The final stretch of each year is accompanied by chronic releases, and some of the best-known franchises reserve deliveries for this period, including Call of Duty.
This has been the case for over a decade with systematic launches. A new COD always comes before the holiday season, setting the stage to become one of the best choices for players.
Next year the release cycle will be halted and we won’t have a new Call of Duty. Modern Warfare 2 (2022) is the only title booked for the next two years.
3000 employees, but there is still recycling
According to Activision, there are over 3,000 employees working on the game this year, which is impressive. The beta is the first champion to know what we have in hand for the next two years. Of course, it is still subject to corrections and adjustments. The updates have been constant, a sign that they are at the top of the game and are making the necessary changes.
But let’s go to my experience with this new version. Oddly, it’s a journey to 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which inherits many of the aspects of that game, some of them negative. From the very similar graphics, the same movement, to the sound of footsteps that is at a deafening level, we now look like elephants running around the map. The decision to carry on the gaming experience of the 2019 title is a bit bitter, it denotes a lot of recycling and a bit of sloppiness in bringing to Multiplayer fans fresh news that will direct them on the right path.
What’s new in Modern Warfare 2?
In terms of novelty, we have adjustments in points relating to the tools that are made available. The advantages have been adapted / readjusted, at the beginning there are only two fixed and active ones, the third is obtained as the game progresses and the fourth is linked to our performance during the stay in the same game. Ghost is almost gone, unfortunately he is in the Perk Room. The beloved Dead Silence is part of the Field Upgrade and is obtained in the course of the game, it does not exist as a Perk. Another addition is Gunsmith 2.0, which frankly is a huge mess, a mess that takes time to understand the purpose of the change.
On the minimap there is another poisoned gift, the red dots of enemy weapon fires no longer exist (inherited from Modern Warfare 2019). The tactical reading of the clashes through the red points is not optional, a question to ask the team of 3000 employees. There is also a stunning change in weapon reloading. It is not possible to cancel the reload, as soon as we press the action the animation cannot be canceled, we can only change weapon and when we go back to the one we were reloading, the animation is there in pause mode. It is these changes that make me conclude that all that is good is removed or included through a pattern to make it as difficult as possible.
Over the years the features, be it game mechanics or the behavior and movement on the map, have been designed for greater match balance, so everyone feels good when playing Call of Duty, but that line is blocking. the perception of progression in the performance of each, largely due to the use of the SBMM which unites players with very similar stats in each match. The fun of COD multiplayer ended many years ago, Modern Warfare 2 (2022) seems to take the difficulty of finding fun to an unimaginable level.
The maps you have access to in the beta are more or less the same. Some are downright terrible, too confusing, and of an apparent logic-less dimension for the game modes that are implemented. With too many buildings and rooms, windows and doors going in and many paths to cross. Of the ones I’ve played in the beta, my favorites are Farm 18 and Mercado Las Almas, which are obviously the smallest. The Valderas Museum and the Breenbergh Hotel are almost unsightly, huge, with too many paths, buildings, holes, etc. I can’t understand this line of map making for multiplayer. Fans of this mode ask for simple things, but the producers seem to do the opposite of what is requested, offering creations that do not remind anyone.
Information on 3rd person mode
But that’s not entirely bad, we have the unexpected inclusion of a third-person mode that works better than I expected. In that perspective, there is potential. It works very well and you notice that the perception of the map is superior due to the increased peripheral vision, despite the somewhat annoying mechanism when aiming, which switches to the traditional first person mode – it is somewhat intrusive. There are also new game modes, Prisoner Rescue and Knock Out. I didn’t see any potential in these modes, they are definitely niche or even for competitive Esports events.
This is not the final version, but it looks like it is quite similar. Is this really the multiplayer experience for launch? There are many issues to be analyzed ultimately. These two years can be painful for fans of multiplayer, which I believe has been slowly dying for a few years, largely due to the factors already mentioned. The satisfaction of playing Call of Duty has disappeared, especially due to the changes imposed and outlined by paths that go towards the creation of a performance plateau. All the same and with identical results.
A lot of the questions I’ve raised come from anyone who has played Call of Duty since it first appeared way back in 2003 (there was multiplayer created by modders) and the arrival of official multiplayer was only in Call of Duty 2. These less positive observations can pass from newer players and also from those who are now arriving in your universe, who have not experienced what they have had in the past. It can appeal to the most current range of players, this is certainly the direction taken several years ago.
The beta will continue on the 22nd, in open format for PlayStation consoles and closed for Xbox and PC. It is therefore open to all from 24 to 26 September. We still have a few days to explore it further, but the core of what has been prepared for the next two years is already complete and will only be changed in the long term. It will be months of fun or a painful journey until the new title appears in 2024.
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