Hmmm so this probably barely makes sense because I'm writing this on the middle of the night and sleep deprived, but the cod: black ops brainrot is too much to handle so suffer with me. Spoilers from the Black Ops series bellow the cut!
I'm replaying COD: Cold War and I came to the realization of how dangerously close the team came to have a mole (besides Bell on the Duga ending) between them.
Because, you know, Perseus used a sleeper agent from Dragovich's little science project from BO1, and if the extremely specific sequency (but isn't that's why we make fanfic anyways?) of events needed to let him know who formed the team, he could've used Mason.
In the introduction to the "Echoes of the cold war" mission, when Mason asks to go, someone (can't remember if it's Adler or Hudson now) says he's too deep into the problem. We know Mason isn't fully clean from the brainwashing, as shown with the numbers he sees when interacting with the Soviet corpses in Yamatau in this mission, and also by how he needs to resist the urge to shoot Kravchenko during the interrogation in BO2, so he could be used somehow.
I'm just saying things could have gone to shit so damn early, because assuming sleeper agents can receive new orders (not sure about this, but considering how Perseus managed to get that one scientist to Cuba, I don't doubt it), and that not many people on the team would notice Mason acting off (maybe Hudson and Woods, but the rest would most likely brush it off), I think it's very possible.
I know it wasn't nowhere near the first objective, however let's pull off the very specific sequency of events again, and assume Perseus somehow knew where and with who his agent (Bell) was, and also assume he wanted them back. What better way to do it than have someone on the inside? Someone everyone trusts, and "oh yeah he's acting weird but it's just how he is, Vorkuta fucked him up a bit"... But it's far worse.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with this concept, but I needed to share with y'all lol
Bell and Perseus' are unknown - i just had to make the photo grid look nice pahaha
How is Adler younger than Woods and Mason??? I always thought Hudson was late 50s, Adler early 40s, Woods and Mason in their 30s but noooo. Just makes the cutscene where Adler confronts Hudson even funnier lmao
Just finished Cold War's campaing for the first time and wow wow wow. What an amazing game.
The story, the characters, the dialogue choices, the graphics, it all comes together so nicely to make such an amazing experience. The puzzles in the side missions were a really nice touch, and I went up looking up and down the levels trying to not miss any bit of evidence.
Being able to customize our character at the beggining and select some perks was a nice touch. Helps to make us feel more connected to Bell as a character.
The callbacks to events and characters of Black Ops 1 were so well done. I really liked how they neatly managed to connect the events of the two games together, and how they showed the impact Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner kept having after the events of BO1.
Look at them. My traumatized and perfect babyboys with so many decades of ptsd on them. Love them so much.
"Before there was one Mr Shades but now there's 2! But it's ok. We can trust them"
Loved seeing the returning faces and the new cast. Wished we could have gotten more interactions with them though. I am totally not shipping Bell and Park. Not at all. I promise.
Got the ending with Perseus and cause im a lover of all things angst, this was such a tragic and powerful ending. I'm excited to replay and see how all the endings vary. And I knew I was right to not give Addler the lighter in the end lol
Only complain I have is that I felt the campaign was a bit short, which limits how much we get to interact with the characters and other things like seeing more of Bell's connection with Perseus, but given the difficulties Treyarch had during development due to Covid, it's understandable. But the content that is there is pretty amazing.
Overall, loved the game very much and I totally reccomend it.