Call of Duty: Warzone adapts common battle royale tropes but puts its own spin on them to create a distinct entry in the genre.
The latest Call of Duty from Infinity Ward shipped without
an answer to Black Ops 4’s Blackout, but it has since been supplemented
by Warzone--a
completely standalone battle royale built off of the backbone of Modern
Warfare. Not only is it a smarter way to ensure it's not tied to each
annual release in the series, but Warzone gives the series its own
identity within the competitive genre.
It might not be
apparent at first, though, especially when you take into consideration
how much Warzone borrows from other popular battle royale games. It
incorporates a ping system similar to the one in Apex Legends, letting
you tag enemy positions, points of interest, and loot for teammates at
the press of a button (albeit mapped to a button that's harder to reach
quickly, mitigating some of its convenience). It plays out on a massive
map akin to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, where large swathes of open
land are ripe for snipers while dense suburbs make for exhilarating and
chaotic close-quarters skirmishes. And like the ones in Fortnite,
color-coded chests overflowing with loot are easy to hunt down when you
are within earshot of their signature emanating jingle.
None of these competitors are defined solely by the
elements Warzone borrows from them, and Warzone isn't defined by the sum
of their parts. Instead, Warzone uses them to establish a solid
foundation for its own distinct elements. It starts with a larger player
count than the aforementioned battle royale games, with Warzone
currently supporting up to 150 players per match, with modes for
three-person squads or solo play. Having so many players active at once
keeps you constantly on alert, but also increases the odds that you'll
at least have some action (and likely a handful of kills) each match.
This makes even some of the least successful drops feel worthwhile--even
if your entire match lasts only a handful of minutes, you'll likely get
some valuable time in with some weapons, better preparing you for
another fight in the next match.
You're likely to feel
right at home with many areas of Warzone's map, too, if you've already
been playing Modern Warfare. Many of its named areas use identical
layouts as those in Modern Warfare proper as well as previous
installments, so you can navigate them using muscle memory--and they're
intuitive enough to learn from scratch, too. Breaking up large swathes
of dangerously open fields are dense and cramped suburbs filled with
tall high-rises or mazes of storage rooms. It's easy to lose pursuers in
the twisting streets of Downtown or hide in the large industrial
factories of the Lumberyard, rewarding your memory of their respective
layouts as you turn an ambush into an opportunity to attack. Large
buildings can get frustrating with their long stairwells as loot is only
hidden on the ground and top floors, but even these force you to think
about what advantages you might reap with the extra elevation against
the disadvantages of trapping yourself in a narrow hallway to get there
first.
Warzone minimizes downtime, encouraging you to
get into a fight with an aggressively fast closing circle and
streamlined mechanics governing your loot. Unlike most other games in
the genre, Warzone doesn't task you with micro-managing items in a
limited-space backpack. Instead, you have pre-defined slots of
ammunition types, armour-plating, and cash. The rest of your loadout
works identically to a standard Modern Warfare multiplayer match--you
have two weapon slots, one lethal grenade and one utility grenade slot
each, and one slot for field equipment (perks like FMJ ammunition, recon
drones, and more).
Weapons drop with attachments
already equipped based on their overall rarity (this ranges from the
stock white drops to fully kitted-out orange ones), and there's no
option to customize them outside of what they already feature. This
makes early looting extremely quick. It's easy to find two suitable
primary weapons and stockpile some ammunition early on, which lets you
focus more on hunting other players than staying out of sight in pursuit
of attachments to your gear. It also feeds into Warzone's changes to
both an in-game economy and its principles around respawning, both of
which benefit from allowing you to go from your starting pistol to
battle-ready in a few minutes flat.
Cash is central to Warzone's spin on the genre. You earn
cash by looting it, killing other players, or completing small optional
objectives (such as hunting down another player or securing an area for a
short time). Buy stations are littered around the map, and if you have
the cash, you can spend it on useful killsteaks like UAVs, airstrikes,
and shield turrets--but also on useful gear like additional
armour-plating and self-revive kits. The most expensive purchase is a
full loadout drop, letting you airdrop in a crate and equip your squad
with their own handcrafted loadouts and perks from their own
inventories.
This is the largest twist in Warzone in
terms of its effect on the overall focus of the mode. Other battle
royales force you to make do with what you can scavenge, but Warzone
shifts that focus on collecting as much cash as you can and getting the
loadout of your choice. Despite being the most expensive purchase right
now, it's incredibly easy for a team of three players to collectively
gather enough money within the opening moments of a match to secure
their premade loadouts. It's already common to find players using
thermal scopes and the Cold-Blooded perk to combat it, but generally,
the inclusion of a loadout drop dilutes the dynamism of matches by
making loot count for a lot less. It's no longer a scrappy rush to try
and equip yourself with what you can find, but a brief interlude before
hunting other players with weapons you've specifically chosen for
Warzone and its structure.
I found more fun in matches
where I was playing on the edge, forced to make do with average-rated
weapons with poor scopes that forced me to pick my battles wisely.
There's opportunity for this not only at the start of a Warzone match,
but throughout one, too, thanks to a liberal respawn system that
frequently feeds you back into the game. When you're killed for the
first time, you're transported to the Gulag and forced to face off
against one other player to secure your freedom and respawn into the
match. Set in a cramped shower room in a derelict prison, these bouts
are quick and messy, rewarding fast reflexes and pinpoint aim. It feels
great to earn your place back in a match after a disappointing death,
but it also places you immediately on the backfoot as you're spawned
back in without any of your loot. This is especially challenging to
overcome when playing solo, where you can't rely on your teammates to
secure your landing or help you find new weapons with some security.
If you fail in the Gulag, or subsequently die after having
respawned, you can still be revived indefinitely by teammates at buy
stations (if you're playing with a squad, of course). There's a hefty
fee attributed to each respawn, but it's low enough to encourage your
squad to seek out your revival without giving up on it entirely once
you've gone down. It also redefines what a death means in battle royale.
Warzone doesn't let you linger after a successful skirmish, forcing you
to hurry through your opponents' dropped loot and prepare for the
possibility of retaliation. It keeps you looking over your shoulder at
all times, scanning the horizon for a vengeful scope taking aim at your
head. It's equally exhilarating to lose to a squad and deliver
retribution after a quick visit to the Gulag. Fighting back from nothing
to overcome your rivals is incredibly rewarding whether you're playing
with a team or solo, though in squads you have more opportunities to do
so.
In addition to Warzone's standard battle royale mode
is Plunder, which is far less noteworthy than the main attraction
despite being a new game mode entirely. Set on the same map and with the
same 150 players split into teams of three, Plunder shifts the
objective from survival to looting. The overall goal is to hoard as much
cash as you can, depositing your personal stashes at helicopter drop
points similar to those in The Division's Dark Zone. Squads currently
leading the standings are marked on the map, giving you a clear view of
your competitors and attracting players to common areas for largely
chaotic fights. Respawns are unlimited in Plunder too; dying only
penalizes you by resetting your carried cash and forcing you to sit
through a lengthy respawn timer.
Plunder is sound mechanically, but it's simply unexciting.
The matches take far too long, limited to either 30 minutes or until a
squad has collectively banked $1 million. For the most part the majority
of players are centralized on one part of the map, all fighting over
the same pool of money in firefights where bullets are coming from every
direction. Even though rattle royale lacks a strict structure, its
closing circle does move players in a common direction, which forces
dynamic skirmishes that can lead to exciting and unexpected gameplay
stories. Plunder's static nature lacks the same excitement.
Warzone
is a great sophomore attempt at a battle royale from Call of Duty,
which finally manages to carve out its own identity with interesting
spins on the existing formula. Its subversion of death and the
nail-biting Gulag duels give you more ways to stay in a match, while
also forcing you to be aware of your surroundings even after wiping a
rival squad. Its looting is streamlined enough to make early moments
feel fast, but Warzone also loses some of the messy magic from hobbled
together loadouts by letting you drop in prebuilt ones far too easily
and frequently. Still, if you're comfortable with Call of Duty's latest
iteration of multiplayer antics and thrive in the stressful setting of
battle royales, Warzone is a strong contender for your attention.
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