Call of Duty: Warzone: the new Battle Royale bar?

The worst-kept call-of-duty secret has been free for all players to download for a few days. Call of Duty: Warzone is Modern Warfare's Battle Royale spin-off that everyone can play for free, even if they don't have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. We plunged into the first battles, struggled to survive and were positive.

150 players fight for survival in Warzone. This is quite a house number. Especially if, like me, you have spent a lot of time with Apex Legends in the last few months, the dimensions that an Infinity Ward with Call of Duty: Warzone knocks out of your ears look huge. Teams of three head for the extensive area, which for the most part had to be used for the special operations. With the Tavorsk district and the farmland in Krovnik, maps from the ground war mode are also woven into the scene. So if you have already spent a little time with the current Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, you will be familiar with one or the other area.

After the first 15 rounds in Warzone, the game concept feels familiar on the one hand, but also has unique selling points. The sheer size of the map is well filled with the number of players. But there are also different vehicles to bridge larger distances. The realistic paint looks really good compared to the genre competition like Apex Legends or Fortnite, but does not come as sterile as dust-dry as in Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds.

Following all the rules of battle royale art

The excellent shooter feel of Modern Warfare is also ideal in practice for Battle Royale skirmishes. The TTK, the time until an enemy bites the grass with fire, is pleasantly short. There are no armored shields in Warzone that your soldier can cover. You can stuff up to three steel plates into your vest at the same time, keep five more in reserve. That’s it.

In this regard, Warzone is extremely cleansed. You don't have to look for bigger backpacks to keep your growing inventory in check. There are no attachments for weapons. Developer Infinity Ward opted for a different approach. You can find pistols, rifles, shotguns and even rocket launchers in different rarities in the area or in special chests. The rarer the weapon, the more additional attachments it has.

The loadout drops represent a special feature: special boxes in which you can choose an equipment set that you have put together beforehand. So it is worthwhile, for example, to adapt loadouts from the multiplayer or to create completely new ones for Warzone. The airstrikes from the killstreaks have also made the jump to Battle Royale mode and can be bought at special terminals, among other things, with the money collected.

Money makes the world go round

You get Moneten in different ways. Some dollar bills are scattered around or bursting out of the boxes you open. But there are also tasks that you can do in the middle of the match. So if the struggle for survival is not enough, grab a contract. Sometimes you have to take a certain point on the map, find special chests or kill a certain player. These orders definitely ensure a healthy dose of chaos and entertaining variety.

A second game mode called Plunder completely puts the focus on money making and has a bit of the Division's Dark Zone. Your task is to store as much coal as possible. If you are shot down, you will lose part of your savings, but will return to the game after a short wait. In order to secure the money permanently, you have to bring your bags full of cash to safety by helicopter. But this is only possible in certain places. You can be sure that it will be particularly hot there.

The second chance

Plunder is a nice alternative to the actual Battle Royale mode and forgives the death of your own soldier when you come back in relatively generously. But even in the struggle for survival, the developers present you with various options to celebrate a comeback after death. That would be the prison, for example. If you go at the beginning of a round, you end up in the gulag. Here another player challenges you to a duel. It is the battle for the second chance, so to speak. If you emerge victorious, freedom beckons and you can catch up with your colleagues.

But even if you lost out in one-on-one, your teammates at the terminal can buy you back into the match for $ 4,500. This contributes to a fair gaming experience, especially for beginners who have not yet had a lot of experience with the genre. At least fairer than a lot of the genre competition.

Felix in the war zone – gamble session on Call of Duty: Warzone

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare finally also has a Battle Royale mode: Warzone. Felix used this mode once.

After a week, Call of Duty: Warzone looks pretty thoughtful. Perhaps the biggest hurdle is getting familiar with the massive map. Some places are known from the other modes of Modern Warfare, but the high proportion of walk-in buildings, often multi-story, often makes Warzone a claustrophobic gaming experience. One of the 147 other players can be lurking behind every door. When you are driven by the deadly gas ring through the numerous streets with deep canyons, your heartbeat will increase tremendously.

The brutal staging is anyway the great strength of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: the massive weapons, the crashing action and the fat sound. The Battle Royale mode makes this clear in an epochal way. Above all, I'm excited to see what Infinity Ward and Activision will do with the decoupling in the future. Will Warzone be dropped like a hot potato when the next Call of Duty appears? Or do developers also provide the mode with new content? The next few months will definitely be exciting. Call of Duty: Warzone has a lot of potential.