Call of Duty: Warzone has finally been revealed and released to the public. This is a major change in the way publisher Activision does things. Releasing a Battle Royale game isn’t a big deal, but releasing a Call of Duty BR game for free, that’s a pretty big deal in itself. You don’t PS Plus to play it online either. Warzone is a separate game from Modern Warfare, so you don’t need to pay to play it. It does correlate with the full MW title such as unlocks and xp. If you have the full game, you’ll level up extremely fast depending on what you do and how well you play.   So, Warzone consists of two game modes. Battle Royale and Plunder. We will start with Battle Royale in this two part basics review. I’ll drop info on plunder in part 2. BR holds up to 150 players with squads of 3. The last squad standing is the winner of the match and it is considered quite a feat. However, there is a lot more than meets the eye in this BR mode. Lets dig in.    When you first drop into the match, you start off with 2 pieces of armor and can wear up to 3, while holding 5 spares to repair damaged armor plates. Everyone has the same advantage with equal armor. Find plates around the map and don’t forget to repair them as needed. You can also collect cash and buy a 5 plate bundle at stores around the map as well.  Armor aside, you also start off with a pistol to protect yourself, but the world is packed with plenty of other weapons to pick up and you’re definitely going to want to do that. You will see common weapons with no attachments laying around just about everywhere you go. If that’s what you see, grab it. There are much better weapons on the field, so be sure to keep your eye out for them when scavenging buildings and crates.      On top of looting weapons, you get a personal loadout that you created before the match. These personal loadouts can be a major game changer if you pick one up. Your perks from your class become activated and you’ll gain an advantage overall. For instance, I don’t use High Alert in multiplayer, but I use it in BR, because if someone sees and they’re out of my view, the screen flashes yellow to let me know I’m in someone’s sights. It has saved me from several deaths and I highly recommend trying that perk.    Collecting cash is more important than you might think. There are a lot of vendors (stores) to purchase extra items from. You can grab a scorestreak, a self revive kit, a decent amount of things, but there is also one particular item that is incredibly useful… If a teammate has died, you can buy them back into the match. That can be pretty useful, but hopefully, you won’t … Read More

Call of Duty 2019 Could be a PS5 Launch Title

To facilitate a yearly release for the Call of Duty franchise, Activision constantly has three studios working on their own entries in the series. You have Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch all working on COD, while other studios owned by Activision also pitch in where needed. Since we know there will most likely be a Call of Duty release in 2019, new rumors are pointing to it being a next-generation title, namely a PS5 game. Beyond some speculation, we also have a job posting that points to this being a distinct possibility. It’s not airtight, but we’ll get to that shortly. New Job Posting Suggests Call of Duty 2019 Could be a PS5 Title The 2018 Call of Duty release is Black Ops 4, or as they write it “IIII.” No, I don’t like it either, although I’m told it’s supposed to be tally marks. The most controversial aspect of this release is the sudden lack of a single player campaign. Now, Activision will tell you this was purposeful, to make room for more zombies, more multiplayer, and of course, battle royale. While that excuse has made more than a few gamers angry (myself included as I think Black Ops has one of the strongest COD narratives), it could also be a result of extra team members being dedicated to the franchise’s PS5 debut. Think about it, they suddenly cut out a mainstay feature and blame it on a fad like battle royale? It’s a little flimsy, but a greater focus on the next-gen COD title would make a lot more sense. Now, this is just speculation on my part, but we also have some hard evidence to take a look at: What we have here is a screenshot of a job posting with Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward. This is a post looking for a Narrative Scripter, but things get really interesting when we read the job description: ”Come work with the game industry’s brightest on a new, exciting, unannounced title for multiple next-gen platforms.” It may be unannounced, but pigs will fly with jetpacks powered by sentient toasters before Infinity Ward makes anything but a Call of Duty title. Diving deeper into the job posting, there are a few more clues that point to this rumor being a possibility. Specifically, the job asks for someone who has a broad understanding of both single and multiplayer design, along with a passion for First Person Shooter (FPS) games. It also asks for someone who can handle dialogue pacing, and cinematic implementations of vocal performances, something you wouldn’t need for multiplayer. That tells us that this is indeed a shooter and that it has a single/multiplayer mode. At the very least, this means that Black Ops 4 lacking a single player is probably a fluke, but if this rumor is true, it would lend credence to my theory that the campaign was cut to make room for people to work on this next-gen title. Now, I know what you’re … Read More

Call of Duty? More Like Call of Destiny: The Future of FPS

First person shooters, abbreviated as FPS, is a genre that has taken over gaming. The biggest franchises are all presented through the eyes of the protagonist. Whether it’s fighting a future war, or waging and old one, this genre represents billions of dollars for the industry each and every year. That being said, it’s clear that gamers are starting to get fatigued. The latest Call of Duty trailer has the most dislikes of any trailer ever, while the Battlefield 1 trailer has the most. What does this mean? What’s the future of FPS games? Time to find out! The State of the Union These days, if you walk into a video game store, you’re going to find more varieties of first person shooters then flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Several of them have annual releases, and others spend several years incubating before they are released. Among all of these shooters, competitive online multiplayer represents one of the biggest motivations for gamers to pick up a copy. Personally I play for story, not for keeps, but to each their own. I can’t deny the popularity of multiplayer in today’s FPS games. Take Blizzard’s new IP Overwatch. This game is a team-based competitive shooter. No campaign, no storyline (except for one told through videos outside the game). All of this, and people eat it up like it’s made of gold. There’s no denying the popularity of it. Some games have taken this to the next level. Destiny, for example, is a hybrid MMO-shooter that is always online and always getting new updates, events, and expansions. The publisher, Activision, wants the game to last ten years and plans to keep it updated all the while. While not first person, Ubisoft’s The Division is another game that has blurred the line between a massively multiplayer game and a shooter. While these are in the minority now, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that more shooters will take this hybrid approach and keep people online with their friends throughout the experience. The FPS genre is in a state of experimentation right now. It’s unsure of where to go next, so it’s dipping toes into all kinds of new ventures. Some work better than others, but it’s clear that innovation is in order. I could be something as simple as a setting change (looking at you Battlefield 1, WWI certainly is a change of pace). Or, it could be a move towards more integrated, massively multiplayer experiences. Throw in the rise of virtual reality, and you have the recipe for change. New mechanics and cool settings aside, where is all of this going? It’s time to look at the paths that the first person shooter genre could take. Where Do We Go From Here? 3 Ways FPS Games Could Change Forever I’m no time traveler, but I see a few ways this can all go down. When it comes time for the PS5, what will the average FPS look like? How will it … Read More