We’re likely closer than ever to the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 re-releases on PlayStation, because their Trophy lists have appeared online. This typically happens days before a game becomes available.
But while that may be cause for celebration, the Trophy lists have also revealed that some modes and features from the classic games may not make the jump to PS4 and PS5.
As spotted by ForwardLeaks, Black Ops 1’s biggest omissions appear to be Wager Matches and Theater Mode. Black Ops 2, on the other hand, is missing the much less important League Play.
In the original release of Black Ops 1, ‘In The Money’ was a Trophy earned by winning five Wager Matches. The Wager Matches playlist was made up of several side modes like Gun Game, and One in the Chamber. To enter, players were required to wage some of their Call of Duty Points, with earnings and losses decided at the end of each round.
At that point in time, CoD Points were the in-game currency used to unlock weapons, camos and other cosmetics, well before microtransactions found their way in. Its apparent absence here suggests Gun Game and One in the Chamber are not present either, however, it’s possible the two modes remain in the game, outside of Wager Matches.
‘Date Night’ was a Trophy unlocked by inviting a friend to watch a clip in the game. Clips could be captured using Theater Mode, which recorded entire replays of every match, allowing players to jump between different points of view as well as edit and export footage. While this does not definitively confirm the absence of Theater Mode it is, again, a pretty solid indication.
As for Black Ops 2, the ‘Big Leagues’ Trophy is the only one that appears to be missing. Earning it simply required winning five League Play matches in multiplayer. That was the name of the competitive playlist in Black Ops 2, and it suggests that type of playlist won’t be making a return. Hardly surprising but disappointing for older fans.
The removal of those Trophies has left players wondering if other features, such as the beloved Emblem Editor, will also not be making the jump. But the biggest question surrounding the two games, of course, remains whether or not they’re going to offer native PS5 support.
A native PS5 version would be able to take advantage of core platform features such as 120Hz support, haptics in the DualSense Controller and so on. When Activision announced the Black Ops 1 & 2 re-releases in June, the publisher told us they’re going to be ports, not remasters, which may indicate a lack of native PS5 support.
Somehow, amusingly, someone has already earned the Platinum Trophy in both Black Ops re-releases on PS4, according to the same leaker. That is only possible, of course, by modding your console to bypass security checks, which is illegal, and which you’ve been able to do for years now.
