The campaign and multiplayer in general has been for a little while now and it’s difficult to be fair with the game right now. Meaning there is some content missing from the multiplayer end of things, as well as hella bugs that need squashing. I’ll tell you what I like about the game before I move onto my dislikes. One thing for sure about the campaign and MP are graphics. The graphics are pretty amazing this time around. Not to say past games didn’t have good graphics and next gen hardware (current gen?) definitely helps, but even the MP looks really good. They outdid themselves with the way this game looks. Movement and controls are solid while I’m not a fan of dolphin diving (only because I’m used to holding the circle button to slide, everything is working perfectly when it comes to my controller. I feel like the pacing (movement) is at the right spot for me. Audio has come a long way since MW 2019, but still needs a little tweaking. Sometimes the only thing you can hear is the gunfire or a V-Tol jet hovering above and while I understand that is realism, sometimes a bit too much. I have adjusted my headset and I’m game settings, but I can’t quite get it where I want it to be. Infinity Ward has already deployed a small hot patch for audio adjustments, but I think they’re probably working on further tuning it. I’m hoping, anyway. I’m pretty sure the TTK (time to kill) has decreased slightly. I find the core multiplayer player matches to be almost on par with hardcore game modes when it comes to TTK. I prefer it this way myself. I’m a pretty accurate shot and find it frustrating when I drop 4 hit markers on an enemy and they manage to turn on me and drop one into my dome for the headshot kill. 2-3 bullets is about what it takes to get a kill and I’m pretty satisfied with that. There are a handful of game modes to choose from and that includes the mode Invasion which is large scale MP against real players and AI. It’s a great mode to level up your weapons and unlock attachments and with the way things unlock in this game, it’s a good mode for using weapons you’re typically not good with it can’t stand using. It’s a little slower paced than your traditional MP matches, you can jump in and take your time or do whatever it is you’d enjoy doing the most with little pressure. All in all the multiplayer is a lot of fun and while I have never really been a fan of the campaigns myself, it’s nice to get rewarded for completing it. I will say I enjoyed how challenging the campaign was this time around. It has definitely been made to be a little more difficult than past cod titles and I thought it … Read More
Is the end of CoD on PlayStation?
There is a lot going on with the game industry right now, and if you’ve been living under a rock lately (which is actually possible), you probably already know that Microsoft is purchasing game publisher giant Activision for close to $70 billion USD. I’ll be the first to admit that I never saw this coming. I mean, I’m not usually surprised when a development studio gets purchased, but Activision? I’m still a little floored by this announcement. The biggest thing I’ve been hearing about this acquisition is concern that Call of Duty will no longer be put on PlayStation consoles. There is a lot of back and forth thinking on this topic. On the one hand, people have pointed out the loss of sales the franchise would have if it was no longer available on PlayStation. On the other hand, it would most likely help boost the number of Xbox consoles sold by Microsoft. Either way, Microsoft is going to be in control and there isn’t anything we can do about it except to speculate about the future. CoD has always been a favorite game of mine, but over the years it’s gotten to a point where many feel like the series has gone downhill. It’s really a rollercoaster ride. One year it could be a great entry and the next it could be Vanguard. It’s hard to put faith into it these days. It feels played out and used up. Hopefully, this Microsoft acquisition will improve the series, but this does sting a little. I am fortunate enough to have both a PS5 and Xbox Series X, but I always prefer my PlayStation as the go to console. It’s been said that the next three CoD titles will be on PlayStation, but I take it with a grain. We thought Starfield was still going to be on PlayStation, but it was yanked and will be an Xbox/PC exclusive. It seems strange to me that after we finally got cross-platform play on consoles, that they would take the franchise away from PlayStation players, especially since we’ve seen MLB The Show become available on Xbox consoles. All of the above said, if Microsoft does end up pulling CoD from PS consoles, I don’t think it will really matter. People won’t leave Sony over CoD. I don’t buy the PlayStation brand so I can play CoD, I buy it for the exclusive titles. Same reason I have an Xbox on the side. There are some games I want to play, but they’re only on Xbox or PC, and my PC is a potato, so there’s that. Personally, I think Microsoft will eventually make CoD a timed exclusive that will release on PlayStation consoles later on. This gives consumers motivation to purchase a new Xbox console and CoD in order to avoid waiting for it to drop on PlayStation. We might just see timed dlc exclusives like the old days (that weren’t that long ago, really) … Read More
Call Of Duty Vanguard Review Part 3: Multiplayer
Welcome to part three of the Call of Duty Vanguard review! In the final section of this review, we’re going over the most popular aspect of the CoD series… Multiplayer! We love to play it and love to hate it! At least that seems to be the ongoing trend when it comes to CoD titles. So, without further ado, let’s get started! Call of Duty’s Vanguard multiplayer variant is alright. It’s definitely not anything that stands out in the franchise. It feels rather plain and already done a bunch of times over. On the one hand, everyone seems to want the game to change, but everytime it does, people complain. On the other hand, everyone seems to get upset when it feels like another copy and paste. While it may be the best selling video game year after year, the developers just can’t seem to win us over no matter how hard they try. As far as I am concerned, Vanguard isn’t anything new and it is disappointing in the sense that this game was delayed last year and they put 4 years into this one. Granted, Sledgehammer Studios had a lot of changes in personnel including leadership, but I can’t really excuse the lack of innovation this time around. Not after 4 years. I will start you off with the good and work my way down to the bad. Keep in mind, this my opinion and it doesn’t have to line up with everyone else’s and it’s not meant to be insulting to those that thoroughly enjoy the game. Graphically, this game isn’t special on any platform. It’s obviously better looking on a PS5 versus a PS4, but not enough of a difference to really care. It’s smoother looking and all, but it may as well have been released on the PS4 and forget about current Gen platforms. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t live up to expectations. Audio is pretty good with this title. Footsteps sound much better than they have in recent years. I can tell the difference between my teammates and my enemies when playing matches and that’s pretty important to me. When I’m rushing to the other side of the map to find the enemy team, it helps to hear them coming in from any direction. I don’t use my mini map like I should, so I don’t always look up and notice the blue friendly markers. I feel like the sound of guns firing weapons and kill streaks has been brought back to a level it needs to be on. Since Modern Warfare, I thought the sound effects were too much and overpowered everything else in my headset and even though I made adjustments, it was still a bit much for me. I know I’m not alone in this opinion, but I also know there’s a good amount of players that disagree with me as well. All that being said, I’m definitely happy with the audio settings. Controls … Read More
Call of Duty Vanguard Review: Part 2 – The Campaign
Welcome back to our ongoing Call of Duty review of Vanguard. In part 2, we’re discussing the campaign! Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there still buying the game for the campaign only. I personally could care less for the campaigns, but I still play through them for principal reasons and obviously so I can complete the reviews. Moving forward, let’s discuss the storyline first. We kicked things off in 1945, during World War II. You are part of the Vanguard Task Force One and tasked with finding enemy intelligence and ultimately making sure the good guys win the war. Your team is made up of characters from the USA, Russia, England and Australia. A touch crew of misfits at that. As you play through the game, the story isn’t that great. I won’t spoil anything for you, as I try to avoid that, but I want to. I want to tell you exactly why I don’t like the sorry, but I’ll save that for a time where spoilers aren’t so much a concern anymore. Let’s just say, it’s rather mediocre and there isn’t very bonding with the characters. They are less than memorable. The graphics of the game irritate me because this game should look amazing. Unfortunately, it’s watered down and doesn’t look very next/current gen. This game was pushed back in 2020, and we got an underdeveloped version of Black Ops Cold War instead. Well, the extra year working on Vanguard didn’t help very much. Audio is definitely in good standing with me. Footsteps are where they should be and the sound effects aren’t overpowering each other like they do in Cold War and Warzone. A silenced weapon sounds silenced and you can still hear enemy and friendly footsteps over it. I typically turn the music level to zero and make other minor adjustments to fit my play style with little distraction. I use the same settings in the campaign as I do in Multiplayer. I probably shouldn’t as I’m sure I’m missing out on some things, but as I said earlier, I only play the campaign for principal and review reasons. Controls are tight and work flawlessly, but that’s definitely to be expected. Where the Call of Duty franchise falls short, one thing I can always count on is controls that aren’t clunky or wonky. Responsiveness is extremely important and Vanguard is no exception. The campaign is of course rather short. I managed to complete it in under 7 hours and that’s with looking around and taking my time to explore what I could when I could. Unfortunately, the storyline isn’t great and the campaign is easily forgettable. I just can’t imagine buying a game at full price and playing it for 7 hours and feeling like I got my money’s worth, but some do, so hopefully they’re satisfied with their purchase. All in all, I rate the Vanguard campaign a 6 out of … Read More
Call of Duty Vanguard Review: Part One
Welcome to part one of the Call of Duty Vanguard review here at PS5 Gamers! I’m breaking this down to three parts because each mode is a separate experience and some are clearly better than others. We’re going to start with the worst of the game modes. In my opinion, that would be zombies. I usually compare my Call of Duty reviews to the last 2 titles that have been released, but this has got to be the worst zombies experience in CoD history. It’s hard for me to believe this game was in development for 4 years. I have sunk a lot of hours into zombies for this review and I’m gonna straight up day it sucks! I play with friends, I play with ransoms and solo matches to boot, but it isn’t satisfying to me and many other players I have spoken with about it are in agreement with me. The graphics aren’t that great. The other two modes seem to look a little smoother and polished. I feel like zombies mode was a last minute toss in that has a less than stellar storyline. Zombies aren’t difficult to handle. They seem as dumbed downed as ever and I don’t expect my zombies to be smart, but this is just lame. A lot of times the zombies would start chasing me and then bump into each other and seem to get stuck in place. While that makes for some easy multi kills and easy points, it takes a lot of the thrill away from rounding up a large group and fighting them fairly. Moreover, even without them glitching together, the zombies are too slow and simple. Sure, reaching high level rounds makes them more aggressive, but damn it all, the mode is boring. The controls are fine and I didn’t notice much clunkiness, so I can’t complain about that. The graphics just look like trash to me. This game mode would look amazing on my PS3 back in the day and that’s pretty sad and a little frustrating. I don’t think sledgehammer makes that great of games anyway. They’ve always been ok, but nothing more than that. Audio is pretty good, so there’s little to discuss there. It’s crisp and I can hear the zombies and other sound effects very well. Keep in mind I’m using the PS5 headset with 3D audio, so it’s definitely a lot better than standard tv speakers. While the story is a prequel to the zombies from Black Ops Cold War, which was a decent experience, this one just stinks and it feels unoriginal. Maybe it’s unoriginal to me because it’s a prequel, but there wasn’t much effort put into this one. I don’t write video game scripts, but I could have done a better job than the writers did with this one. I probably won’t play anymore zombies unless a buddy begs me to help them through the higher rounds, but they’re really … Read More
Call of Duty Vanguard Reveal: our impressions
I’m going to start off by saying that if Activision allowed their developers to put as much effort into the actual games as they do the presentations, they would have the greatest games of all time. The reveal for Call of Duty Vanguard is no exception. If only the hype was truly real after release. Anyway, let’s move onto some of the tidbits we’ve learned. For starters, Activision’s name wasn’t announced during the reveal. If you’re wondering why, we’re pretty sure it’s because Activision has been in some hot water lately and they don’t want the name to burden the hype of the title. It literally opened with “Call of Duty Presents.” Since when is call of duty presenting anything? Lol. That’s fine, Activision. Just keep burying your heads as deep as possible and hope your troubles will go away. They won’t, but keep hoping. Moving on, we have learned a little bit about what’s to come. Things like reactive rooms. When I say reactive room, I mean that everything in the buildings are supposed to respond to soldiers running through, grenades going off or gun fire shredding through furniture. It’s all supposed to react like it would in real life. At least that is what I am understanding of it. Throwing a little frustration out there along with some good news, a new anti-cheat system is being deployed into Vanguard and Warzone when the game releases on November 5th. What’s nice is that this new anti-cheat system is focused on PCs and it should improve a lot of crossplay issues we’ve had in the WZ. What’s frustrating is that we will have to continue to deal with an abundance of cheating until then. Of course cheaters will always find another way around, but hopefully we’ll get a few good months of minimal BS. There is going to be an open beta for everyone to play before the game releases, but if you preorder the game you will get early access to the open beta. You’ll also get a few extra goodies if you preorder a digital version straight to the console. Don’t forget that if you want in on the early access part of the beta, you can always preorder a physical version from a retailer like Amazon, and then cancel your order if you don’t want the game or you decide to go digital. Zombies will also be joining the game this November. Treyarch will take care of the zombie development and it will be a prologue to the zombies that are currently in Black Ops Cold War. There are a lot of hard core zombie fans that aren’t interested in anything unless it was brought to them by treyarch in the first place and this doesn’t take developers sways from the base game or MP aspects, so this could be a really good move. The game will be taking up around 100 gigs of hard drive space. Maybe a little less, … Read More
Warzone Season 5 review
Another season has dropped for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone and I like to drop my thoughts on the Warzone aspect of things. Without further ado, let’s get straight to it! Now that season 5 has dropped, there’s really only one thing I’m excited for in Warzone at the moment. The world reveal of WWII: Vanguard! If you log into Warzone tomorrow (August 19th) at 10:30 am Pacific time/1:30 pm Eastern, you’ll be there to watch the world reveal of not only the next call of duty, but an idea of what’s also coming to Warzone. We saw the leaks a while back and have all pretty much accepted that the next cod is infact a WWII game so, there’s really no surprise there. It’s all about what’s going to happen tomorrow! I personally feel like it has been too long for a new map. I don’t consider the reskin of Verdansk to be a new map by any means. WWII: Vanguard will surely give us a completely new map to play on and I sure hope they announce a plan to give us updated maps often, but I’m not holding my breath. WWII: Vanguard aside, let’s talk about the current season and situation in Warzone. Along with a new battle pass loaded with the usual goodies, there have been some major weapon balances to the game. At least according to the patch notes. I can’t honestly say I see a difference in any of the weapons I’ve always played with, so you tell me if it has affected your game play. At this point with the game, we don’t really see much of anything, but sprinkles of changes to the map and what’s available on ground, but you know what we haven’t really seen at all? Numbers of cheaters dwindling down… I know a lot of people like to assume that anyone that takes them down is a hacker, but there is a problem with cheating in this game and it’s plagued like no other MP game out there. I have been watching streams and personally experiencing cheaters more and more online. I am sick of it. Gone are the days where I could rack up high kill counts and wins in traditional BR. I end up with cheaters on my team, cheaters in the enemy teams and it’s just gotten ridiculous. I know the difference between an aimbot mod and someone that legitimately took me down. I was just playing a little while ago and was killed just before the gulag closed. I spectated my killer and sure enough, this guy 40+ kills, wasn’t even trying to hide the fact he was cheating. Or she for that matter. I couldn’t honestly say, but anywho. This player would be sprinting and just suddenly turn in the opposite direction, start firing and was killing people they couldn’t even see. I watched them finish the match with a bunch of other spectators that all … Read More
Warzone: Verdansk -1984
Season 3 has dropped in Warzone and there are a lot of mixed feelings that have come along with the latest update. Granting the fact that Warzone is free to play, there a lot of people out there that will say no one should complain because it’s a free game, but let’s be honest here, many of us that do play CoD titles, sink a little bit (or a lot) of cash on microtransactions and the season pass every couple of months. As a paring consumer and video game journalist, I am more than qualified and entitled to complain. So let’s get down to it! Verdansk: 1984 is the same map with some changes. It’s springtime and the map is a lot brighter and more colorful. So much so, that when you aim down sites, it can seem like the sun glaring a bit too much in your lens and distorts the picture a little bit. Soldiers seem easier to spit out of buildings and that’s kind of nice. Of course when a player is using that good ol ‘Rose skin and hiding in a shady dark corner, it can be really difficult to see them, but that’s not anything new, just been noticing it a little more often lately. Some of the buildings we are used to seeing and even taking cover in, are under development such as the stadium. Stadium looks to be much smaller of an area than it once was and that’s not because it’s missing the dome cover. It’s missing almost everything. Not to mention the damn is completely gone and has been replaced with Summit. We’re assuming we’ll be getting a back story as to what happened to Summit and why the damn would replace its existence sometime beyond 1984, but maybe they’ll save that one for season 4? The quarry has become the salt mines and there’s definitely some things I’m missing here, but you get the picture and you’ve probably already played and seen the changes to the map, but there isn’t much more to add to the subject. So, if you felt like the Call of Duty franchise has a nasty habit of recycling maps, this one takes the cake for you. Honestly, it takes the cake for me, but I have my reasons, so hear me out. The idea that we got the same map with a paint job is irritating to me. It’s been an entire year and while they have done things to try and keep the map fresh, Verdansk: 1984 feels lazy and unoriginal. I know the pandemic hit a lot of developers hard and they have had to work from home and that separation can really put a damper on things, but we’re talking a new map after a year, not a whole new game. I don’t even really hold the developers accountable. I hold Activision’s execs accountable because these are the same people that drove Vince Zampella away from Infinity Ward … Read More