Review] Innovative campaign in which you become a secret agent and solve mysteries; multiplayer is more playable for beginners. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the latest installment in the CoD series for PS5 and PS4.

On Friday, November 13, 2020, "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War" was released on PlayStation®5/PlayStation®4, the latest installment in the "Call of Duty" series. In this issue, we bring you a review of the campaign and multiplayer modes of the game. (PS4 version used, images taken on PS4 Pro)

There are three main Call of Duty (CoD) series: the original World War II-set series by Infinity Ward, the modern warfare-themed Modern Warfare (MW) series, and Treyarch's Black Ops" ("BO") series by Treyarch. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War" is the latest installment in the "Black Ops" series.

After reading deeply into a certain code, the author was unable to figure out the mystery, so he eventually turned to Twitter for help, but it seems that some of the mysteries presented in the game differ depending on the player's own personal history. Furthermore, the development of the story in this work changes depending on the player's choices. It would be interesting to find out the differences between the stories of other players and my own.

There are many variations in the campaign, such as jungle warfare in Vietnam, secret talks in East Berlin, and infiltrating the headquarters of the KGB, the Soviet Union's intelligence agency. The mission to infiltrate the KGB was particularly interesting in terms of fan service, as there were many ways to attack the KGB and also featured characters that those who played the original "BO" and "MW" would remember. While the game includes new elements such as solving puzzles, the original FPS elements are still heavy-handed.

The quickest way to score is to play by the rules. In "Kill Confirmed," you collect tags, in "Domination," you take positions, and in "Hardpoint," you occupy areas. The more you contribute to your team's victory, the easier it will be to score streaks. The system also allows players to get two "assists," which occur when another teammate kills a player they missed, and the assists are also counted as kills. Beginners can do their best to defeat their opponents, but they can also work for the team. If players who work for the team benefit, matches will naturally become more active. Heated matches increase, players get excited, and the atmosphere extends throughout "BOCW.

The "gunsmithing" that was so popular in the previous "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" ("CoD: MW") has been carried over to this title. This system allows players to customize their guns by combining various parts. Even with a single assault rifle, the barrel can be trimmed down to emphasize mobility, or extended to increase accuracy in medium and long-range combat. In "BOCW," the mobility of the rifle is not reduced even when the sights and barrel parts are modified, allowing for easier customization. In the previous "gunsmithing" title, adding or changing equipment often resulted in a decrease in aim and movement speed, and despite the vast number of parts available, useful customization was almost always fixed, and "gunsmithing" tended to be an element focused on appearance and romance. This has been resolved in this work, making it easier to combine appearance and performance.

The author participated in the open beta test of "BOCW," and it is also worth noting that the sliding performance has been moderated compared to that time. The movement distance has been shortened, making it harder to jump out of a slide and shoot. At first glance, this may seem like a negative, but it is in fact a reflection of the fact that the emphasis is not on character control techniques, but on pure gunplay. I have been playing the "CoD" series for 12 years, but I am not good at such advanced maneuvers, so I was always being hunted by advanced players who made full use of sliding in the previous titles. This change in specifications will be reassuring for players in the same situation as myself.

The campaign, where you take on the role of a secret agent and solve puzzles, and the multiplayer, which retains the system used in "CoD: MW" but improves on its strengths and eliminates its flaws, are both of unquestionable quality. The improved score streaks and sliding behavior are especially noticeable in the multiplayer, and this title may be a milestone for "CoD," which has always taken a casual approach, unlike the full-fledged FPS such as "Battlefield. With the integration of data from the royal "Call of Duty: Warzone" and other unprecedented new developments in "CoD," it will be interesting to see how this big title on a global level will develop in the future.

（We will keep an eye on how the big title on a global level will develop in the future.)