Fans have been getting an early taste of this year’s Call of Duty numerous times before its official release in November. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which is set to release on November 13, recently had its latest major beta period before release. For the most part things went smoothly, but that wasn’t without its fair share of problem childs. Besides a number of cheaters invading the beta just before it ended, there’s also a few key balance issues in the multiplayer experience that may or may not live beyond the beta period.
In the wake of the beta period, there’s a lot about the game that was balanced quite well, whether it was most weapons or the overall time-to-kill in the game. However, there are some very clear issues with the game that certainly need to be ironed out for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s launch this November. Snipers as a whole in Black Ops Cold War are significantly strong to the point of concern. There’s also some pivotal issues with the game’s movement and map design, while not game-breaking, would be fine with a few tweaks.
One particular opinion that’s been shared between a lot of players after the beta is the snipers, specifically how insanely powerful they are. Almost every game had at least one player running a sniper class, and consistently they would end up top-side of the scoreboard with numerous kills and scorestreaks active. It’s a far cry from Modern Warfare‘s snipers, which were much slower and required a whole lot more commitment to sniper play. In the Black Ops Cold War beta, snipers were incredibly quick and versatile in how they could be played, instead of strictly acting as a long range weapon.
Hitscan in Call of Duty games has been infamous in numerous titles, but in Black Ops Cold War‘s beta it was extremely generous for snipers. Players would be able to snag high-body or headshots, most of which were one-shot kills, pretty easily. Not to mention hard-scope time for snipers is significantly reduced compared to Modern Warfare, which means quick-scoping is a viable option in Black Ops Cold War. Pair these overall changes with significant stat boosts thanks to the various Gunsmith attachments available, and it results in an extremely powerful weapon type. Snipers absolutely need to be tweaked from the beta, otherwise it’s going to be Black Ops Cold War‘s entire meta.
Firstly, it’s important to point out that the combat slide in Black Ops Cold War is an extremely helpful tool, and one that makes the multiplayer much more arcade-like and increases the fun factor. Even if the combat slide was left untouched from beta to release, it wouldn’t be the biggest deal at the end of the day. However, the combat slide does end up being a get-out-of-jail-free card in certain scenarios because of how fast it can be. Certain weapon attachments can increase sprint and slide speed, making it very hard to follow sliding opponents. A very slight speed nerf would be all that it would take, otherwise the combat slide is going to be a very powerful tool for competitive matches.
Jump-shotting is also still quite good in Black Ops Cold War, despite drop-shotting receiving a significant nerf in accuracy and movement. Previous Call of Duty games used to allow players to ADS when changing all stances, including prone. Now in Black Ops Cold War, players have a unique animation that forces hip fire only when moving from crouch to prone and vice versa. However, jumping and aiming is still totally viable in Black Ops Cold War, and is still a viable option for getting an advantage when catching opponents by surprise. There’s little to no noticeable effect on accuracy when jumping, which frankly makes no sense if drop-shotting is going to receive a significant nerf.
Call of Duty has been adopting a new approach to map design since Modern Warfare, some of which have proven very successful. However, many of Modern Warfare‘s map designs received plenty of vocal criticism for indirectly encouraging camping. There’s no problem as severe as Modern Warfare‘s map criticisms in Black Ops Cold War, but there are certainly a few problem childs. For modes like Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, these maps are typically fine, it’s really when games like Hardpoint or Domination are played where these maps’ flaws start to shine very brightly.
Notably “Cartel” is probably the big example of annoying design choices. The entire middle of the map consists of a dense drug field that’s incredibly difficult to see through, which basically eliminates all sight lines for any player that finds themselves there. “Satellite” is also a mostly well-designed map, but the dunes area on the right side is typically a problematic area that’s mostly linked to the aforementioned sniper issue and can be abused by scorestreaks. Playing objective-based modes can be extremely frustrating on these particular maps, as defending objectives is particularly difficult to the point where it feels indefensible and unfair.
Besides these downsides, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s beta period has shown that a majority of the systems, movement, and weapons are pretty well-balanced. With the exception of snipers, many of the guns were incredibly capable and versatile for many modes. Several of the other maps like “Moscow” and “Miami” were overall pretty fantastic for most game modes. It’ll be interesting to see how things are balanced and shape out in Black Ops Cold War‘s official release, but other than some specific issues that will likely be ironed out, things are promising for 2020’s Call of Duty.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on November 13, 2020, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
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