The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha for PlayStation 4 launched today at 10 AM Pacific, and has confirmed features that fans may have been unsure about. PlayStation players will get to experience several game modes and maps in Black Ops Cold War until September 20, and can unlock a free calling card for Modern Warfare by just playing.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha will allow players to play Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and the new 12 vs. 12 Combined Arms Domination, which adds vehicles to a large scale domination match. The alpha will also feature the maps Miami, Moscow, and Satellite. The 12 vs. 12 mode will feature the two larger maps, Armada and Crossroads.
One feature returning to Call of Duty is map voting, which was mysteriously left out of Modern Warfare, but has now been confirmed to be coming back to Black Ops Cold War. Based on the lobby screen in the alpha, players will be able to vote on one of two maps to play next. Much like previous Call of Duty games, the map voting includes the previous map played and a potential new map.
The PlayStation 4 alpha also features a limited create-a-class system, the gunsmith, and scorestreaks. While scorestreaks have been a controversial addition to the next Call of Duty title, the scorestreak system rewards both kills and objective-based bonuses. Many Call of Duty players enjoy a killstreak that resets upon death, while other players think that the killstreak limits rewarding gameplay based on objectives. Although fans are split on the scorestreak feature, fans may be happy with the returning Black Ops streaks such as the RC-XD car.
The Cold War health bar is another controversial feature returning to Black Ops. The health bar made an appearance in Black Ops 4 and is now available in Black Ops Cold War, but can be disabled, so players have the option of not using it. However, the health bar may be helpful for measuring the damage of certain loadouts or weapons.
The new features such as map voting, scorestreaks, and the health bar will set Black Ops Cold War apart from Modern Warfare, so the gameplay will feel different. Black Ops Cold War has also implemented a feature called Signature Combat which tweaks movement in an effort to make it feel more realistic. Players will get to experience all these features to the fullest extent with more maps, game modes, and loadout options when Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fully launches.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on November 13th for PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X.