The call of duty war zone beta takes a vastly different approach than most another battle Royales death is often more of an inconvenience than the end top tier weapons are consistently easy to come by and skill will only get you so far when there are no more armoured plates to loot solos manage to get all of the good without very much of the bad from these trade-offs but the same cannot be
said when you squad up still the impressive 150 player count tried-and-tested arsenal for modern warfare and well-crafted massive map consistently deliver excellent firefights even if they sometimes lack these genres trademark high stakes and endless variety.
Battle Casualties
Like black Ope before it war zones for Danske Battle Royale map mashes up several familiar locations from Call of Duty’s past albeit on a much larger scale and for space this vast with a 150 player capacity war zones performance on PC impressed me as I rarely experienced frame drops or connectivity problems that feel like a triumph in this context the only technical area that gave me trouble was on the audio front, it was sometimes difficult to differentiate whether an enemy was in an adjacent room a few floors above me or right next to me.
I can hear him he’s right in front of me from an environmental standpoint I had some trouble with mantling onto ledges in certain areas and the ping system just stops working at a certain distance but for the most part, exploring for dance is a blast you’ll be hard-pressed to find an area devoid of well-crafted structures brimming with weapons supplies and cash which can be redeemed at randomly placed by stations for things like kill streaks armoured plates were weaponry and loadout drops like the name suggests the loadout your app lets you equip the guns gadgets and perks of your custom modern warfare multiplayer loadouts in the middle of a war zone match.
Managing Money
When I say middle I really mean beginning acquiring the requisite $6,000 to purchase a drop can be done within the first few minutes of a round if all three players in a squad chip in while you’ll still need to find ammo and armour else we’re using a loadout you’re up too quickly scratch two fully customized weapons and throwables off your shopping list it’s just a little too easy to make hunting for the randomly placed guns feel worth it, as a result, the stellar weapon variety that fuels another battle Royales replayability and creates exciting asymmetrical firefights isn’t really a part of war zones main mode I never jumped with joy when scoring a rare gun from a chest or slain enemy since I knew my preferred kit was only moments away if not already in
On the other hand I also didn’t see the appeal of straying away from my overkill perk or my favourite weapons from Modern Warfare’s multiplayer especially since trying something new would have effectively meant spending several hours unlocking attachments.
COD Modern Warfare Weapons
I didn’t already have being an offshoot of modern warfare every weapon in the arsenal feels sublime so it’s a shame that I wasn’t tempted to use more of them with that said loadout drops are less of an issue in solo battle rail we’re getting the necessary money is harder and the risk of calling in a conspicuous package at a hotly contested by station is more perilous the prospect of earning cash itself is at least a fun.
Mini Map
One thanks to contracts visible on the mini-map that tasks your squad with scavenging supplies capturing a zone revealing recon station were hunting a specific player these novel mini missions did a great job of breaking up the other moments and incentivizing movement warzone is teeming with new ideas taking the default squad based battle royale mode in a more casual direction than black ops 4 is blackout a large factor that contributes to this less than punishing change of pace is just how easy it is to respond after dying in what is ultimately a last-man-standing mode when you perish in battle your teammates can simply buy you back in at a buy station this can occur as many times as their wallet allows but it still feels fair since it gets harder to do as the round progresses the respawning player is marked via a red flare and most importantly it is a deliberate action that someone still in the game has to execute none of the same can be said for the Gulag the Gulag is where you go when you die for the first time not to the menu to queue for a new match but rather to the shower room of a prison to take part in a gladiatorial scrapp with another dead player for a shot at reincarnation if it sounds fun that’s because it absolutely is even better.
You Will Not Bore
While you’re waiting you can hurl stones at the current combatants or feed your incarcerated teammates real-time information about their opponent’s location that last part isn’t exactly honourable but something about the prison makes me okay with it so while the Gulag itself is a blast I’m definitely not a fan of the effect it has on the battle royale taking place outside you never really know when where or if a player has been respond via the Gulag so getting killed or even just damaged by an enemy that drops on top of you feels terrible even more so if you were the one that killed them in the first place on one occasion I died during a teamfight one my Gulag match and respawn directly over the same firefight just in time to spoil which should have been a clear to read for the opposing squad while that may have been epic from my perspective being on the receiving end of such a comeback feels utterly unfair because you’re never sure whether enemies are gone for good or just on their way back in but like loadout drops the solo mode completely screws around this problem by deploying victorious Gulag players far away from the location of their death.
I wish the default team-based mode followed suit with every responding player not just fully wiped squads I usually prefer to be aggressive in battle rails but the more I played the more I realized war zones mid to late game just doesn’t reward that behaviour which is disappointing
Different Than Other Competetive Games
Unlike blackout and apex legends which guarantee that slain players drop at least some armour war zone has no problem leaving you on death’s door after successfully eliminating multiple squads since enemies only drop what they have on them and you can only hold five armoured plates in reserve three of which are needed to heal back the full if a single encounter towards at the end of the game doesn’t yield plates you’re in big trouble, as a result, aggressive players are those forced to fight their way into the circle are punished.
HighRewards
While campers and opportunistic third parties are rewarded to hear my thoughts on plunder and the inventory check out the written review on ign.com in spite of these serious concessions to
depth made in the name of instant gratification call of duty war zones beta remains thoroughly enjoyable the battle rail formula is intact albeit some of the aspects that usually make it so exciting and replayable or muted here given how easy it is to acquire I’d love to see a reason to try something other than my modern warfare multiplayer loadout in the future and I feel that.
Vehicles
The armour plate system and gulag respawning in the squad-based mode or native revision with that said my time spent in ver Dansk was still supremely fun and I’m looking forward to seeing how warzone can build on its already strong foundation in the future for all things Call of Duty and first-person shooters keep it right here on IGN.
