Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
I just bought this game because the last time I checked, MW2 had pretty empty servers so it took lots of time to find matches and that sucked. So I researched a little bit what other current call of duty games there are because I just had some desire to play some quick team deathmatch games.
Basically it's just an updated version, which takes more time to load the maps and has a menu design that's far more confusing than the MW2 one.
Progression:
I'm currently level 19 and I really have to say, it's quite easy to level up. It's 1-0,5 levels per game atm, but I'm sure it'll change later on.
A lot of the content weapon wise is locked behind level ups, so you first need to invest quite a lot of time to really get started. Especially some of the vital upgrades are locked behind level 60 or something like that, so that will take quite some time. Weapon upgrades however are unlocked by playing. So the further you play with a single weapon, the more upgrades you have for that weapon and the more you can customize it. Unlocking said upgrades is easy as well. Usually I unlock 1-2 upgrades per game. But those upgrades are only for that single weapon, so if you really want to master it... well, good luck investing thousand of hours into the game.
At first you have several preset classes that you can choose. I really liked using the Uzi-type weapon class in the beginning because its spread was decent in close-mid range. But since it sucked so much on long range, I started using the AK47 instead once I unlocked it. It's not the perfect weapon for me yet, but I'm sure I'll find one soon once I unlock more weapons. I'm still not sure if I prefer the assault rifles or the MP's, but time will tell.
Maps:
There are lots of maps and there are still some I didn't dive into. These maps range from very small ones (for example Nuketown) to very large ones. Best score I had so far was 18/5 because I randomly got a heli from some box and it killed 6 guys on its own. But usually I suck a lot harder, barely reaching slightly over average, if at all
Anyway, I really love the bigger maps. That's where having a headset really shines, because you can hear other people running around next to you. In smaller maps there's usually a lot more annoying noise because of kill streaks and so on. But I also prefer the bigger maps because people can't preaim that easily, like what's done in games like Counter strike all the time. It kind of takes away from the charm of a game if everyone except you know the maps so well, that they know exactly where it's possible for you to be and shoot you while you walk around a corner. Because that way it nullifies aiming skill and only requires fast reaction + knowledge of the maps. I guess what it boils down to is that it's a lot easier for a newbie like me to get started. You also instantly respawn compared to CS, so it's easier and quicker to learn to aim and start getting better. That alone is really rewarding.
One map I've really come to hate is Nuketown. It's so small that you can almost shoot into the enemies spawn from your spawn. So yeah, I've seen spawncampers all around. Air strikes kill you right after respawning and... yeah it's not really my favourite map. Unfortunately it's picked very often. The picture at the top shows about half of the whole map of Nuketown.
Quest system:
This is something I really don't like. There are so many different game modes and the quests force you to play those game modes, which I'm really not a fan of. I just want to play team deathmatch and that's it. What's worse is that you can't even dismiss these quests even though supposedly you can do that with right click. But it doesn't work for me for some reason.
Game modes: There are so many game modes, it's just confusing to me. But if you want a game with lots of variety, yeah you'll get that here. I do plan on playing the zombie mode, but I didn't do that yet.
Controls:
This is something I've noticed is a lot better compared to other games like Overwatch or CS:GO for example. Aiming is so much easier but maybe it's just me. Anyway, it doesn't feel clunky at all. But there are a couple of things I really have to get used to. For example that CTRL makes you lie down. And that your aim will get fucked because of that. A couple of times I pressed CTRL instead of C to crouch, and yeah, I died because of that. But that's just something I need to get used to.
Crouching itself is my favourite way to play the game imho, because that way you can hear your enemies while they can't hear you. It helps a lot to get closer to your enemies undetected and can give you the advantage of surprise.
Music:
It's completely different compared to MW2. It's a lot more uplifting instead of dark or grim like it was in MW2, but it's not that bad either.
Conclusion:
Yeah, I like this game. It might have a few minor flaws, like the confusing menu design, but I'm sure I can put lots of my time into this game. Another big plus is that I won't need a heater in winter when I play this game on max settings. From 40 degree celsius GPU temperature to 75+ can be easily reached when playing.
Will try it for sure, but not sure for how long.
