Black Ops 1 and 2 Finally Land on PlayStation, but the Ports Are Bare Bones

Some of us have been waiting for this one since the PS3 era ended. Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 arrived on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on July 9, marking the first time either game has been playable on a modern Sony console. Treyarch announced the ports, and the actual conversion work comes from Iron Galaxy, a studio with a long track record of bringing older games to new hardware.

What you get

Both games arrive complete where it counts. Each port includes the full campaign, the complete multiplayer suite and Zombies, with nothing cut from the base experience. That means the original Black Ops campaign from 2010 with its Cold War paranoia, and Black Ops 2 with its branching story and multiple endings, which still feels bold by series standards today.

Xbox players have had both games through backward compatibility for years, so this release is squarely aimed at PlayStation owners who either never played them or left their old consoles behind long ago.

Pricing and the DLC catch

Each game costs $39.99 on the PlayStation Store. PlayStation Plus members currently get 50% off, which brings each title down to $19.99, and the store lists the discount as running until early August. After that, full price applies.

The catch is the DLC. The map packs, including the classic Zombies maps that many players consider the best content in both games, are not included and must be purchased separately. Buying both games with all their DLC adds up quickly, and that has been the loudest complaint since launch day.

These are also straight ports rather than remasters. Expect light upscaling on 4K displays and little else. There is no field of view slider, no 120 frames per second mode, and no new content. Both games have already received small patches since launch, so at least the ports are being actively maintained.

Our take

We are glad these games are finally on PlayStation, and the games themselves hold up. Black Ops 2 in particular remains one of the most interesting campaigns the series ever shipped. But charging $39.99 for a sixteen year old game with no technical upgrades and no DLC included is a hard sell, especially when the Zombies maps everyone actually wants cost extra. Our advice is simple: if you want them, grab them while the PlayStation Plus discount is live. At $19.99 each these are easy to recommend. At full price, wait for a sale.