

In this year’s entry, you take control of a spec ops soldier in a cold war gone warm in the 1980s. After playing this year’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War beta, though, it looks like I’ll have to force myself to play it when it comes time to write a full review in a few weeks.

It’s not exactly an obligation for me to play these games, but depending on the year, it can feel like one. It’s a set of filler games, something for me to play when I’m not playing better shooters or worse RPGs. Although the franchise has certainly had its ups and downs, each year I spend £45 on a series that I’ve come to think about in the same way I think about a beer that’s drunk in between cocktails.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been buying Call of Duty games at launch, and recently I’ve even started to participate in their testing phases.
