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 6 (2024) Review

It has been 5 years since I bought a Call of Duty so close to its release date, so I thought I would dive into the newest Call of Duty which is Black Ops 6. When I was younger, I loved the first two Black Ops games and I have recently played Cold War, so hopefully this game can live up to all its hype and deliver. The premise of the game sees Woods & Adler assemble a new team in an attempt to take down a new rogue enemy called The Pantheon. 

Characters

So in this game you play as Case, an operative of the CIA and unfortunately just like Black Ops: Cold War he is a silent protagonist. I complained about it there and I will do the same here as I really do find it hard to connect to a silent character and I just wish a voice actor could have been found. They do some things to try and make him interesting but it isn't enough and it is a shame that this isn't a memorable protagonist. 

Luckily, the rest of the cast are great. Damon Victor Allen reprises his role as Frank Woods and Bruce Thomas reprises his role as Russel Adler and both are great. Adler does take a bit of a step back and isn't as vital here, but he still plays a decent part in the game and I really like the character. This game is set after the events of the past storyline in Black Ops 2 meaning a lot has happened to Woods and I really liked how the game handled that issue and made Woods feel like a more sympathetic character. 

Y'lan Noel Plays Troy Marshall and he is a great new character in the franchise. He is the de-facto leader of the new team and I liked how he struggled to handle it sometimes but was also a strong character. He was just a cool addition to the game and a great new protagonist. 

Karen David plays Sevati Dumas & Seamus Dever plays Felix Neuman and these are also great members of this team. Sevati is a trained assassin but has a bit of a tragic past and struggles with the fact that she is good at her job. Felix is struggling with causing violence and this moral dilemma is bought up quite a lot and it is something new for a character in a Call of Duty game. 

Story

The story is definitely a tale of two halves. Firstly, I really liked the team dynamic and the interactions between your squad mates, it made the world feel alive and that these characters were developing throughout. The missions are mostly really fun and I will credit the game developers for adding some real variety here and showing they really cared about this campaign. But this game overdoes it at times and doesn't feel like a COD game, it seems like it loves Zombies so much that they wanted to put it in the campaign too and it was really overused here. The ending is also really weak and feels completely out of place, focusing on a secondary character that isn't even that interesting. 

Side Content

This game has absolutely loads of content here and it is once again a bit of a mixed bag. The online multiplayer is fantastic, I have maybe never had so much fun on a Call of Duty as I have had on this one when it comes to online. It does have some lag issues but it didn't hinder me too much and hopefully that will get sorted as the future content is released. 

Also Zombies is back and to probably nobody's surprise, I didn't really care for it. They have just really commercialised Zombies and it doesn't have the same grit as it did before, it is all over the place and the story offers very little. I appreciate, I am in the minority in terms of not caring for zombies but I just can't deny that I am not a fan. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is fantastic, as I mentioned above I had some much fun playing this game. It had that feeling of 1 more game, I couldn't stop playing and that is because of how fast it moved, how good the weapons are and how much I enjoyed the majority of the new maps. The issues I had with Cold War are mostly gone for me and this is just so much fun to play. 

Graphics

The game looks fantastic on the PS5, it is a huge upgrade on Cold War and the characters look fantastic. The backgrounds are great too with the maps standing out from each other and all adding their own little bit of flavour. The weapons are also really well realised, they sound great and the game allows you to design it to your own desire.

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a good game. It improve its graphics and gameplay and shows potential in its campaign. But it falls a little short in being this legendary shooter and that is a slight shame. Hopefully Call of Duty takes all the good things they did here and look to build on that for its eventual sequels. 

Rating - 7/10

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

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) Review

The end of the rebooted Modern Warfare franchise is coming out later this year so I decided to replay the beginning of the rebooted franchise Modern Warfare and here is my review for the game. The premise of the game is set in 2019 and sees terrorists try and take down the world, this is until a group of elite soldiers attempt to stop them. 

Characters

Unlike the previous Modern Warfare games, you see yourself playing as actual talking characters in Kyle Garrick and Alex. These are pretty decent characters and it is just nice to play as these characters with them having real interactions with other characters both heroic and villainous. 

This game was heavily marketed by the return of Captain Price, this time played by Barry Sloane and he is great in the role. He is pretty similar to the previous version but is really rugged and tough, he also does some questionable things but always with the best intentions for his team and the mission. He is great in the cutscenes and has a good relationship with the other characters. 

Farah & Hadir are two characters newly introduced to the franchise here. They are the leaders of the uprising of Urzikstan. They are great new additions to this franchise, the game does a fantastic job of developing their characters and showing their motivations. 

The only issue with the characters is that of the villains. There are quite a few villains here and none of them are particularly interesting, General Barkov is the main villain but he is barely in the game and it feels like they all took screen time away from each other. 

Story

The story is okay, as I mentioned above it was really cool to play as characters that would communicate with others while the game was going on. The game also does a fantastic job of setting up Farah & Hadir's story. I also appreciate that this game doesn't use much from the previous rendition of Modern Warfare, really apart from Price being here none of it is the same. But as I mentioned above, the villains aren't that great which does bring the story down. Also, I just felt there were a few too many stealth missions here that got quite repetitive. 

Side Content

Really the only side content here is the multiplayer. Now the multiplayer is really fun, you have all of your traditional COD game modes and the customisation is detailed, probably a little too detailed but you can tell that lots of love and spirit was put into this multiplayer. But I had a problem with Spec Ops, this was to have a multiplayer that linked to the main story, that is a great idea but the missions are dull and they have weird modifiers on them which feel unnecessary. Also the lack of single player content other then the campaign is a big let down. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is the best part of the game. The gunplay is fantastic and overall action flows really nicely. You can Mount walls and cover to aid with aim and that is a big help to somebody like me. This gameplay is tough and you will die a lot, but it is really fun and never really slows down. 

Graphics

The game looks fantastic, the in game graphics are really good and the action feels realistic and brutal. The cutscenes look really great with the acting being top notch from everybody. The problem is that at least for me the cutscenes kept glitching out, I am not sure if it just my disk or whether it was a big issue but for me it was. 

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is an above average game. It has some really fun gameplay and decent attempt at rebooting the franchise. But this game falls a bit flat overall, it doesn't hit the highest of notes. Now that it is pretty cheap it is probably worth a pick up but don't expect the quality of the original Modern Warfare Trilogy. 

Rating - 6/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (2020) Review

Before the new Modern Warfare 3 is released later this year, I wanted to play as much of the Modern Warfare franchise that I have available to me. Next on the list is the original Modern Warfare 2, but the issue is that you can't get the original version of the game on Next Gen, you can only get a remastered version of the campaign. I played through the campaign and here is my review for the campaign. The premise is set 5 years after the events of the first game, after a major international incident, World War 3 is upon the characters and it is up to the heroes to find a way to stop it. 

You once again play as silent characters

Just like the other original Modern Warfare games you play as silent characters, this time the majority of time is played as Private Ramirez & Sergeant Gary 'Roach' Sanderson. They aren't really characters as they have no dialogue but it is fun playing as them and as I mentioned in my previous review, the way the game is made makes you care about them and their success. But yeah, there is no doubt that playing as a silent character isn't as rewarding as playing as an actual character that you can really develop. 

The Side Characters and Villains are fantastic

A big criticism I had of the first game was its villains and this game does it a lot better. The Ultrarational Party is now led by Makarov and he is a way more interesting character then Zakhaev, they do interesting things with his motivations and characters. In the first game you played as Soap but now he is you Captain and it is so cool playing alongside a character that is such a big part of Call of Duty Lore. Having side characters such as Sergeant Foley who is played by Keith David and General Shepherd played by Lance Henriksen adds plenty of legitimacy to these characters and it is awesome to have them here. 

The gameplay is fantastic

Following on from the first game, the gameplay is great. I would even argue that it is a little better here in this game. You get to use many different weapons and take on lots of different enemies and it is always exciting. You can play pretty much any way that you want and that makes this game a real challenge but never a cheap one. 

The US Marine Ending is Unfulfilling

Just like the previous game, there are two stories one involving Task Force 141 and then one involving the US Marines. The Marine one is crazy and shows off some amazing visuals and how war would maybe look like if it came to major cities. But, I felt like there wasn't a definitive ending to their story, you just finish a mission and then we never see them again. 

The Task Force 141 Ending is Fantastic

Then there is the other side of the story. With iconic characters such as Soap, Ghost and General Shepherd involved it is awesome to see them progress through this crazy story. The last 3 missions involving these characters are so exciting and some of the best First Person Shooter missions ever made. 

The game is full of Iconic Missions

The major thing this game has is the majority of these missions are just iconic to the community and video game fanbase. You have No Russian, which is one of the most controversial things to ever be put into a video game, The Gulag which is brutal & Burger Shot which sees us fighting Russians and product placement. There are even more missions, they are all fantastic and this is a really fun playthrough. 

Overall

Overall, it sucks that we don't have access to the multiplayer, which was fantastic and legendary. But The Modern Warfare 2 Story mode is also fantastic and I think it is worth a playthrough by any fan of the franchise, it is pretty cheap on the next gen stores so I would say to definitely pick this one up. 

Rating - 9/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007/2016) Review

It has been announced that we are set to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this winter, in preparation I thought I would go back and replay some of the other Call of Duty games and I started with Call of Duty Modern Warfare which was first released in 2007 and then remastered in 2016 which is the version I played. The premise of the game sees a group of soldiers from different countries working together in order to stop Nuclear War. 

Characters

In this game you play as two characters Soap Mactavish and Private Jackson. These characters have no dialogue and they are just vessels to what we play as which makes them not that interesting. I have never been a big fan of voiceless characters and COD will do a better job with this in future games. But I will say, the way the game is filmed and made, did a good job in making me care about these characters and build some emotional scenes. 

This game introduces the iconic Captain Price, voiced by Billy Murray, Price became the poster child of this franchise and he is an awesome companion here. He is a cool leader and has some of the most iconic lines in the franchise and is easily the best character here. 

You have quite a few characters that work with you such as Gaz, Lt Vasquez and Sgt Griggs and they are all well done. Gaz is a fun Englishman that has some great one liners whereas Vasquez & Griggs are your pumped up American marines which is a nice change of pace for sure. 

But there is an issue with the villains and the fact that they just aren't interesting. They set up a backstory between Price and main villain Imran Zakhaev but they don't go far enough with it and they don't even really share a scene together in the entire game. Zakheav is just a pretty generic villain and they would get better at writing villains later on in the franchise. 

Story 

The story is really well done here. You alternate between the two main characters and the missions feel completely different and unique. The characters you are with are given a personality and I liked how the story raises the stakes to a ridiculous and over the top level which made it feel like I was playing to save the world. Yes, the villain isn't great but it doesn't hold back too much here and I really enjoyed the ending of the story, it isn't a long story but it is really effective. 

Side Content

To be fair to this game, because of its release date there is basically nobody on the online anymore. But I have played a bit and it is really fun, updated for the modern game and has great action. The maps were all fun and different with plenty of different game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Search & Destroy and Free For All. But there is pretty much no single player side content, this is a shame as it does feel like this game is a bit light on its overall content. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is fantastic, the gun play is exciting and it feels like your character is stuck in these massive battles. This game also has one of the most iconic missions in COD history All Ghillied Up, which is a major stealth mission which would inspire so many missions following. Whether single player or multiplayer this game is always exciting and challenging which is great to see. 

Graphics

As I stated at the beginning, I played this game on my PS5 with the remastered edition, thus the game looks really good. Every character model looks fantastic and the maps are detailed and planned out really well. 

Overall

Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a great game with that real feeling of COD magic. It was the first game they made that wasn't set in the past and was in modern times so it was a great success and a worthy addition to the franchise. 

Rating - 8/10