Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is now confirmed to be a direct sequel to the original Black Ops game, and with that comes the return of its most popular characters. While much of the focus has been placed on Frank Woods in the Black Ops Cold War marketing thus far, Treyarch is now starting to focus on the original protagonist of the Black Ops series.
Within a blog post on its official website (which is cleverly designed to look like old CIA documents), Alex Mason’s full story is shared with Call of Duty fans. Much of this is already known, such as Mason’s childhood years in Alaska and recruitment into the CIA. This is the same character players took control of in the original Black Ops game, after all, and few differences can be seen when the modern Mason is compared to the original.
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There is one difference, however, and that is the character’s voice actor. Sam Worthington will not be returning to voice Mason this time around, though it is unlikely he will be as annoyed as the original Woods voice actor is about the replacement. Still, it is perplexing as to why the old cast is not coming back for this next game.
Regardless, the post goes on to discuss Alex Mason’s role in the Black Ops story, detailing his brainwashing at the hands of Reznov and the events that followed. The final shot of the Black Ops campaign is not mentioned in this post though, which is interesting. In that sequence, Alex Mason is seen in the crowd prior to the assassination of JFK, hinting that the brainwashing worked, and Mason did indeed kill the president. With that moment unmentioned in Black Ops 2 or this post, though, it seems unlikely that the team covers it. Raven Software, the team making Black Ops Cold War’s campaign, seems eager to tell a Black Ops story that is completely its own.
Also unmentioned in the post is Woods’ death fake-out in the original game, so it will be interesting to see if Raven pays enough attention to the game’s lore to acknowledge the moment. After all, Mason should be surprised to see Woods alive. Perhaps that reaction will come within Black Ops Cold War, as the post ends by detailing Mason’s role in the new game. The post states that on January 8th, 1981, “Mason receives an unexpected call from Hudson” to rendezvous with Woods in Amsterdam for “a covert mission to end the Iran Hostage Crisis.” It is here where the greater threat, which is likely to be Black Ops Cold War’s villain Perseus, will be revealed.
The post does a solid job of building excitement for the game, though it will be interesting to see how Raven makes players feel like there are real stakes in the campaign due to Mason, Hudson, and Woods all being in Black Ops 2 and being guaranteed to survive because of that. Perhaps they will use Black Ops Cold War’s player-created characters to make gamers feel like there is someone to lose if things go awry. Regardless, it is nice to know that Alex Mason will have time to shine in Black Ops Cold War.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available November 13th on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions will also be released.
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Source: Treyarch