As of right now, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold war has 9 different maps for players to battle on. Some of the maps are excellent examples of fast-paced gunfighting. Others are not so much. Today we are going to be ranking all of the available maps in order from worst to best, with explanations.
9 | Satellite
I’m gonna come out and say it. Satellite is a garbage Call of Duty map. Large dunes adorn an open half of the map that is often strewn with snipers. The other half of the map is a complex of caves and mountains where plenty of CQC takes place. Now I personally have nothing against camping in Call of Duty. It is a perfectly valid playstyle, especially with snipers, but it gets a little excessive on Satellite. You really have to sweat it out to get any decent amount of kills and spawn flips are not uncommon. This map is not unplayable by any stretch of the imagination, but Satellite has earned its place at the bottom of our list.
8 | Moscow
As far as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War maps go, Moscow is not the worst. It’s a fairly standard three-lane map that definitely feels like it belongs in a Call of Duty title. My main complaint with this map is the B objective on domination, or the large lobby area where the majority of the fighting is meant to take place. There are a massive number of ways enemies can remove you from the map just by looking into the site. The playstyle of the map feels remarkably grindy compared to other maps in Cold War, especially in domination.
7 | Cartel
Those. Damn. Bushes. That’s the major complaint a lot of people have about this map. It would be a lot higher on the list if the visibility in the middle of the map wasn’t just so poor. It plays great almost all the way through besides that, however. The middle tower and outbuildings are powerful positions, but not without their own flaws making approaching through the middle fairly balanced. The map is actually really fun to play in some of the large combined strike game modes but could get much better.
6 | Miami
Miami, as well as the next two maps, are pretty much a three-way tie on this list of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War maps. Miami is not a bad map, not at all. It just feels very busy, like there’s a lot going on all at once. I will say that it is a campers paradise, there are ledges and windows all over the place. That being said, it’s also really simple to counter camp and flank your enemies. The map itself is pretty balanced, just boring, so there’s not much else to say.
5 | Checkmate
Checkmate suffers from the main flaw that Miami has, it’s just boring to play. The rounds go in a similar way each time and enemy positions are easy to estimate. Two in plane picking us out of spawn? Yeah, that seems about right. Someone head-glitching containers? That’s a given. However, a boring playstyle isn’t exactly a bad thing. It’s a great introductory map to the game and gives new players a chance to better learn the mechanics and equipment without having to memorize a complex map. I would honestly like to see a Nuketown, Checkmate, Garrison playlist for around the holidays as all of those maps are friendly to new players.
4 | Armada Strike
Armada Strike is a well-made map. It’s incredibly fun to play, and the added flank potential of the water and lower decks makes it easy to flip the match on its head. My only detraction for this map is the tendency of players to hole up in their spawn building and take shots at anyone advancing towards them. That’s a totally valid way to play the game, however, so I probably shouldn’t hold it against the map. The best thing Armada Strike has going for it is how fun the domination gameplay is. On a large number of maps, anything but TDM feels really grindy. But on Armada Strike, any game mode is fun to play.
3 | Crossroads Strike
That’s right, back to back strikes. Crossroads Strike is a pretty balanced map when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War maps. My favorite part of this map is how infrequently you end up flipping spawns. This map is another map that just feels fun to play no matter what game mode you’re on. Not much else to say about this map, which is sort of a detractor in and of itself. A little bland, but incredibly fun.
2 | Garrison
Garrison is honestly one the best Black Ops Cold War maps around. It’s the epitome of what a base game map should be. This map is full of fast-paced action with major flank potential. It even has a major power position that easily contested and held by both sides. Air killstreaks are not incredibly effective on this map, so you don’t have to panic so bad when you hear that napalm strike coming. It’s a great play on any game mode and rightfully deserves its place near the top of this list.
1 | Nuketown ’84
Who would have thought? Nuketown ’84 at the top of the list. There is a reason the map has appeared in every Call of Duty: Black Ops game. While the map is remarkably small, especially when you compare it to other Cold War maps, It’s full of intense action. It’s easy to drop massive amounts of kills in short amounts of time and makes leveling weapons much easier. The map is probably the easiest map for new players to learn and is a great introduction to the game. There’s even an impressive, game-changing easter egg hidden within the map that you can learn more about here.
That’s Our List of Black Ops Cold War Maps
What are your thoughts on our list? Do you agree or think we messed up? Let us know in the comments below!
