Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War & Reganomics
The Call of Duty gravy train rolls along as we got a look the newest installment, “Black Ops Cold War.” A sharp departure from last year’s Modern Warfare reboot, this game takes place in the 1980’s. The latest trailer shows off clips from the campaign featuring the late President Ronald Reagan. The game is slated to drop this fall, just in time for the Holiday season.
A Tale of Two Devs
For about a decade now, the Call of Duty franchise bounced between developers Infinity Ward and Treyarch. The two alternated years of release since 2007. IW mostly handled the Warfare arm of CoD and Treyarch taking care of the Black Ops series. For a few odd installments out of the bunch, Sledgehammer games took the helm for Warfare but IW recently came back for 2019’s iteration. While the Warfare games were often set in pseudo-modern times, Black Ops is almost always in the past or far future. In the case of “Black Ops Cold War”, 1981 is where we find ourselves now.
A Never Ending Op
We all know that Call of Duty redefined multiplayer, but it also it helped set the bar for single-player experiences back in 2007. While the Warfare series kept the same continuity for nearly 10 years, Black Ops bounced around time. But based on the new trailer, we see some familiar faces from the first Black Ops returning. Black Ops 1, set in the Vietnam War, only briefly touched on the growing discontent on the American homefront. Its mostly focused the war itself but began to skim the surface of what would become tropes of Cold War media. Double agents, nuclear armaments and looming Russian threat were all cornerstones of BO1’s story. It goes as far as even suggesting that the main character “Mason” is responsible for the assassination of JFK. While Warfare shocked with “No Russian”, Black Ops shocked with intrigue and double speak.
In Black Ops Cold War, we experience the 1980’s for the first time. It will be interesting to see just how far the series goes. While its known for pushing the envelope, will they dive into some of the most controversial touchstones of the decade? It’s already got one of the more polarizing figures of the time, Ronald Reagan, confirmed. But who or what else can we expect? Will it touch on the Iran Hostage Crisis or Iran-Contra? Will we see the assassination attempt on Reagan’s life? Or the death of Anwar Sadat? When it comes to Call of Duty almost nothing is off the table.
Black Ops Cold War is expected to hit stores November 13.