Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War vs Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an FPS game from Treyarch (2023) while Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an FPS horror game from Treyarch (2012).
Quick answer: Call of Duty: Black Ops II rates higher, 7.6 to 7.0 on the GamingPickz Score, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the cheaper at $39.99.
What each one is
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is filed under FPS. In contrast, Call of Duty: Black Ops II under FPS and Horror.
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.
Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II propels players into a near future Cold War
Story, characters and reception
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)
Plot
Campaign In July 1986, retired CIA operative Alex Mason ( Sam Worthington ) lives an obscure life in Alaska with his son David. One day, his former handler Jason Hudson ( Michael Keaton ) shows up with an assignment: Mason's friend and fellow operative Frank Woods (James C. Burns) disappeared in Angola investigating an arms smuggling ring. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Critical reception Call of Duty: Black Ops II received "generally positive" reviews for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions, but "mixed or average" reviews for the PC version, according to review aggregator Metacritic . IGN editor Anthony Gallegos describes the game as "a good example of how to evolve an annualized franchise". Gallegos praised the game for telling a story was genuinely interesting and creating a villain that he… (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.0/10 | 7.6/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (80%, 23,046) | Very Positive (86%, 49,344) |
| Critic aggregate | 76/100 | 74/100 |
| Price | $59.99 | $39.99 |
| Install size | 175 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | unsupported |
| Released | 2023 | 2012 |
| Developer | Treyarch | Treyarch |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War vs Call of Duty: Black Ops II, 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: Black Ops Cold WarFPS gameCall of Duty: Black Ops IIFPS horror gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarFPS, Action, ZombiesCall of Duty: Black Ops IIAction, FPS, ShooterThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarScore 7.0 · 80% on Steam · 76 criticCall of Duty: Black Ops II ✓Score 7.6 · 86% on Steam · 74 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War23,046 reviews · 10 add-ons · 175 GBCall of Duty: Black Ops II49,344 reviews · 5 add-onsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War$59.99Call of Duty: Black Ops II ✓$39.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarUnsupportedCall of Duty: Black Ops IIUnsupportedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Multi-platform
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Call of Duty: Black Ops II (GamingPickz Score 7.6)
- The cheaper right now: Call of Duty: Black Ops II ($39.99)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Call of Duty: Black Ops II (49,344 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
SingleplayerFPSMultiplayerActionShooterFirst-PersonCo-opOnline Co-Op
Where they differ
ZombiesCold WarMilitaryGun CustomizationGorePvP
Team-BasedFuturisticControllerSurvivalGreat SoundtrackHorror
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 | Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512 MB |
| Minimum CPU | Intel® Core™ i3-4340 | Intel Core2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHz |
| Minimum RAM | 8 GB | 2 GB |
| Install size | 175 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War · Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and 1 for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops II in scope?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has drawn 23,046 Steam reviews, ships 10 add-ons and installs in 175 GB. Call of Duty: Black Ops II has drawn 49,344 Steam reviews and ships 5 add-ons.
Is Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Call of Duty: Black Ops II better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Call of Duty: Black Ops II rates higher (7.6 to 7.0). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Call of Duty: Black Ops II?
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is cheaper right now at $39.99, against $59.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Call of Duty: Black Ops II?
Call of Duty: Black Ops II rates higher, 7.6 to 7.0 on the GamingPickz Score, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the cheaper at $39.99. 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.