Black Ops Cold Warwas something of a return to form forCall of Duty’sBlack Opsseries, leaving behind thescience fiction-oriented futuristic settings ofII,III, andIVin favor of revisiting the original game’s themes of Cold War espionage. Players get to reunite with a few familiar faces like Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Grigori Weaver- mixed in with a few new characters and a larger conspiracy to untangle. Much like its predecessor, the game embraced the opportunities of its setting. The original included appearances by historical figures and a soundtrack of classic rock from the era.Cold Warfollowed a similar pattern, incorporating classic rock and even had an appearance by Ronald Reagan. But it also went a few steps further.
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Activision, the official publisher of theCall of Dutyseries, was founded in 1979 andCold Wartakes place a little after. The developers clearly noticed this connection, especially when designing the level “Redlight, Greenlight.” During this level, Bell and Frank Woods stumble into what appears to be an arcade (actually part of a Spetznatz training course), complete with Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” playing over the loudspeakers and working cabinets of early Activision titles- and they’re playable! Bell can disregard the much bigger priority of getting intelligence on a dangerous terrorist planning to nuke Europe in favor of wasting time on old Atari games while receiving witty commentary from Woods.
5Fishing Derby (1980)
Fishing Derbywas one of the first games Activision produced, and seeing these graphics makes it hard to imagine them going on to produce something likeCall of Duty. The premise is pretty self-explanatory. Two fishermen compete tocatch a set amount of fish. There are multiple rows of fish, each with different weights- the ultimate goal being to catch 90 pounds.
Players cast their line and try to reel in the fish. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Except there is a shark that swims back and forth between both docks that will try to catch and eat any fish caught by the players. First person to reach 90 pounds of fish wins!
4Grand Prix (1982)
Before theF1series, players looking forthe experience of formula 1 racinghad to make do with Activision’sGrand Prix. This was a racing game played from a top-down perspective, with the player driving a car along a straight line. The car can move from side to side, but players can also control its speed, being able to speed up and slow down as needed. There were four tracks which looked very similar but had different lengths and sets of obstacles.
However, despite the appearance of a racing game, the player does not actually compete against other racers. The “competitors” are instead hazards to avoid, and crashing into other cars reduces speed. The actual goal is to get the best time for completing the track.Grand Prixlooks pretty crude by today’s standards. Next to racing games that have come since likeNeed For Speed,Mario Kart, or evenLEGO Racers, the gameplay looks pretty dull. But it was a huge hit on the Atari and well-received by critics in its day.
3River Raid (1982)
Thisvaguely air force-themed gamecasts players as a jet pilot going behind nondescript enemy lines in an unidentified war. The plane flies upwards along a straight river, and can be moved left or right. The objective is to score points by destroying enemy vehicles, but it is a lot more challenging than it sounds.
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The player has to keep an eye on their fuel, which can be replenished from fuel stations scattered along the river- but which are also easy to shoot by mistake. The other catch is the player has to avoid crashing, which can easily happen by either flying into the edges of the map or flying into an enemy before they can be cleared. Failure causes the jet to explode.
2Pitfall (1982)
This old game has become something of a classic, becoming the first in a series of side-scrolling adventures and even inspiring a short-lived animated series. Players control a man referred to as “Pitfall Harry” who has the challenge of navigating a treacherous jungle full of obstacles in search of treasure.
Each screen involves various obstacles like logs, snakes, scorpions, ponds full of crocodiles, quicksand/tar pits, and holes leading into the underground section requiring him to climb out and start over. Probably the most iconic part is needing to get over pits by jumping at just the right moment to grab a vine and swing across. The “pitfall” part of the game comes from how easy it is to fall into pits, many of which are lethal.
1Kaboom! (1983)
1978 saw the release of an arcade game calledAvalanche. The player moved a series of paddles back and forth along a screen, with a bunch of rocks at the top that would begin falling one by one. The objective was to catch rocks in the paddles, which would become more difficult as the rocks began to fall faster, and the player would fail if they missed any. The format was simple but challenging, and went on to inspire a few similarly-structured games. These included the airport-themedLost Luggage, the chicken/egg-themedChickenandEggomania, and of course Activision’sKaboom.
The basic gameplay was similar toAvalanche, with the player controlling objects that are used to catch falling projectiles in order to score points. The big change is the game now being about a “mad bomber” who throws explosives at the player with increasing speed. Points are scored by using the buckets to catch the bombs, but failing to catch one will cause all the on-screen bombs to detonate, hence the titleKaboom.
