History VideoGame / CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar

** In East Germany, it is possible to go out of your way rescuing a spy that has been captured by the Stasi, Lukas Richter. [[spoiler:However, Richter has already sold out to the Soviets]] and you end up getting captured because [[spoiler:of him warning them beforehand ]].

* TranslationConvention: All dialogue between the player and friendly Russian characters will be in English, as are KGB computer terminals when used by Bell, while normal chatter between [=NPCs=] will be in their native language. The latter case is justified as Bell [[spoiler:knowing (and most likely are) Russian due to their involvement with Perseus]], as the text show up in Cyrillic from another perspective during the WhamEpisode.

** [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted if you]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch choose to shoot Richter or leave him in captivity rather than free him. It turns out he's sold out to the KGB.]]]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of HeelFaceBrainwashing, as the game shows how ethically messed up the MK-Ultra procedure towards Bell is. [[spoiler: That, and Adler won't want to risk their old memories back, and attempt to kill them to prevent them from turning back to their original self.]]

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: While it doesn't exactly make Perseus the good guy or justify killing untold millions of innocent people, Bell brings up a valid point in Ashes to Ashes when they say: "At least Perseus never robbed me of my identity".]]

* BulletproofHumanShield: You can take enemies as human shields, at which point they essentially become a layer of armor for you. They can even absorb several bullet hits for you before dying, whereas normally enemies go down after only 2-3 hits.

* GameWithinAGame: A number of playable UsefulNotes/{{Atari}}-era video games by Activision can be found in arcade cabinets located throughout the campaign.

* HeavilyArmoredMook: Soviet Heavies wear heavy body armor and [[VideoGame/RainbowSixSiege Tachanka]]-style helmets, wield machine guns or shotguns, and can soak a good 40 to 70 rounds of assault rifle fire before dropping, while still being almost as maneuverable as regular troops (including being able to use cover). They're not quite as tough as the ''Modern Warfare'' series' Juggernauts, but fulfill a similar role, appearing as mini-boss encounters of sorts in the campaign. You fight one about mid-way through the game, one in the final mission, and a couple more in one of the side missions. A couple will also briefly chase after you during your escape from KGB headquarters. [[spoiler: Bell, Adler, and their mole Belikov steal a few sets of Heavy armor and some [=RPD=] machine guns to assist in their escape from KGB headquarters.]]

** The multi-player includes several fan favorite maps from ''Black Ops II'', which is set in 2025. For example, the multi-player map "Express" simply drops the characters into a Los Angeles Mag-Lev train station and claims it's taking place in 1984.

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: While it doesn't exactly make Perseus the good guy or justify killing untold millions of innocent people, Bell brings up a valid point in Ashes to Ashes when they says: "At least Perseus never robbed me of my identity".]]

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: A minor one in regards to the dialogue options with Sims and Park.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Perseus as a faction is surprisingly diverse in ethnic background and gender in addition to its predominantly Russian/Soviet members. Within its commanding circle alone are an American, two Iranians, an East German, and [[spoiler:[[AndZoidberg Bell]], whose ethnicity and gender are left up to the player's decision]]. Its hirelings in Multiplayer also include a Norwegian woman, a Laotian, an Irish, a black South African and a Japanese woman.

** [[spoiler:Zakhaev's presence in the KGB headquarters, combined with a mention of "Perseus" by him as a mentor figure in ''Call of Duty: Warzone'', suggests that the 2019 ''Modern Warfare'' takes place in the same setting as the ''Black Ops'' universe (or at the very least Cold War), thus turning the two games into a pseudo-reboot, the "Warzone-verse".]]

* SimulatedUrbanCombatArea: In the mission "Redlight,Greenlight", Woods and Bell fight through a Spetznaz training course modeled after an 80's American city, down to the shops and cars.

** During conversation with Woods and Mason, Bell can ask about the events of the original ''Black Ops''. While both of them give a few details, namely the parts known to everyone, like the fact they stoped Dragovich from releasing Nova Six onto American soil and their botched attempt to kill Fidel Castro, they stay fairly quiet about most of it since it's well, classified. It ''does'' lead to a moment of levity, as Woods then muses that he should kill Castro and chalk it up to "collateral damage" in service to the team's present mission, only for the trope to once more take effect as he notes that Hudson would throw the book at him for stepping out of line like that.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Arash's EstablishingCharacterMoment has Mason watch him suddenly shoot the two people he arrived at the airstrip with; though since Mason is watching from a distance, we don't know why. Later in the game we find out why when we see the same scene from [[spoiler: Bell's]] perspective.

** Helicopter buffs, brace yourselves, because you will absolutely ''wince'' when you take a good look at the [[EveryHelicopterIsAHuey UH-1s]] depicted in the game: The choppers are very obviously the UH-1Y "Venom" model, belied by their four-bladed main rotor and twin engines, as opposed to the older Huey models which only had a single engine and two-bladed rotors. Only problem? the "Venom" wasn't introduced until '''2001''' They could be forgiven by saying they were actually Bell 212's (The civilian version of the UH-1) or Twin Huey's modified by the CIA for their own stateside needs, but even then the 212's of that era ''still'' had two-bladed main rotors.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: The description for the Pelington's "Recon Barrel" caused a bit of head-scratching due to being both smoothbore and rifled. This type of barrel, that is mostly smoothbore with rifling at the final segment, exists in reality, and is known as paradox rifling, designed to allow shotguns to fire both scattershot and rifled slugs effectively. It is also used, in Russia for example, to allow certain civilian rifles [[LoopholeAbuse to be classified as shotguns]] and make them easier to legally obtain, an example of which is the [=VPO-209=], a civilian semi-auto only variant of the [=AKM=] chambered for the [=.366TKM=] cartridge, which features a paradox rifled barrel (In this case, smoothbore with the last 120 mm of it being rifled).

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** Operation Fracture Jaw on which the eponymous mission was named was indeed a thing back during the Vietnam War, where the United States Army would, theoretically, move nuclear weapons into Southern Vietnam for use against North Vietnamese infantry. Rather fortunately, the White House cottoned on to their plan before it was enacted and put a lid on it before any actual mobilization was made, unlike the in-game depiction.

On May 20, 2021, the game hosted a huge '80s nostalgia event titled "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGn6uhe5_E '80s Action Heroes]]", which included a crossover with both ''{{Franchise/Rambo}}'' and ''Franchise/DieHard'' with John Rambo and John [=McClane=] as playable characters and Nakatomi Plaza as a POI in ''Warzone''.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Bell invokes this to Adler should you choose the bad ending and a certain line of dialogue. However, Adler dismisses such a notion by pointing out that the nukes were meant to be detonated as a defensive measure if the Soviets took Europe, not as a means for offensive action that would pave the way for US hegemony (unlike Perseus' intentions).]]

* DeadlyRemoteControlToy: The RC-XD, a remote-controlled car armed with explosive charges that appears as a killstreak or scorestreak in the multiplayer mode.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Perseus as a faction is surprisingly diverse in ethnic background and gender in addition to its predominantly Russian/Soviet members. Within its commanding circle alone are an American, two Iranians, an East German, and [[spoiler:[[AndZoidberg Bell]], whose ethnicity and gender are left up to the player's decision]]. Its hirelings in Multiplayer also include a Norwegian woman, a Laotian, an Irish, and a black South African.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Perseus as a faction is surprisingly diverse in ethnic background and gender in addition to its predominantly Russian members. Within its commanding circle alone are an American, two Iranians, a German, and [[spoiler:[[AndZoidberg Bell]], whose ethnicity and gender are left up to the player's decision]]. Its hirelings include a Norwegian, a Laotian, an Irish, and an English.

** If Bell is played as a woman, she will still be a member of Adler's MACV-SOG team in Vietnam in 1968, which is a bit of a stretch even for the ''Black Ops'' series. [[spoiler:Subverted as it's revealed Bell was never actually in Vietnam or allied with the CIA until they were picked up by Adler and subject to brainwashing to implant false memories of being there. That said, Bell being a female in a secretive Soviet detachment is just a bit less far fetched since more opportunities for women in the USSR didn't always mean full on parity. The Bell one can see get shot at the start of the game via a scope uses a male model and doesn't stick out in the setting, though this is just a placeholder as the balaclava is meant to keep Bell anonymous.]]

As the [[ColonCancer sub(-sub)-title]] might suggest, the game returns to the Cold War, in particular 1981 during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, serving as an interquel between the [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps first]] and [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2 second]] ''Black Ops'' games.

Alongside the campaign and multiplayer, [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Zombies]] returns with a soft reboot of the Aether storyline, now known as Dark Aether. ''Cold War'' did not come out with its own Battle Royale gamemode, instead offering various bits of media into the previous year's iteration, ''Warzone''.

On May 19, 2021, it was announced that the game will include [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGn6uhe5_E 80s Action Heroes]].