Call of Duty – Warzone Review
The Ultimate Battle Royale Experience
ENJOYABILITY
The gaming industry has been saturated with many different battle royale games over the past few years. I have played over 1000 hours of battle royale games including, Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG, Hyper Scape, and others. I find the battle royale genre exhilarating and there is nothing like being the last one standing out of hundred or more other gamers. Although I really enjoy this genre, I was getting a little bored with battle royale games. Then came Call of Duty: Warzone, and my excitement and love for the genre rose to new heights and I have tallied over 312 hours of game time.
In warzone 150 players drop into the beautiful map of Verdansk, and battle to be the last man or team standing. The map has grown to be my favorite map in the genre, with incredible attention to detail and a great number of landing spots for players. From the ambient sounds in each area, rustling of the wind, pictures on walls, posters, and many more map features, Verdansk feels real. Coupled with the crisp movement and gun play from the Call of Duty franchise and innovative features, Warzone becomes one of the most enjoyable battle royale game to date.
Warzone advances many great features from other battle royale games and creates new elements at the same time to make the game unique. Similar to other games in the genre, when players are eliminated, they are not out of the game. Warzone handles player redeployment in three innovative ways. The first is the gulag mechanic in which all players who are eliminated for the first time participate in a 1v1 gunfight match where the winner respawns. Whether a player loses their gulag or the gulag is closed, their teammates can still bring them back. When a team loses a player, they can spend the cash they have looted in the match at buy stations around the map to redeploy teammates. In other battle royale games, I would get so frustrated when I got eliminated, because the odds of coming back into the game were slim or nonexistent. Rather, In Warzone I am not as stressed when I am eliminated and can either win a 1v1 or root for or enjoy watching my teammates work to get me back in the match. Lastly, players in the match can accept a most wanted bounty that marks the player on the map, but when completed brings back all teammates. Once players are back in the game, they are not completely helpless due to the custom loadout feature, floor loot, and supply crates.
The developers have provided a variety of loot able guns, cash, equipment and tacticals throughout the map. A great aspect of the Warzone map loot system is that it is ever changing. The features loot able items in each match changes from season to season and sometimes within a season. Players can also partake in a variety of contracts to earn in game cash and loot. This adds more variety and enjoyment to the game. Once players earn $10,000, they can buy their own custom load from the buy station. Players can also wait till a free loadout drops near the end of the first circle or endgame. However, be cautious another team could be heading to their loadout at the same place.
Players will be able to edit and customize their loadouts in the warzone pre-game menus. There is a great variety of weapon attachments to choose from. Once caveat is that these attachments have to be unlocked through gameplay. For players that do not own the full modern warfare game, this process can become tedious and unfair. The developers have worked to address this in a few ways. These ways include the inclusion of the plunder game mode and mini royale mode. They also provide free multiplayer weekends which will allow free-to-play layers to level up their weapons more quickly. Although these additions do make it better for the free-to-play audience, it does not fix the advantage that modern warfare owners can have over new free-to-play players.
The grind for new free-to-play players is one of my main cons of the game, but there are other small problems as well. I have encountered some frame drops, rubberbanding, server lag, and smudging/pixelated textures when scoped in with a sniper. However, the connection problems are few and far between and usually are short lasting. The game loads in and out so fast, so if a server seems to have high ping you can leave the match and be in another one in no time at all. However, my cons of the game do not keep me from enjoying this incredible game.
Enjoyability Score: 9/10
REPLAYABILITY
As I dive into the replayability of Warzone, my goal is to determine if the enjoyability of the game remains after many hours. The fact I have tallied over 300 hundred hours of gameplay provide gamers with some indication of the games replaybility. However, I have played many games in this genre or other genres for hundreds of hours. The part that stands out with warzone is the fact I am still greatly enjoying each match and want to continue to play the game more. This is due not only to the enjoyable core gameplay, but due to the seasonal changes /additions and other gameplay changes the developers have implemented in its first five seasons.
The first few seasons of warzone were not the greatest, but were a step in the right direction. The most recent changes in season five, with the addition of the train and stadium to Verdansk, has been my favorite to date. I have had a blast landing and fighting on the train and discovering the many secrets of the stadium. Over the seasons, they have also added new contracts, guns, changed the loot able items on the map, made balancing changes, and changed the weapons in the gulag. These changes have added freshness to the game and increase the replay value. Each season has featured a new hundred tier battle pass with free and premium items for players to unlock
The battle passes usually include two new weapons that are always on the free tiers for each player. There are many other items to unlock such as new operator skins, weapon blueprints, vehicle skins, and more. One great aspect of the battle pass is that if a player purchases one battle pass, if they complete it they will be able to get the next one free with the COD points they earn in the pass. So, essentially each player will only have to pay for their first battle pass if they play enough. Although the battle pass items are far from perfect, there has been many notable character skins and finishers throughout the seasons.
Call of Duty Warzone is a game I plan to play and continue enjoy for many more hours over the next few years. I am excited to see what warzone has in store for us in the future, and I hope to see some bigger map changes in the future.
Replayability score: 9/10
WATCHABILITY
Call of Duty: Warzone has become one of the most popular games on twitch since it has released. The game has amassed a total watch time of 585,162,170 hours on twitch. The game offers fast paced gameplay and invites aggressive gameplay which makes this game fun to watch. When you combine the gameplay with entertaining and skilled content creators, viewers are in for a show. It has been incredible to watch content creators put up unreal stats in the game, stats I can dream of achieving when watching.
As of, 08/18/2020, on sullygnome.com, Warzone has averaged a total of 116,903 viewers and is ranked number five out of 25,376 total entries on twitch in regards to average viewers. It is the number four ranked game on the list behind League of Legends (185,500 average viewers), Fortnite (140,781 average viewers), and Grand Theft Auto V (122,724 average viewers).
The stats place Warzone in the top 0.019% of average viewers in the past 30 days on twitch. These numbers are incredible, and they indicate that a large majority of gamers, myself included, enjoy watching Warzone content.
Watchability score: 10/10
