Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waris planning to integrateCall of Duty: Warzoneat the beginning of December. While this seems like a great plan at first, many fans are starting to have some concerns prior to the merge.Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warhas only just released to fans, and players are realizing it is a very different experience.
While combining the force ofCall of Duty: Warzonewith the design ofCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warseems natural, the two games are fundamentally different. While they both belong to theCall of Dutyfranchise, the way they feel, operate, and handle balancing may be too much for fans to handle come integration.
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This is not to say that integration is a bad idea but rather that it may have some unintended side effects for theWarzonecommunity. There is a certain feel and design built into the foundations ofCall of Duty: Warzone, and this core resonates with the content fromCall of Duty: Modern Warfare,which makes sense considering they run the same engine. As the game nearsintegration withCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,fans are starting to see more differences than similarities between the titles. It is these differences that may harm the core experience that fans love and change the Callof Duty: Warzoneexperience forever.
Weapon Balancing
One thing that many fans noticed immediately upon enteringCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waris the guns. While many bear familiar names, they function differently than expected when coming fromCall of Duty: Modern Warfare.The guns feel lighter, have dramatically less recoil, and their damage seems a little off. It did not take the community long to decide thatCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warneeds a weapon balance patch.
While some of these community complaints are standard for a new release, others are part of the core engine itself. The game automatically feels different due to the guns being such a major part of the action, and this difference has a chance of impacting theCall of Duty: Warzoneexperience whenCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warweapons start being integrated.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfareand, by default,Call of Duty: Warzonehave taken special care in how their guns are balanced and perform from their innate feel when firing to the accuracy of each rifle. Even when they put out unbalanced weapons, the guns have an authentic and vibrant feeling to players.Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’sweaponssimply don’t have the same effect and impact. While some changes for next-generation consoles have been made, (PlayStation 5’s haptic feedback withCall of Dutyweapons, for example), the overall gunplay feels flat and unexciting when compared toModern Warfare.
Gameplay Style
The other concern that has theCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warcommunity talking is the gameplay itself from the variants in the game modes to the way that players navigate the battlefield is linear and traditional totheCall of Duty: Black Opsfoundation. While this makes for a great classic experience, it lacks in detail and definition found inCall of Duty: Warzone.From tactics involving doors to busting through windows, the world feels dynamic and the environment invites players to travel their own path as the zone slowly closes.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Wardoes not operate this way, as levels feel linear with pre-defined paths for navigations through each one. Players can take one of three routes, and combat can come down to whoever has the stronger gun. The cover is either fully blocking shots or not at all, and player confrontations boil down to weapon choice and damage. Accuracy only matters in a relative fashion creating a very basic gameplay cycle that is exceptionally different from theCall of Duty: Warzoneexperience.
WhileCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Wardoes innovate upon standards, it is still classic enough to theBlack Opsspirit to make it defined and toned as aBlack Opsgame. This would not be a problem if it was not for future integration withCall of Duty: Warzone.The developer is going to have to compensate for the differences, and whenCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warcontent starts appearing, they will need to decide the future of theCall of Duty: Warzoneexperience.
The Warzone Experience
While integration withCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warwill happen whether fans want it or not, the developer is going to have to make a choice. EitherCall of Duty: Warzonewill have to adapt toCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’scontent, orBlack Ops Cold Waris going to have to adapt toWarzone.In either equation, the game is going to change, and if the newer title does not conform toWarzone’scurrent build, then the gameplay cycle has a chance of shifting into something the community doesn’t want.
TheCall of Duty: Warzoneintegration is going to have to be handled carefully. The developer can add content to the game, but at what point does that content no longer resembleCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Wargameplay. Further, if it doesn’t resembleCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’sgameplay, is it really integrated content or just simply anotherCall of Duty: Warzoneupdate? Operators, skins, and weapons can all easily be ported over, but once they are, the developer will have to choose which game’s culture the new features will favor.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waris available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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