With the much anticipated “Call of Duty: Cold War” releasing on November 12th, fans received samples of what the game will look like in recent pre-release events. The Cold War alpha was available from Sept. 18 to 20 for anyone with a Playstation 4, and the beta, more recently, became available to players on all consoles on Oct. 13. The alpha was the first pre-release and the beta was the second pre-release, both a month before the official release.
Having now played both the alpha and the beta, I have found the multiplayer as a whole to be more balanced and smooth. However, the movements and weapons that were overpowered in the alpha still are in the beta. The nerfing of the snipers made a significant difference in the terms of balance in my opinion as the aim down sight speed prior was way too fast..
When I first played the alpha, I disliked the maps from the get go and that remains true with the beta. The only playable map in my opinion is Satellite. Armada is by far the worst map I have ever played, made up of two huge ships with zip lines running across the two and jet skis in the waters below, it feels like I spend more time running around than shooting enemies.
Cartel was added with the beta and is a close second to being the worst map. Camping on the map is a serious issue. With many bushes to hide in throughout the map, you are almost guaranteed to get killed by someone hiding in them.
Another problem I have found with “Call of Duty: Cold War” is the overall lack of enemy visibility. I found myself getting very frustrated while playing, getting killed by enemies who I couldn’t even see. While some maps are worse than others, I have found this issue to be way more prevalent than in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”
One thing that I really enjoyed was the addition of new game modes. The most notable of the new game modes was Combined Arms: Hardpoint, which is a large-scale 40 person match and VIP escort in which a random person is chosen, and their team has to escort them to the extraction point. These new game modes brought an exciting aspect of team work that is not often seen in Call of Duty games.
Despite the many issues I found with the alpha and beta of “Call of Duty: Cold War,” I am excited to see what Treyarch brings with the official release, and I am hopeful that they respond to the numerous complaints that I and many others have.
