Every Historical Inaccuracy in Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War 

**The Frosty 1 is back!** My highest of thanks for everyone's support and patience throughout the past few months. Ye have truly been amazing! Corrections: - 3:37 This is actually an Antonov AN 22, however the game still refers to it as a C-130 and we even see the US using it later as a gunship in Cuba, so it's still inaccurate. - 8:09 The Viet Cong were supplied with WW2 weapons from the Soviets during WW2, however I was not able to find any evidence of the MG 42 in particular being used in Vietnam so it still could technically be an inaccuracy but just not as severely inaccurate as I made it out to be in the video. - 15:00 Although it was formally replaced by the AK 74 in 1977, the AKM was still largely used by Soviet forces in the 1980s. If you have any more inaccuracies, facts or corrections to add then please do leave them in the comments. Thank you!

"How has WWIII not started yet?" - Everybody every single day during the actual very real Cold War

8:12 I do have to correct something here. The Vietnamese forces used an wide variety of axis and ww2 weaponry, everything from Kar98ks to Mas 36s, and c96 pistols. Even arisaka type 99s were used. A lot those weapons were supplied by soviets or just found or taken off enemy soldiers in previous conflicts. It is not farfetched to think they might have had an mg42 machine gun either

The MG-42 isn’t too crazy being used by the VC. The biggest crime of this game is changing the voice actors of Wood, Mason and Hudson!

8:08 I like to think that the inaccuracies are there because since all of this is in Bells head, Adler sometimes messes up the details when describing it to Bell

I would just like to take a moment to appreciate the fact that in this rendition of "Call of Duty: War Crimes Simulator", you aptly named your character "War Crimes"

8:13 An MG-42 being used by the Vietcong is actually extremely accurate and there is a lot of research and photos that back this up. A lot of old East German and soviet captured surplus were given to the NLF as war support. You’ll often see MP-40s being used by VC elements as well. You prolly won’t read this so I guess it doesn’t matter but yea.

The reason why the Cuba level is so weird is because it was originally going to be set in Nicaragua, and your allies would be the Contras who would help you to assault the compound and clean up after you, but I guess they were too politically correct about having raping, mass execution and drug dealing rebels in their game.

I feel like we can take away the fracture jaw inaccuracies cause that mission is essentially a dream

Fun fact: Black ops 1 got me into psychology, politics, sociology and (military) history. I legitimately thought of a subtle way to reference it in my graduation speech from college.

Here’s a cool fact, in the KGB building, the prison was not in the basement. It was actually located on the second floor with no windows so prisoners would think they were in the basement. Great video man!

18:30 That technically should not count as a historical inaccuracy, should be more like a glitch or a weapon placement bug which has nothing to do with historical accuracy.

For the inaccuracy at 11:38, I believe it's meant to be hinting that Bell can understand Russian even if you didn't select Ex-KGB as their backstory, foreshadowing the big twist of the game. As for why WW3 didn't break out after the firefight at the KGB headquarters (and any of the other things that should spark WW3), idk maybe because Perseus (the group) went rogue, the KGB couldn't be sure who did it? I'm probably putting more thought into that one than the devs did.

The computer at 11:40 isn't in English but in Russian. We see/hear it in English because Bell was a soviet soldier before he was rescued by Adler and Woods and the reason Woods understands what bell is seeing/hearing is because Bell is translating it for him

I’m surprised you didn’t mention that the first mission takes place on January 12, 1981, eight days before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President, and yet the game shows him ordering the mission. Before January 20, Jimmy Carter would be the only person with the authority to order a mission like that.

The way you even cares about the drink price is outstanding! Keep up like this, Frost!

I like the idea of the game's characters thinking Perseus is a huge threat and chasing him across the world only to find him as a feeble old man in a wheelchair

Its so bizarre how there are incredibly accurate details nobody would notice if they were missing, but at the same time there are non-gameplay related inaccuracies that could have easily been avoided by changing a date or a single NPC.

As someone who got into history thanks to games like World at War and Black Ops, these videos are always a treat. Love the analysis here, much love.

The fact that the developers made the VC’s AKs look like Type 56s in the Vietnam mission I thought was super cool, but also the fact that there are AKS-74Us being used by the VC in 1968 in that mission speaks to a level of both Historical Accuracy and Inaccuracy that borders on schizophrenic

19:29 That is not a Lada, it's a GAZ-24 Volga. It's well known for being used by the KGB

I think the reason the Russian terminals are in English are actually in Russian, but are translated into English for the players. Bell understands and speaks Russian, so it makes sense that it’d be translated into the player’s localization anyway

Even with 2 endings still less inaccuracies than vanguard 💀

Frosty, love your vids but here is a couple corrections: The Minigun in fracture jaw does NOT have explosive ammo. For some reason the Vietcong had explosive barrels on their roofs, causing them to explode. As well as the fact that in the duga mission 23:45 , you radio perseus and his men to set up an ambush, therefore, they all hid to get ready for the ambush (sorry if anything comes off as mean i am sorry i did not intend it that way, its just how i type)

6:08 probably the largest historical accuracy in the entire game

Fun fact. Caches of ww2 weapons were found in Vietnam, gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasn't rare but wasn't uncommon for the viet cong found to be using mg42 and 34s from the soviet union as the firearm production facility was located in czechoslovakia and was seized by the soviet union and sent to Vietnam

I mean for the Vietnam mission, it was false memory in our character’s head so that part should be forgiven, jokes aside though great video man, very thoroughly explained and I definitely learnt something new

Another issue with the takedown, Makarovs have a holster you push down on rather then pull up to draw.

I will add that later on, as they added DLC's they continued the campaigns story, theres a cutscene where they confirm Perseus is LONG DEAD and the truth is that Perseus is the ideal/movement/group, so that part actually isn't so inaccurate with that context.

One minor correction, the reason why some things are in English instead of Russian, German, etc. is because Bell is bilingual. Adler even says that's why he's/she's/or whatever's on the team

One thing of note is that during the Vietnam war. Many surplus weapons from WW2 were used. Including the Kar98ks and the Mosin Nagant.

Even with the historical flaws, I still think this campaign is among the best in the series. Great video!

I'm surprised you never brought up the T-72, which has over 30 issues in itself. Some more blatant ones being the exhaust being on the wrong side, the IR spotlight just being a regular lamp, the gun missing its distinctive red primer, the ERA being anachronistic and also being placed above handles which would not have been equipped at the same time, the roof MG which is just completely wrong, and the crew for some reason having a bunch of extra magazines strapped to them and their uniforms just being wrong in basically every way. It's worse than the Vanguard Stuka, especially so considering how well documented different T-72 models are.

The part regarding the MG42 does actually have some accuracy to it. As the Soviets were supplying the Viet Cong, they would quite often receive shipments of WW2-era weapons. There are a few photos of weapons such as MP40’s and STG44’s in the hands of the Viet Cong and US troops fielding like-captured equipment. As for the topic of the MG42 specifically, I am not entirely sure. It’s not entirely impossible.

One thing that bothered me in Cold War. The M16A1’s have 30 rounds in them, the standard capacity magazines at the time were 20, 30’s were really only more widely used in the later years of the war but were finicky at best

I nearly winded myself laughing when I saw you named Bell War Crimes 🤣🤣

11:29 It is not entirely incorrect for a soviet to have a 1911 as they had a surplus of them after WWII however it is highly unlikely

19:30 just a minor thing - the car is not Lada, it’s Gaz-24, which was produced from 1968 until 1986

25:25 I believe the grenade launcher is actually the hawk mm1 grenade launcher (this gun also made an appearance in Black Ops 2) which was produced during the 1970s, and did see full production, so I think that it shouldn't count as a sin

16:48 rip Mikael Gorbachev

In regards to the 7 years wait to get a car, Regan actually made a joke about it.

Actually, ghost stations where the West Berlin U-barn went under East Berlin were very much a thing. It was just a product of how the underground was designed. There were guards at the unused stops, but it’s not a particularly far-fetched plot point for a spy thriller like this

The great one has returned

8:12 That machine gun may actually be the M53, the yogoslavian rip-off of the german MG42. It was extensively used from the 1950s by the yugoslavian army, and it was also later exported to some countries of the soviet eastern bloc. So even though it is unlikely to be used in the vietnam war, it is not *that* unrealistic.

12:31 yes there were explosive rounds for the 12.7mm. The type were known as "Immediate action incendiary"

10:07 Considering the mission takes place in East Germany, it's possible that the enemies are supplied, at least in part, by Diestenheit IX (I hope I spelled that right), who did absolutely have HK weapons, namely HK33's, 53's, MP5A3's, some MP5SD's, MP5K's, and even some G3SG1 or PSG1 rifles, dating back to the 80's at the very latest, but some information points more towards them obtaining the equipment in the late 70's. They technically used some ruses and proxies to broker the deal, but HK, by some reports, quickly found out it was the East Germans while continuing to sell to them.

20:07 This one hits close to home because I actually own one of these guns. The shotgun in question is not a Stevens 770, rather it’s an Ithaca 37. This can be seen most clearly through the fact it does not have a side ejection port and rather ejects from the bottom

I swear bro probably corrected the history teacher every single day

23:30 Actually the training complex in Ukraine did exist, but it was a radar complex, not the training grounds with a top secret data.

i love how like a 3rd of these inaccuracys would've made some sense if the game took place maybe 2-3 years later

11:55 It is a fact that when you play as bell (a Soviet) it's gonna transfer it english to read. Your reading the documents as bell but seeing it as you. Also if you notice bell or any Russian in. The cutscenes are the only one reading from those terminals

21:45 at least Ireland didn’t get nuked

Infinity Ward should hire this guy as a historical fact-checker to make sure mistakes like these do not happen

Thank you for doing this, this has been a wonderful history lesson

I think the most unrealistic part of this game is the fact they think the Red Army hasn’t invented the AK74 yet

Considering you mentioned the UH-1 earlier in the video, I'm surprised you missed the landing skids on the helicopter in the cutscene for the last mission were instead replaced with some sort of Seahawk style landing gear.

As a history enthusiast, it makes me dissappointed to see a video game that takes place in the 1980s during the Cold War, and yet we don't have any missions that were set in real life conflicts happened back then. Imagine having some missions where Mason, Woods, or Adler were doing a secret operations during South African Border War, Mozambican Civil War, Nicaraguan Revolution, Invasion of Grenada, The Troubles, Eritrean War of Independence, Iran-Iraq War, or Lebanese Civil War. Even better, the CIA were ACTUALLY involved in some of those wars in real life! Making the slogan "Know Your History" at 28:05 more misleading and it's a big missed opportunity from Treyarch. Also by looking at insane amounts of inaccuracies in the video, it's a proof that portrayal of Cold War here was too exaggerated, fictionalized and stereotypical. They didn't even try to make the storyline as dark as BO1, and every random crap they put in both campaign & warzone has nothing to do with real events.

I wonder if the historical inaccuracies are due to the development cycle of this game, not only having to jury rig the plot to fit into the Black Ops timeline between BO1 and BO2, but also having to add in weapons and attachments in order for them to work in Warzone. I like the campaign, but that's mostly because of its more open ended design compared to MW2019.

I can feel how much effort you put in this video. Very good video Frosty1. (Btw CoD : WW2, WaW, 2, 1 Inaccuracies is kinda interesting too. You might wanna do that.)

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that is actually a Hawk MM1 40mm grenade launcher at 25:24 which I believe was in service in the 1980s. And yes I know the magazine size is incredibly unrealistic

8:07 There were no mention of the vietcongs using MG42s. However among the many WW2 weapons used by the Vietcongs (MP40, PPSH, STG44 etc) the MG34 was one of them. During the Indochina War, the French Foreign Legion had brought a number of ex-Wehrmacht MG-34s into Vietnam, and some of the communist examples could have been leftovers from that conflict.

5:21 In the first game it is confirmed that Dragovich and Kravchenko did in fact try to brainwash Mason into killing JFK, but ultimately failed as Reznov sabotaged the process. 11:12 The presence of some of these Western weapons at the site is because it's a training course modeled after a stereotypical American city, made for Spetsnaz who were supposed to operate in America.

The VC were given massive stockpiles of captured WW2 surplus from the soviets, so the MG42 is very accurate. The VC actually liked using them to shoot at helicopters. Also the training center could have the US or NATO weapons for training purposes.

0:25 GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Here’s one you missed, the uniforms in Lubyanka are mostly Red Army uniforms when the KGB uniforms were either light blue or a darker looking version of the Red Army uniform. I’ve also seen black and grey versions but I’ve barely seen them.

Gulags were located across the whole of the USSR and while operations did cease in 1960 some remained operational for political prisoners up until 1987

16:24: The person in charge of overseeing this meeting would have been the head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov who served between 1967-1982.

as much as I like this campaign, the small details like this make it no where as close as waw and bo1 (even tho bo1 had a few inaccuracies) great stuff dude!

As for the MG42, I'm petty sure I read that the USSR sent captured German weaponry to the VC as foreign aid. I even remember seeing a picture of VC fighters carrying one in a history textbook

I like how Woods says that “no one can bring down Castro before me” when he was one of the failed assassinations

Fun fact: There was a single nuclear weapon in the history of the united states that did not require direct presidential authorisation to deploy- The Air-2A Genie Rocket was an unguided air to air rocket with a nuclear warhead that was designed to wipe out bomber formations in a single hit. It was made in the '60s, but was still in service untill the '80s

Great video so far, I haven't watched it all the way through yet. A somewhat OK explanation as to why some of the parts after you take control of "Bell" is that Alder doesn't need to remember every detail correctly, just the parts that get him the information he needs. So place names and anachronistic items can, maybe be explained. Plus, spoiler alert, bell never took part in any of the events Adler has them recall. Bell is a partner of Perseus. They are put in situations as a vehicle to remember details about where Perseus is. That or laziness. Although from what I've read up on the pps 42, the dp28 machine gun, the chicom type 50 submachine gun, which is essentially the pps42 as well as other weapons were all used in the war. From my research "MG 42, Captured by the Soviets during ww2 and provided to the VPA and the NLF as military aid" again I like the video so this isn't supposed to be an "er well actually"

To be honest, Black Ops Cold War seems to me like a vessel of fun, less of history. Like the movie master and commander, it takes historically based ideas and implements them In a fun way. I know as a consumer that sitting in a spy plane taking photos or a street would get boring real fast. Great review as always!

Actually, The Stroke by Billie Squire was released as a single, which is common to release way earlier than the album it came from so its entirely possible to have heard it on the radio in January 1981

21:01 another inaccuracy about the "AC-130" depicted in this game is that the scorestreak icon shows the AC-130 firing all 3 of its weapons at once, which it is incapable of doing. The AC-130 can only fire 2 of its weapons at once.

Here's a nitpicky one for you. The DUGA Array near Pripyat was pointed permanently directly north over the Arctic Circle (which makes sense as the first line of defense in detecting American ICBMs) rather than pointing directly west as shown in the cutscene to "activate the greenlight nukes in Europe"

in the first mission on the AKS-74u we see a C79 Elcan optical sight.. Canadian made but not introduced until 1989

One more correction is that the "Krig 6" is actually a "FN FNC" which was introduced in the late 70s. Therefor its possible for it to be there but incredibly unlikely for them to choose it over the AK/AK74 etc let alone get their hands on any.

to be fair to the game, i feel like the inaccuracies around the vietnam flashbacks could be down to the fact that the whole scenario is a lie, so things like locations being wrong and (some) equipment that was made between then and when the main game takes place less egregious - using a 2000's helicopter is still fucked tho

One minor note: in the final mission, the island is shown being bombed by, from what I can tell, F-4 Phantoms. However, assuming the aircraft were also launched from carriers, then it would've been more accurate for it to be an A-6E, A-7E, or F-14A, as by the 1980s, the Navy had begun replacing the F-4 with other aircraft.

19:17 that's like escaping the pentagon in a Nissan sedan. Ain't no way they leaving alive or it not leading to an act of war

remember if you wanna make a historical game, ask this man to review the game before you release it.

I spent way too much time trying to avoid all the inaccurate weapons while playing this game. I would be alone in a room sifting through guns while my team is raging on ahead.

You done a great job with this analysis, even with the inaccuracies and such, I enjoyed Cold War, not the greatest but not the worst (unlike what came out the year after...)

The grenade launcher in the final mission in Solovetsky seem to be also based on the MM1 Grenade Launcher - which is also seen in BO2

6:25 Gotta love it that they actually put some fotage of a very unknown tank The M50

The ussr ending with a pizza hut commercial is so funny, It’d make stalin have a second stroke LMAO

About the RC: it would consume a monstrous amount of D cells and would lose range after a couple of meters, 90's kids would know the struggle. And that'd without even taking into account the weight of the cammera and C4 block hindering it even further

Even with all inaccuracies, this still continues to be one of my favorite campaigns.

The MK ULTRA program being unsuccessful is a very controversial stance lmfao

2:05 or you know… a severe alcoholic

The Scientist named Hastings is most likely a reference to Assassin's Creed with Shaun Hastings being the smart guy

The Soviets supplied WW2 era german weapons to the Viet Minh, Viet Cong, and Vietnam as a whole. So the mg42 being used is by no means an inaccuracy, but by 1968 it would be pretty rare to see since most of those weapons were phased out by Soviet ones.

Although I agree with some of the vehicles depicted inaccurately, the reasoning as to why there had been some alterations is probably due to the fact that AM General sued Activision over the depiction/usage of Humvees in their games. Though it was thrown out, I think they started doing these little alterations just so they won't have to deal with another similar sort of lawsuit. Great video man 👍

Also in the cutscene before the truth ending, there are for some reason 2 Iowa class battleships when they should each be in their own battle groups. But the helicopters are based on the Huey with tricycle landing gear which never existed, along with the F-14 Tomcats being all types of butchered

5:11 the guy who they believe is persesus says something about how it's not one person but multiple if you do they ending where you kill adler and the rest

About the russian solider with the 1911. It is possible that a russian soldier got one after the US sold 51,000 pistols to russia during WW1. Edit: Forgotten weapons did a video on it

12:35 One thing you missed. The Enemy Vehicles you destroy here appear to be BTR-82A APCs which is anachronistic since the BTR-80 which is the vehicle the 82 is based on would not enter Soviet service until 1986 and the 82A variant would not be revealed until 2009 and only enter Russian service in 2013.

Great Video! I liked for the quality and subed for the jellies

You are getting every detail I like it some accuatal dedication on youtube