Around ** Cold War ** there are only speculations: first we read about strange showdowns between developers, after-listening to ambiguous (at least) reviews on alpha version. But now Activision launched a cross-platform beta test for everyone. We have played and ready to tell how Cold War stands out against the background of its predecessors. I had to strain.
Surroundings and decorations
The field of the battle of the Cold War – the entire globe, every continent and almost every country. This setting opens up wide scope for artists and designers for creativity and experiments, and they squeezed out of this opportunity … Well, not to say that the maximum.
Purely technically, with a variety of cards, everything is in order: here you have Russia, the States, Angola with Uzbekistan, and even Nicaragua, where without it. But this is only technically. In fact, half of the locations are caused by a sense of despondency and deja-vu at the same time: Cartel-inexpressive plantation with hangars and warehouses, Satellite-desert (literally, just desert), and three more-Crossroads, Alpine and Ruka are mountainous areas, about which more And there is nothing to say. Only three cards are really clinging and remembered, but what!
Armada – A huge warship in the open sea, surrounded by several smaller ships. Cabins, spacious decks, a captain's bridge with radars and other curious panels, and the main attraction is a submarine that has surfaced to the surface. Non -standard level architecture creates interesting situations: on the one hand, there is a depot for snipers, because a review of half a card opens from any respuna; And in contrast – cramped rooms and corridors of the interior, where it is better not to meddle without a shotgun.
Moscow – revived Soviet postcard, "cranberries" of the prohibitive concentration. On a small patch, designers were able to fit almost all the stereotypes about Russia: here the bronze head of Grandfather Lenin is adjacent to the Orthodox Church, and the luxurious hotel "High Class" – with a harsh building in the style of social modernity. On the street, posters were hung with the famous call to the proletarians of all countries and the masterpieces of the domestic auto industry are randomly scattered. It is also interesting indoors: there are pathos red-golden halls, and modest Soviet interiors with carpets and touching TVs like Rubin.
Miami – The same pleasant collection of cliches, but already on the theme of the eastern coast of the United States. The thick atmosphere of the 80s: palm trees, neon, ar-deco, expensive hotels and bars with muffled light-only Tommy Versetti in a blue suit is missing. It is interesting that these locations stand out against the background of others not only visually, but also functionally – they show themselves perfectly during matches and (almost) do not raise questions. And most importantly – they do not suffer from a problem that manifests itself in almost all other cards.
Scale
The main difference between Cold War is the increased scale of network battles. The cards have become more spacious, transport is more diverse (motorcycles, snowmobiles, boats), and gameplay is dimely. But in this particular case, the principle of “the more, the better” does not work – I want it to be no more, but simply just right. The authors managed to achieve not everywhere.
A significant part of the cards (mainly for modes for control over points) are felt like spacious, but still slightly tight. Yes, on foot from one edge of the card to another to stomp far. But there is almost no need to overcome such distances-as a rule, we move between the nearest points, and this is 100-150 meters. In addition, the technique here, apparently, became much more vulnerable to damage, so most prefer a run for their two, and all the diverse transport are left to enthusiasts. It turns out that the authors did not convince us to use the wheels, but simply forced to run more.
The only regime where without transport is at all – this is the new “Dirty Bomb” (we will discuss more below), but there the technique almost does not play a tactical role. The main emphasis is on mountain motorcycles, just helping to quickly get to the destination in a straight line.
New modes
In Cold War, most network modes are borrowed from the previous parts, but there were a couple of new ones – interesting on paper, but rather problematic in practice. "Bodyguard" – The good old escort of an important person: among the players, VIP is randomly selected, which needs to get to the evacuation point. One team should protect it, and the other – prevent evacuation. No respowers.
The format itself is interesting, but so far it does not matter. Escort – a complex task, requiring a) good knowledge of a map and understanding of a mechanic; b) debugged communication between partners. So far, players cannot boast of any of the above.
The standard round looks like this: VIP rushes one way, accompanying – in the other, instead of negotiations – a Serbian folk song performed by one of the Timmates. Sometimes an important person is enough for fifteen seconds to die; The rest of the team will die for thirty. But there is hope: on the second and third day, the testers began to demonstrate serious progress in terms of tactics and interaction. It is interesting to see what will happen in a month or two after the release.
"Firing groups: Dirty bomb" – The largest and therefore curious innovation, clearly inspired by successes Warzone. A few (maximum 10) teams of four people are landing on a spacious card. Bombs are placed on it, which must be filled with uranium – it can be found in supply boxes or selected from the murdered enemy – and exploded earlier than the enemy. And then a cloud of radiation will appear at the site of the explosion, killing everyone around.
It may seem that this regime also requires some kind of tactical training, but in reality it is a funny arcade mess. Uranus is scattered on the map by chance, so b O the players (and they, we recall, maybe up to 40) are simply randomly rushed through the location. So forget about tactics right away – here they decide arrogance and courage.
The unfriendliness of beginners
Not inferior to the previous parts (even last year Modern Warfare ) Harrys Casino sister sites, the network mode Cold War offers the freedom of the experiment with the game style. You can create classes from scratch, hang guns modifications, combine perks and bonuses for a set of a certain number of points ("Brokes").
It sounds clear and simple, but if you follow the franchise. Full beginners – patience and good mental health. It feels like Activision does not even suggest that there are people who are not familiar with the series in the world: there are no pop-up tips, nor any certificate in the menu. If you can still understand the pumping of weapons and perks with the help of elementary logic, then the principle of the work of the mentioned "Borchsters" for many can become an unpleasant puzzle.
A similar problem with the modes of the game: the rules are explained only on the maps of the “dirty bomb” (and even then in several sentences), all the others have to be understood experimentally.
Cold War there is something to scold for – many small problems are layered on each other and turn into one huge, not allowing to enjoy the game. But she wants to enjoy – new cards and modes are really capable of captivating. It remains to hope that Treyarch will have time to correct errors to release and please us with a shooter moving the series and genre forward. Mistakes are not a problem. The main thing is progress.
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