Finally, after a long drought of silence from Activision and Treyarch, 2020’sCall of Dutyhas reared its head with a teaser. Around three or four months after the next game is usually teased, 2020’sCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Wararises with its titular setting, presumably pitting players in the pseudo-war between the Russians and Americans from the 1950s to the 1990s. While the game will receive its full-blown unveiling next week, it seems the teaser is already hinting at something very different.
Judging on the provocative artwork/box art teased by Treyarch, it seems to be inferring that the game may be giving perspective into both sides of the war. In the pastCall of Dutyhas experimented with playing alongside the “villains” of the story, but never in a way that didn’t paint them in an inherently negative light.Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s more historical approach could be hinting at a more objective, multi-perspective approach to Cold War history, an approach that doesn’t necessarily paint the US as unerring heroes.
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Call of Duty Always Portrays the Right Side
If true, that would be a unique and unprecedented approach to storytelling for aCall of Dutygame. As mentioned previously, the franchise’s story campaigns have only flirted with the idea of playing as the “enemy,” or at least the perceived enemy. Every World War 2 game in the franchise has traditionally put players in the shoes of allied nations like the United States or the United Kingdom, but never in the shoes of Nazis or the Japanese army. Russians have traditionallybeen the enemy in theModern Warfareseries as well, albeit technically contextualized with one specific terrorist cell that happens to be run by lead by a Russian.
Overall, theCall of Dutyfranchise has never actually placed players in the shoes of the villains for the main campaign. The only instance where this was the case wasduring the controversial “No Russian” mission inModern Warfare 2, where players were working undercover to take down Makarov. This was only one mission inModern Warfare 2, which only ended up killing PFC Allen’s character anyway, so it doesn’t really count in the wayCold Warmay employ the “villain’s” perspective of the geopolitical conflict between US and Russia. In other words, it suggests it may not be so cut and dry.
Black Ops Cold War Could Emphasize Ambiguity
Already it seemsCold Waris pushing a different agenda compared to otherCall of Dutytitles. Rather than being a historical dramatization or fictional extravagance of armed conflict, 2020’sCall of Dutyseems to be heavily grounded in history.Black Ops Cold War’s teaser alone showcases pivotal momentsin the psuedo-war between US and Russia, and seems to be teasing the infamous story of the almost-mythical USSR spy (or spy network) known as “Perseus.” It’s unclear how involved the Perseus storyline will be, but the teaser does reference the name.
It would be interesting to seeBlack Ops Cold War’s campaignbe centered on dueling perspectives; one as the USSR fighting to institute “Perseus” in America’s intelligence infrastructure, and the other being the US fighting against that. LikeCall of Duty: Black Opsbefore it, many of the secret operations that will likely take place within the narrative will likely be inspired by real events. There’s also a bevy of de-classified documents that continue to leak out to this day.Black Opstackled the highly documented “Bay of Pigs” failure by the US, but it’d be interesting to see some creative freedoms taken from some of the more recent declassified Cold War dossiers from the CIA as well.
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Continuing Call of Duty’s Mature Storytelling
Black Ops Cold Warseems to be a reflection of a new direction for the franchise, piggy-backing offModern Warfare’s comparatively more mature storytelling. What’s interesting about a showcasing two perspectives of the Cold War is thatBlack Ops Cold Warcould be telling a more objective, morally grey story. Ideally the campaign would tell a fictional tale all about how neither the US or Russia is innocent in this pseudo-war conflict, and emphasize the whole “history is written by the victor” moral fallacy thatModern Warfare 2threw around.
Additionally this gives Treyarch a chance toaddress the complaints of historical inaccuracy thatModern Warfarereceived. Practically everyCall of Dutyhas employed favoritism to the Allied Nations, without mentioning the fact that the US, UK, and other allied countries have done some pretty bad things throughout modern history also.Black Ops Cold Warhas the opportunity to show that neither side of the Cold War is morally untouchable, and has the chance to tell an objectively more interesting war story compared to previous titles.
TheCallof Duty: Black Ops Cold Warworldwide reveal premieres August 26.
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