Call of Duty 2 vs Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty 2 is an FPS game from Infinity Ward (2005) while Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an FPS game from Treyarch (2023).
Quick answer: Call of Duty 2 has the higher Metacritic, 86 to 76.
Call of Duty 2
What each one is
Call of Duty 2 is filed under FPS. In contrast, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War under FPS.
Call of Duty 2 is a 2005 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in most regions of the world. It is the second installment of the Call of Duty series. Announced by Activision on April 7, 2005, the game was released for Microsoft Windows on October 25, 2005, and as a launch title for the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005. Other versions were eventually released for Mac OS X, mobile phones, and Pocket PCs.
Black Ops Cold War, the direct sequel to Call of Duty®: Black Ops, will drop fans into the depths of the Cold War’s volatile geopolitical battle of the early 1980s.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Soviet campaign The player controls Private Vasili Koslov of the 13th Guards Rifle Division in December 1941, initially involved in the defense of Moscow from the advancing German troops. The next level involves the destruction of a German stronghold in Stalingrad during early December 1942. The next objective involves battling for strongholds throughout Stalingrad throughout the middle of December 1942, including re-connecting cut telephone wires and… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Call of Duty 2 received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . The graphics and sound were widely praised and the reactions to the regenerating health system were mostly positive, with reviewers from GameSpot and GamePro calling it an improvement over the previous health bar system. For the Xbox 360 version, IGN s Douglass C. (Wikipedia)
Plot
Campaign In January 1981, CIA operatives Russell Adler ( Bruce Thomas ), Alex Mason ( Chris Payne Gilbert ), and Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen) are sent to Amsterdam to target Qasim Javadi (Farshad Farahat) and Arash Kadivar ( Navid Negahban ) for their roles in the Iran hostage crisis . With intelligence gained from interrogating Qasim, the trio tracks Arash to an airfield in Turkey, where they witness him executing everyone in the vehicle he arrived… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Black Ops Cold War received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic , which calculated a weighted average rating of 76/100 across all platforms, based on 42 reviews for the PlayStation 5 version, 31 reviews for the Windows version, and 21 reviews for the Xbox Series X/S version. OpenCritic determined that 61% of critics recommended the game. The single-player campaign received a… (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Call of Duty 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | — | 7.0/10 |
| Steam rating | — | Very Positive (80%, 23,046) |
| Critic aggregate | 86/100 | 76/100 |
| Price | Unknown | $59.99 |
| Install size | — | 175 GB |
| Steam Deck | Untested | unsupported |
| Released | 2005 | 2023 |
| Developer | Infinity Ward | Treyarch |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Call of Duty 2 vs Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Call of Duty 2FPS gameCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarFPS gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Call of Duty 2No descriptive tagsCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarFPS, Action, ZombiesThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Call of Duty 2 ✓Metacritic 86Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarMetacritic 76Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Call of Duty 2—Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War23,046 reviews · 10 add-ons · 175 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Call of Duty 2UnknownCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War$59.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Call of Duty 2 takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Call of Duty 2 (Metacritic 86)
Where they differ
SingleplayerFPSMultiplayerActionZombiesCold War
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Call of Duty 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Call of Duty 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel® Core™ i3-4340 |
| Minimum RAM | — | 8 GB |
| Install size | — | 175 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Call of Duty 2 · Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Call of Duty 2 and 1 for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in scope?
Call of Duty 2 lists little scope data. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has drawn 23,046 Steam reviews, ships 10 add-ons and installs in 175 GB.
Is Call of Duty 2 or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Call of Duty 2 or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Call of Duty 2 or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War?
Call of Duty 2 has the higher Metacritic, 86 to 76. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.