The Call of Duty franchise recouped some of its lost charm with the reboot last year. However, things really took off when threw , their battle-royale mode into the mix. The took off and became one of, if not the biggest hit of the year. And with , is hoping for another hit using the same formula.
Call of Duty: is a direct sequel to the original Call of . It features many familiar faces like Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson. In addition to that, it returns to familiar territory with a cold war setting and also includes some actual historical figures like Ronald Reagan this time around.
Having said that, it is essentially the gameplay that everyone is the most excited about. The Call of Duty games have really taken a step up in terms of gameplay lately, especially in the department. And, Call of Duty: will continue to build upon that robust foundation.
Sadly though, as much as we like , the release of will also mark the beginning of the end for the . And while Infinity Ward is still pumping content into the , the focus seems to be shifting elsewhere slowly. , on the other hand, will continue to live.
Changes coming to Warzone:
Starting this week, you’ll start to notice some slight changes coming to . After the Season 6 update, has promised some additional future content that will help with transitioning the Battle Royale setting on to the next . So, we could see some Cold War-esque changes to the map and guns as well. Before we get the full though, we’ll be getting a very soon, and here’s a for it.
Call of Duty: :
Much like the complicated equation for the official release of the , the are also segmented into different audiences. If you don’t know, Call of Duty: has multiple versions. Some of those versions upgrade to the next-gen for free while others require a paid upgrade. In addition to that, there’s also a lot of confusion surrounding the backward compatibility and pricing as well.
didn’t do any favors by not going for a streamlined process like Smart Delivery either and it has just confused the masses about which version to get when the comes out. Furthermore, with the release of digital and physical SKUs of both next-gen consoles, the disparity between different versions of the grows even larger.
Black Ops Cold War Next-gen upgrades and versions explained
Beta Release Dates:
Call of Duty: , as previously mentioned, has a staggered release. As Sony has the marketing deal with for Call of Duty games, it wasn’t a surprise when we found that the early Alpha for the was going to be available for only. And, things are not different from the either.
Call of Duty: will have early closed on the 4 on October 8th and 9th. The catch with that, however, is that you need to have pre-ordered the if you want to jump into it 2 days early. Or, you could also try to snatch a from the giveaways that is currently doing on its social media.
However, if you haven’t yet made your mind up about whether you want the or not, you can still access the 2 days later on your PS4 between October 10th and October 12th. Others are out of luck though as they’ll have to wait for an additional week if they want to jump into the for Call of Duty: .
If you’re an or and have pre-ordered the , you can the crossplay early on October 15th and 16th. However, for , they can play with other platforms on those dates regardless of whether they have pre-ordered the or not.
In addition to that, right after the crossplay ends, the final will begin. This Call of Duty: will be available to all the players across all platforms including the as well.
How to download and play Call of Duty: :
Assuming that things are set in a similar fashion to how they were for the , players will have ample time to download and get set up for the when it rolls around.
Since there will be more content in the as compared to the Alpha, we can expect the size of the to grow as well. So, we could potentially see downloads go well over the 40 GB mark. Hence, it would make sense for and to roll out the downloads earlier with the access coming later.
Check out this link to find out more about when you can pre-load the Beta on your preferred platform.
In order to download, all you have to do is to go to the store on your platform and search for ‘ ‘ and you’ll be able to add it to your library and download it.
What will be included in the ?
While the Alpha was pretty barebones and focused on a handful of mechanics and selection, it still gave a pretty good idea of what the feels like. From my personal impressions, it feels like the builds on what made the original so good and the gunplay felt smooth and snappy. However, a lot of people did complain about the strange skill-based matchmaking and Treyarch has promised to fix that as well.
New game modes and maps:
As for the content itself, the Alpha came with four different modes and five different . This time around though, we can expect some new maps as well. will reportedly include a brand new map Cartel as for both Combined arms and multiplayer. This means that the map will be playable for 6v6 and 12v12 matches.
We are also getting some new -modes in the release for the other than the likes of that weren’t previously included within the Alpha. These include the likes of VIP Escort, Combined Arms: Assault, Fireteam: Dirty Bomb. Furthermore, as was the case with the Alpha, the Gunsmith will also be back offering a full range of customization to the players.
Other additions:
As for the gameplay itself, has promised that the will feel like ‘a whole new ‘ and we can expect some pretty hefty changes to the actual flow of the itself. That is to be expected though as developers continue to optimize and finalize the before release.
We have a brand new ping system that will help massively with communication with your teammates. In addition to that, for the first time ever, we’re also getting a FOV slider on consoles. This means that players will be able to adjust their field of view and essentially see more of the game on the screen at a time. The HUD is also getting an upgrade with you being able to toggle different elements on or off.
And, while we haven’t had any confirmation of the being included in the , it isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. did reveal the mode earlier this week so this could build-up to that as well.
Don’t expect anything related to the just yet but we do already know that we have unlockable characters, skins, skins among other things. The and equipment will also be similar to the Alpha. Furthermore, we can expect some tweaks to the balancing like the .
We could also see making a return to the , arguably with some sort of terminal within . And, talking about , while it would’ve been fun to get a taste of what the future of Verdansk would look like with , we probably aren’t getting it until it is officially rolled out within itself.
Conclusion:
Overall, it seems like will be getting a preferential treatment here which is understandable considering the deal between and Sony. However, you probably won’t be missing out on much if you’re on another platform in terms of content. As for the full release, that’s another story.
You can check out the full patch notes for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beta right here.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War comes out on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 13, 2020. You can pre-order it right here.