Call of Duty: WW2 (2017) Review

After a really long replay of GTA V, I decided to review one of the Call of Duty games that I own but haven't played in a while in WW2. I completed the campaign and enough of the side content to review the game so here it is. The premise of the game sees a new soldier take part in WW2 and attempt to stop The Nazi Occupation. 

Characters

We play as Ronald "Red" Daniels played by by Brett Zimmerman and honestly I found Daniels incredibly boring and dull as a protagonist. He is just a really generic character and his arc is just as generic. There really isn't a real reason to care about him no matter how hard the game tries. 

Josh Duhamel plays Pierson and he is probably the best character in the game but that isn't saying much. He is the angry boss that has it out for the new members of the platoon, they do give him a story arc and Duhamel really tries but this game doesn't care enough and it ends up falling flat. 

The rest of the crew are also boring and have little personality. Turner is the by the numbers leader, Stiles is the nerd, Aiello is the old style soldier and Zussman is the cocky friend that we are meant to bond with. I never cared about any of these guys even though the game really wants us to. 

The game also struggles with the fact that we don't have a named antagonist. There is no villain so it just feels like there are less stakes in the final mission. 

Story

The story is pretty by the numbers. The positive that I will give is that it does delve into the horrors of WW2 and some excellently made cutscenes rose this story above its material. But this story is incredibly dull, as I mentioned above the characters are boring and I didn't care about them. The story is all over the place and just feels like excuses for our characters to go fight Nazis and has a pretty lacklustre ending. 

Side Content

Obviously, this is a Call of Duty game so the focus is on multiplayer and it is very average. It is fun to play for a little bit and I think the variety of weapons is better then the campaign. But the maps are all pretty small and it just feels like there is more of a focus on microtransactions then there is on the gameplay. 

Also, Nazi Zombies is back but as I have explained in some of my other COD reviews I have never been a big fan of this content so I didn't give this too much time and once again I wasn't a huge fan of what I did play. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is okay. It is sometimes satisfying to gun down these Nazi soldiers especially when you are getting headshots. Also the campaign has some unique missions that did provide a nice change of pace. But the gameplay just feels really slow and dull with its return to WW2 showing less of a variety here.

Style

The game looks really great and the cutscenes still hold up almost 10 years later. The transition from gameplay to cutscenes really is seamless and I don't think many games were doing this back then. The sound design is great and the battles do feel pretty epic in design. 

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty WW2 is an Average Game that does nothing to improve the structure of the franchise. It plays it incredibly safe and just feels like another yearly addition of a game without much thought. Give this one a miss when playing Call of Duty Games as it feels like a real cash grab. 

Rating - 5/10

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) Review

The new Call of Duty game - Black Ops 6 came out last week and I am set to play it this week. But before that I picked up the previous game in the franchise for cheap and decided to play through it so I had an understanding of the plot in the new game, so here is my review for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The premise of the film is set between Black Ops 1 & 2 and sees a group of CIA Operatives trying to stop a mysterious organisation from destroying Europe. 

Characters

The character that we play as is Bell and I have a mixed feeling about this character. This is a silent character and can be any gender. They do some really interesting things with the character and I found the twists and turns as pretty interesting. But I just feel like silent characters aren't fit for purpose in modern gaming and a voice actor would have made this role much better. 

Bruce Thomas plays Russel Adler who is the leader of the team and he is a cool character. He is pretty mysterious and the more the story progresses, the more you learn about him and I liked his introduction to this universe. 

Frank Woods & Alex Mason are back but they have different voice actors in Damon Victor Allen & Chris Payne Gilbert. It doesn't work as well as before but I felt like they were a great addition here and having them around is great for fans of the Black Ops Games. Allen as Woods is really good and doesn't feel too different, whereas Gilbert as Mason feels quite different and doesn't fully work for me. 

The rest of the cast are pretty dull. The other members of the team are Sims, Park & Lazar. I didn't really care about any of them and the game does have some dialogue with them but it just isn't enough to make me care about them and their backstories. 

Story

The story is actually quite interesting here. It sees our team hunting down this shady operation and I appreciate the different styles of missions and the way that they look to progress the story. Unfortunately, the single player isn't a priority and it feels very underdeveloped, there is a lot of potential here but it just doesn't give enough time and care for it. There are 3 endings and in different ways they are all pretty bland and feel like they are just setting up future games instead of actually completing the story here. 

Side Content 

The priority of this game is its online and multiplayer section which includes Zombies. I actually had a lot of fun playing the multiplayer here, I mean pretty much everybody is playing Demolition in 2024 but it is still plenty of fun and there is so much content here to sink your teeth into. 

Though, I didn't really care about Zombies. To be honest I have never been a big fan of Zombies and this isn't the mode that makes me fall in love with it. It seems they have really tried to modernise the mode and it lacks the grit, I don't care about any of the characters involved and it just feels a little tacked on. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is plenty of fun. The gunplay is good and is just an easy game to jump into with previous COD experience and just play. It has all the good things that Call of Duty provides with its multiplayer gameplay and the campaign tries some unique stuff which is cool to see. 

But there are some issues with both matchmaking and Spawn Kills in the multiplayer that become super infuriating and feels like it supports the best players and the players that camp and that become pretty annoying as I played for longer. 

Graphics

The Graphics are pretty cool, it provides the epic action sequences and the look/sound of the weapons is on point and added a lot to the feel of the game. Though, I think some of the character models in the campaign looked strange and like they weren't fully finished especially when it came to their hair. 

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an average game that just continues the trend of Call of Duty games becoming this yearly game that disappoints. There are clearly good things here but there is just as many bad things for sure. I reiterate that I wish these companies had longer to spend on these games and truly build a special first person shooter. 

Rating - 5/10

Star Wars: Squadrons (2020) Review

Continuing my theme of playing Next Gen Star Wars Games, I went back and replayed Star Wars: Squadrons and here is my review for the game. The premise of the game focuses on Vanguard Squadron of the New Republic & Titan Squadron of The Empire as they attempt to win the war after the battle of Endor. 

Characters

Now you play as Vanguard 5 & Titan 3 but your character is silent and you see the game through your point of view so what your character looks like doesn't really matter. I personally feel like the age of silent protagonists should be over and it is pretty lazy. I never cared about my character and the game did nothing to make me care. 

This is even more frustrating because this game is filled of really interesting characters. Phil Morris plays Lindon Javes who is an Imperial defector and the new leader of Vanguard Squadron. Lindon is a cool character and I thought he was a good leader of the group here. 

On the other side we have Terisa Kerrill played by Peta Sergeant and she is your typical Imperial Captain, she is angry and out for revenge and she seems to revel in the role and has a clear objective for the imperial side of the story. 

The two squadrons are really fun. Vanguard Squadron has Gunny, Frisk, Keo & Grace. They're fun and layered characters, Frisk is a trandoshan who are usually villains in the Star Wars universe so it is cool to seeing him on the light side. The other members of the team are great too and have distinct personalities.

Titan Squadron has Grey, Shen, Vonreg & Sol. They are truly loyal to the Empire and it is actually refreshing to have characters who are fully committed to this side. Shen is basically half droid and his backstory is really fascinating. The rest of the team have their uniqueness too and that is really cool when before we have just seen generic imperials. 

Story 

The story is okay, I like the two squadrons and the fact that it is the New Republic who are the ones building a new super weapon when in the past that has been more of an Empire thing. But the game does lack some depth and the ending is pretty terrible, it doesn't give much indication on what happened to any of the characters and is just an excuse to try and get DLC or a sequel that is just lazy. 

Side Content

The issue with this part of the review is that in 2024 nobody is playing the online of this game, I tried to find matches online for ages and I couldn't find any. Though I do remember that this games online wasn't that impressive to me to be honest. There aren't enough modes to sink your teeth into and the offline side content is even less which is a big shame. Especially as this game really focuses on its multiplayer it is well below the expectations of other games. 

Gameplay

I cannot deny that it is fun taking control of iconic Star Wars ships from inside of the cockpit. There is so much satisfaction when you take down an enemy fighter or a capital ship. Though I don't feel like it was as good as I wanted, The ships are quite slow and at times it feels like the game revolves on you banking left and not much more. Also, maybe I am the only one who found it harder to play as the imperials due to the fact that the TIE fighters don't have shields, I know that is the same as the lore but it made me not really want to use them as much. Lastly, I don't know what it is with recent Star Wars games but at one point this game has a huge difficulty spike that really feels out of place and makes the game truly unforgivable. 

Graphics

Easily the best part of this game are the graphics, this game really nails the Star Wars feeling and is really made by people who love the franchise. You get to fly lots of iconic ships and just the sound design makes you fall in love with the feeling of the game. 

Overall

Overall, Star Wars: Squadrons is an average game that fall short of what it set out to do. The single player is okay but in 2024 the online is worthless so I think this games life cycle has truly ended and is not worth the money. 

Rating - 5/10