm race, conspiracies about presidential elections, illegal military operations on both sides, the paranoia of spies living next door, and looming threat over all of this was the fear and shadow of World War III,” described Bundrak. 

Activision

“The 1980s Cold War gives us everything we need to create a narrative with twists and turns and build a campaign with high action and covert operations that we knew would be uniquely Black Ops,” he added. 

Speaking of the narrative, Bundrak said that David Goyer, who co-wrote the original Black Ops and the screenwriter behind Hollywood blockbusters such as The Dark Knight, also returned to lend his story-crafting talents. 

Players take on the role of elite operatives tasked to hunt down a shadowy figure named Perseus, who’s on a mission to destabilize the global balance of power and change the course of history. 

Though, the developers did not go into the specifics of the story, they said that players can expect to encounter a number of historical figures, new characters, as well as some familiar faces, throughout the entire campaign. 

All about choice

One of the biggest things the developers wanted to do for this entry’s campaign mode was to give players a sense of “freedom” and “choice” in their experience.

What does that mean? 

Well, for starters, players can create their own characters for the campaign. They start by picking a gender, a skin tone, and customizing other physical features. In addition, they can pick their birth place and military background. Lastly, they can choose from a variety of psychological profiles. Players can, for instance, make their characters be loyal, reliable, or unstable, to name a few. 

“While none of these have huge gameplay effects, the idea was to make sure the player could be who they wanted to be – that Black Ops soldier they imagined in their head,” said Bundrak. 

That’s not all, however, as some missions include optional objectives, multiple paths, and a variety of interactive choices that players can choose from. 

It’s essentially adding nonlinear scenarios in between the scripted and linear bits of the game’s mission structure, giving players opportunities to role-play as their created characters. 

For example, one mission we saw during the showcase had players picking between poisoning a target or stealing a certain item, among a couple of other objectives. 

Activision

The developers promised that the player’s choices have an impact on the world and the characters in it, ultimately shaping what ending they’ll get once they finish the campaign. 

“This was something really important to us to make sure the player could feel those earlier decisions matter,” Bundrak added. 

“We didn’t want to go crazy with too many endings, but we’ve added enough where they can feel the impact on the world and feel ownership over the game.” 

Unlockable side missions

The game also includes two side missions that players can unlock by collecting evidence scattered throughout the campaign. Despite these missions being optional, they each have stories that relate to the main missions. 

“All these elements together along with that Black Ops tone has really created something that we feel is worthy of a sequel to Black Ops 1,” said Bundrak. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 13, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions to follow during the holiday season. – Rappler.com