The ‘Call of Duty’ franchise was able to release another game this year. By the time of this article’s release, it has gotten a huge update bringing in limited-time game modes and a season one battle pass. For the uninitiated, a battle pass is a paid addition to the game where the player can unlock more cosmetics and weapons as they level up. The game is pretty decent, with its excellent campaign and addictively satisfying ‘Zombies’ game mode. However, the multiplayer leaves some to be desired.
The campaign is rather fun. It’s similar to what previous campaigns have done with their on-rails sections and explosive set pieces. However, this campaign does try to stand out. There is the mechanic of grabbing enemies to use as cover or even pulling their grenade pin for extra crowd-control. Brutal. The campaign even contains side-missions that can be done. One requires the decryption of a floppy disc by using clues found in missions, which was fun to solve.
The ‘Zombies’ mode is also enjoyable. Players can either choose to play the mode as an endless survival against the AI-controlled brain-eaters or to complete the easter eggs found within the map that can arm the player with a powerful variant of a weapon, give a free upgrade to their guns, or give more lore. Unlike the previous experiences in the older ‘Black Ops’ games, you gain points off of the eliminations of the zombies themselves rather than the shots taken, which encourages experimenting with different weapons. Also, the player can now craft turrets, self-revive, and more with the scrap the zombies occasionally drop upon getting eliminated.
The multiplayer mode felt kind of weak though, with its small map selection and balancing issues with the weapons. However, I feel confident that with more maps in the updates, the multiplayer mode would feel better. If these maps were small as well, they would be very likely to be received warmly, as it feels those type of maps become favorites anyway such as the case with NukeTown, and the modern warfare maps of Shipment and Shoot House.
Is this game worth it or not? I think it is, but at a discounted price, and that also goes for the PS5/Series X release as well. The multiplayer mode could be better but the other two modes are very fun to play, especially with zombies. I’ll give it a 7/10.
Categories: Art & Life, Video Game Reviews
