Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a direct sequel to the first Black Ops game from 2010, and for the first time in the series it takes players to 1981, at the height of the Cold War. You take on the role of your own CIA character who, alongside the series' iconic heroes – Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson – hunts for a mysterious Soviet agent named Perseus, who is planning a major strike against the United States. The campaign is built on branching storytelling: the player's choices affect the course of individual missions, the relationships between characters, and how the story ultimately ends. The game was developed by Treyarch, with Raven Software making significant contributions to the multiplayer portion, and besides the story campaign it also offers the popular cooperative Zombies mode with the launch map Die Maschine. The pre-order bonus also included the beloved multiplayer map Nuketown '84, available across all platforms just like the rest of the content.

On PlayStation 4, the game launched on the same day as all other platforms, namely November 13, 2020, and its content is identical to the PS5, Xbox, and PC versions – it only lacks the technical advantages of the new generation. It runs at lower resolution and frame rate than on PS5 or Xbox Series X, mission loading takes longer due to the mechanical hard drive, and the DualShock 4 controller doesn't offer the advanced haptic feedback later used by the PS5 release. In large-scale modes like Fireteam or vehicle-based Combined Arms, PS4 also offers a lower maximum player count per match than the next-gen and PC versions due to hardware performance. However, thanks to cross-generation progression, PS4 players could transfer their unlocked weapons and ranks for free after buying a next-gen console.

A marketing partnership with Sony also played an important role: PlayStation players had a limited-time head start on the multiplayer open beta before Xbox and PC owners. Shortly after release, the game also linked up with the battle royale mode Warzone, so PS4 owners too could share weapons and progress between both titles under a single account.

Why play it: Thanks to early access to the multiplayer beta and the link with Warzone, this version is a practical choice for PlayStation owners who are fans of the Black Ops action.