First Look at Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War Beta

October 23rd, 2020 | Blog

Call of Duty’s latest installment within the franchise, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, is set to fully release on November 13th, 2020. However, the beta for this new game was released on October 15th, 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and on October 17th, 2020 for the Xbox One and PC systems. Being an Xbox One owner, I received late access to the beta but was still able to get a taste of what is to come. What’s next for Call of Duty? Read more to find out.

Weapons Available During Beta

There weren’t many guns (for a Call of Duty game) available for use during my experience with the beta. But this could be changed with the full release of the game. Below you will find all of the weapons offered within the game so far:

Assault Rifles:

  • XM4
  • AK-47
  • Krig 6

Submachine Guns (SMGs):

  • Milano 821
  • MP5
  • AK-74u
  • KSP 45

Tactical Rifles:

  • M16
  • Type 63

Light Machine Guns (LMGs):

  • Stoner 63
  • RPD

Sniper Rifles:

  • LW3 – Tundra
  • Pelington 703

Pistols:

  • 1911
  • Diamatti

Shotguns:

  • Hauer 77
  • Gallo SA12

Launchers:

  • Cigma 2

Gameplay: Author’s Opinion

When I played the game on October 18th – 20th, 2020, I was initially excited. This was due to the fact that I thought players would have access to multiple parts of the game, rather than solely multiplayer. This may have just been me expecting far too much from a game in the beta stage but I was hoping to get a taste of the “Zombies” game mode. As far as the multiplayer experience goes, players were allowed to play a few different game modes, most of which being fast-paced rather than objective/stealth oriented. As a die hard search and destroy fan, I was sad to see that this mode wasn’t offered in the beta. Not to mention that the game modes that were available were randomly selected by an algorithm within the game, throwing players into matches of various different game modes., disallowing choice in gameplay.

Hacked? Already?

On the first day, October 17th, that Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War was available on all platforms, there were already reports of cheaters within lobbies of the game. While no statistics or progression will be kept from the beta, it is still disheartening to see the game subject to hackers this early in its release. So far, the most prominent hacks that have been reported are aim-bot and x-ray vision, but more have surfaced since. While this doesn’t automatically mean that the game is going to be ridden and controlled by hackers ruining the experience for everyone, it does make honest gamers wonder if their money is better saved rather than spent on Call of Duty’s newest title.

Final Thoughts

From my initial and continued experience with the beta, my overall rating for the game (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 being an A+, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 being an F) is a C. The multiplayer modes have their moments of fun, but running into an aim-botting player with 50+ kills would ruin the vibe for anyone. Camping is seemingly encouraged in the game, as there are no lanes, creating chaos in the rather large maps the game showcased. The gun selection is hardly diverse, making few guns (like the AK-47 and the Gallo SA12) worlds better than their counterparts. These aspects obviously take the overall rating down a few notches, but the reason it stays a C is due to the potential of a certain game mode the title offers: Zombies. Will the Zombies game mode be enough of a saving grace for players? We will have to see.

Do you have an opinion on Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War that I either opposed or agreed with? Maybe your experience was different than mine. Whatever the case may be, let me know what you think in the comments below!

References

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