The Call of Duty: Black Ops series includes some of the most popular franchise titles, but it is also one of the most inconsistent Call of Duty subseries. While Infinity Ward seems to release hit after hit with Modern Warfare, Treyarch has seemingly struggled to pick a direction for the Black Ops series. After six widely different titles, Call of Duty: Black Ops is a bit of a mess, and it may be time to hit the reboot button.
Infinity Ward recently rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and it led to two strong games. If it worked for that subseries, then it may also work for the Black Ops series. That series is in desperate need of a direction change, and the best way to do that is by starting over. That would let Treyarch start fresh, so it can actually deliver on the covert CIA Cold War adventure that popularized the series in the first place.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Has Been All Over the Place
The Call of Duty: Black Ops series' timeline started back in 2008 with Call of Duty: World at War, but it would really hit its stride with the release of Black Ops in 2010. Black Ops brought players to the Cold War for a brand-new type of Call of Duty story following the CIA operative Alex Mason. Players watched as Mason was ruthlessly interrogated and forced to relive his memories. As he got interrogated, players experienced an exciting high-stakes Cold War adventure. It was a fantastic story that is often considered one of the best Call of Duty campaigns to date.
Instead of sticking with the Cold War, Treyarch took the series in a completely different direction with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The story switched between the 1980s and 2025 as players attempted to stop the vile Raul Menendez from starting a second Cold War. They took control of Alex Mason again in the 1980s and his son in 2025. While it still maintained some elements of its predecessor, the franchise had started becoming far more futuristic very quickly. Still, the story was viewed as a major highlight, with Menendez being a standout antagonist.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was the biggest departure from the original title as it took players to 2065. The entire Mason family was replaced by a new group of supersoldiers that were trying to keep the world together. The game blended hero shooter mechanics with Call of Duty's gameplay loop for a unique entry that has not really been replicated since. It may have been a lot of fun, but it looked nothing like a Black Ops game.
Treyarch did not even include a story mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. It felt very lackluster compared to its predecessors, and it was quickly forgotten about in favor of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Treyarch then made the decision to go back to the basics with its next title, but it may have been too little too late. While Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War actually felt like a Black Ops title, it just further cemented the inconsistent nature of this subseries. What could have been a fantastic subseries of Cold War era Call of Duty games became something else entirely.
Activision has yet to reveal the future of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but hopefully it involves a reboot. It has gone completely off the rails and does not feel like an interconnected series of games because of futuristic entries like Black Ops 3 and Black Ops 4. Unlike Modern Warfare, barely anything holds the Black Ops games together. If Treyarch wants to right the ship, then it needs to go back to the drawing board, hitting the reset button and focusing on a more cohesive story that will help build a much stronger franchise.
A new Call of Duty is in development.