Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War features more character and campaign choice than ever before

You’re on your couch, palms are sweaty and Moms_Spaghetti_93 is about to make you hurl chunks of explosive ordinance at the enemy. That right there is the Call of Duty experience summed up: A weekend of action, enough explosives to make Michael Bay consider Baysploding your butt for infringing on his signature Bayhem and a story that hits several thought-provoking beats.

The Black Ops series has been home to some of the best narrative across the Call of Duty series, storylines detailing Cold War paranoia, global distrust and the numbers, Mason. This year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War heads back to an era that seems to be in vogue lately, that 80’s show of them vs. us politics, Reaganomics and gung-ho patriotism.

Beyond that, Activision wants this year’s Call of Duty to be about choice, not only in the campaign which will feature multiple endings but in your character design as well. You’ll be able to start the game with a soldier whose skin-tone, psychological profile, and gender can be chosen, or you can go for a non-binary route and leave that last option as “classified” according to Eurogamer.

These aren’t just cosmetic options though! How you craft your character will alter how you play. Choose the Lone Wolf psychological profile and you can sprint for longer. Toggle the Paranoid mental option on, and your nervous wreck of a mind will allow you to aim down your sights quicker. Some missions will feature different paths for completing an objective and dialogue options, which will all culminate in the game using one of several different endings once you reach the finish line.

It’s nothing truly revolutionary, but it’s a nice touch to have in a game series that has been looking to shake up each annual entry within its library as of late. That and I really dig that one of the dodgy agents we’ll be playing alongside in the Raven Software developed campaign, is the spitting image of Robert Redford.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War and it’s weird next-gen upgrade system will be out on November 13.

Last Updated: August 27, 2020