Every new game has aspects that need fixing. Call of Duty: Cold War is absolutely overflowing with problems that need to be fixed before it goes the way of Marvel’s Avengers – meaning a 95% reduction in player participation in multiplayer matches.
The Call of Dutyfranchise is one of the bestselling game series of all time, and as such many players feel these games should be perfect at launch. Because of this, every entry in the series receives its fair share of criticism. Cold War, however, is being brutally roasted on the various forums due to the bugs and problems players are experiencing.
10 Character Animations
Considering this is one of the first games being made available for the 9th console generation, the most fitting word to describe some of the character animations in Cold War is lazy. In general, the animations are stiff and unrealistic. Some of the animations are downright laughable; a perfect example of this is the animation of characters as they are climbing a ladder.
There are better ladder climbing animations on some Colecovision games. The developers could have also done a better job syncing a character’s lip movements to the words they are speaking. This seriously needs to be addressed by Treyarch and Activision.
9 Flashbang Grenades
Remember how previous Call of Duty games handled the effects of flashbang grenades? There was a loud flash and the player’s character would be blinded and deafened for the next five seconds. However, the player could still move around and fire their weapon.
Well, all that has been changed in Cold War. Now, when hit by a flashbang grenade, players are rendered immobile and unable to fire their weapons. Why, Treyarch? Why was this change made? The fix here is easy though – change flashbangs back to how they worked in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
8 Problems Logging onto The Servers
A lot of players are having trouble logging onto the game’s servers. A lot. The forums are overflowing with players detailing how they continue getting error messages when attempting to play a multiplayer match. Not just one error message either, as there are many different types players are receiving.
These are the kind of problems that a AAA game should not have after leaving its beta phase. The good news is that this kind of problem is probably an easy fix and will be patched in a (hopefully forthcoming) update.
7 Cheating
Another huge complaint is the amount of cheating going on during multiplayer matches. Almost all of the cheating is being done by players of the PC version. This has, understandably, upset many of the users of the console versions where cheating is much harder to accomplish.
Cold War was out for less than 24 hours when videos of cheating began popping up online. There is plenty of gameplay footage showing players scoring a hit with every pull of the trigger. This is the kind of problem where even if it’s fixed, some players will find a work-around. If you’re playing on a console, just turn off the cross-platform play for now.
6 Weapon Balancing
The weapons in Call of Duty: Cold War need to be re-balanced. There’s a reason why almost everybody uses an MP-5 in multiplayer matches – it’s better than the other options. The damage of RPGs has been nerfed when compared to previous Call of Duty games; to the point of being laughably underpowered.
The ADS (aim down sights) speed of sniper rifles has been increased versus previous editions; while their damage seems to have been increased to the point of always killings with one shot. Sidearms are also extremely overpowered in Cold War. The weapon balancing was so well done in Warzone, how can it be this bad in Cold War?
5 Lighting
In some multiplayer games, player characters have a very slight illumination to them. This makes them stand out a bit from the environment and makes it harder for campers to hide in a dark corner throughout the entire match.
In Cold War, there is a problem with losing an enemy in low-light situations, even if they’re moving around. Often, the only indication an opponent is there is the muzzle flash as they kill you. This is only a minor annoyance compared to the other problems detailed on this list, but it’s also something that would be incredibly easy to fix.
4 Text Filters For Player Names
Many of the worst four-letter expletives are denied to players when choosing an online name. The game doesn’t even allow “azz” to be used as part of a player’s online name. As proactive as this filter is, it still needs to be expanded upon to include words that should have already been excluded.
There are some extremely offensive player names popping-up. They won’t be listed here, but they are the kind of handles that many users will find insulting. If this problem isn’t fixed, Activision might find the online activity of Cold War multiplayer matches dwindle.
3 The Characters Movements
This is different than the character animations mentioned previously, as this point is about how player characters move around the battlefield. They move way too fast in Cold War; in fact, they are almost comically too fast. They look more like they’re skimming across a slick surface than running.
The sliding mechanic inCold War is also broken. Players can slide through intersecting paths faster than an opponent can track them with their weapon. The sliding also looks ridiculous. Players have also discovered an exploit that allows slides to be chained. The slide-canceling is very close to being game-breaking.
2 Match Balancing & Spawning
Nothing spoils a multiplayer match more than being pitted against a team that is comprised of players that are much higher level. It’s like trying to fight the wind. According to a lot of Cold War players, unbalanced team matching is becoming a problem.
This is also a self-reinforcing problem too; playing against vastly superior opponents reduces the opportunity to gain experience while allowing the more experienced team to rack up a lot of quick and easy kills. The spawning locations need a little fixing too. The game has a bad habit of spawning a player right in the middle of a group of opponents.
1 The Sound Effects
The sound effects of the guns in Cold War have been getting a lot of criticism for sounding too much alike and being too compressed. The only difference in the sounds of the guns is the speed at which they fire. This hardly helps immerse the player in the game.
The sounds are definitely a downgrade from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Activision needs to simply switch the sound files to the ones used in the previous Call of Duty games, specifically Modern Warfare from 2019.
NEXT: 5 Ways Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Campaign Is Better Than Modern Warfare’s (& 5 It’s Worse)
