Months beforeCall of Duty: Modern Warfareeven hit store shelves, rumors were swirling that the game would feature a battle royale mode. Despite this, Activision remained tight-lipped about any kind of battle royale forModern Warfare, not officially confirming its existence until a day before it was launched. The recently releasedCall of Duty: Warzonewas one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming, but it’s turned out to be one of the year’s best surprises.
Similarly to howApex Legendssurprise-launched in 2019 to rave reviews,Call of Duty: Warzonehas come out of nowhere and taken the battle royale genre by storm.Warzone’s player population continues to grow exponentially each week, with the game being a top choice for streamers, fans of the genre, and evenCall of Dutyenthusiasts who haven’t been terribly interested in battle royales before.
Warzoneis far from the first time that theCall of Dutyfranchise has attempted a battle royale, but it’s easily its most successful attempt yet. It’s really the firstCall of Dutybattle royale that actually feels like aCall of Dutygame, whereasBlack Ops 4’s BlackoutandCall of Duty Mobile’s battle royale both play very similarly toPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Call of Duty: Warzonesets itself apart from the otherCall of Dutybattle royale attempts by introducing a number of innovations instead of just chasing the coattails of past battle royale games. The most important of which is the changes it makes to the typical battle royale loot system so that players are constantly in action instead of wrestling with cumbersome menus.
InCall of Duty: Warzone, players don’t have to waste time collecting weapon attachments or lugging around a bunch of healing items. Instead they find special weapons on theWarzonemap that come fully decked-out, and they have regenerating health with a simple armor system.Warzone’s simplified loot systemstreamlines the battle royale experience and makes it much more consistently entertaining from one moment to the next.
Another big innovationWarzonebrings to the table is the1v1 Gulag respawn system. As long as it happens within the first half of the match or so, if aWarzoneplayer dies, they are sent to the Gulag. The Gulag is a prison complex where players are able to fight an opponent in a Gunfight match for the chance to come back to life. So unlike other battle royale games where players just have to sit and watch their teammates play if they die, death inWarzonejust means entering a different kind of fight.
Of course, there will be times when players fail to win in the Gulag, but even then that doesn’t mean they’re out of the match entirely. Instead of using revive tokens like in other battle royale games,Warzonelets players revive their teammates through a cash system.Getting cash inWarzoneis of huge importance beyond just using it to revive teammates, though, as the money also allows players to purchase killstreaks, especially powerful loadouts, armor plate bundles, and more.
Cash is a big deal in the regularWarzonebattle royale mode, but it’s of even higher importance in thePlunder mode. Plunder is a unique game mode where the goal isn’t just to kill all the other players on the battle royale map, but rather to have the most cash at the end of a match. Plunder is an interesting distraction, but most players will likely stick with the standard battle royale mode most of the time.
Regardless of which mode they play,Warzoneplayers will need to make collecting cash a big part of their strategy if they want to win. Cash can be looted from theWarzonemap, but it can also be earned by completing contracts, which serve as yet another great innovationWarzonebrings to the table.
Warzonecontractssometimes require players to defend a specific point or find hidden caches of loot. Some of them put a bounty on nearby enemies, givingWarzoneplayers a general idea of where to go next to find opponents. Contracts make it soWarzoneplayers always have something to do, and so the long lulls of just running across the map like what happens in other battle royale games are far less frequent.
It helps that theWarzonemap is so dense and full of interesting locations. There isn’t a lot of wasted space on the map, and each point of interest has many interior locations to explore, loot to collect, and vehicles to commandeer for quick escapes.
At launch,Warzonehas a few different vehiclesfor players to choose from, including trucks, ATVs, and helicopters. TheWarzonehelicopters are particularly fun to use, and are often featured in some of the most action-packed and hilarious moments players will experience in the game.
In terms of pure fun factor,Call of Duty: Warzoneis hard to beat. Compared to other battle royales, it never feels like it’s wasting the player’s time, and does a great job of ensuring that players are constantly engaged in the action instead of looting or watching their friends play. But even though there is quite a great deal to praise when it comes toWarzone, there are still some issues to address.
Warzonehas some bugs and technical issues that still need to be worked out. These range from inoffensive graphical glitches to more frustrating problems, like a poison gas glitch that kills players instantly after winning a Gulag match.Call of Duty: Warzoneplayer footstepsare also basically inaudible at the time of this writing, which is especially frustrating for more dedicated players.
Warzonealso suffers from a general lack of options in terms of team size.Warzonelaunched with 3-person teams and has since added solos, but the game still lacks an option for 4-player squads, which is standard for the genre. Infinity Ward has confirmed thatWarzonewill add more team size optionsat some point in the future, but for now players are stuck playing trios and solos.
As Infinity Ward continues to add more team size options and other features toWarzone, it will likely become an even better experience. At launch,Warzoneis already one of the better, more polished battle royale games available, with a focus on intense, fast-paced action over looting and inventory management. Those that prefer the more realistic approach of games likePUBGmay find theWarzoneexperience wanting, but most people will have a ton of fun with it.
And even if someone is not completely sold onCall of Duty: Warzone, it’s worth pointing out that the game is free-to-play. It’s available throughCall of Duty: Modern Warfare, sure, but there’s also a free client that players can download across all platforms. Better yet,Warzonehas little in the way of intrusive microtransactions or in-game purchases, unlike many other free-to-play titles. Players able to purchase aBattle Pass(that’s shared withModern Warfare) or cosmetics if they want, but most could play the game without thinking twice about spending any money on microtransactions.
Call of Duty: Warzoneis a top tier battle royale game and its early player numbers are reflective of that. As long as Infinity Ward is able to keep the game updated in terms of bug fixes and new content, it’s hard to see why it won’t remain one of the top battle royale games for months if not years to come.
Call of Duty: Warzoneis out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Game Rant reviewed the game on Xbox One.
Call of Duty: Warzone
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Warzone is a free-to-play battle royale game in the long-running Call of Duty series. The game has seen over 100 million active players and features several different gameplay modes.
