So it’s happened, the eagerly awaited next instalment of Call of Duty has hit our sweaty little palms (BETA ONLY). There has been a lot of anticipation in to what the game would offer with a lot of well-seasoned gamers screaming for the good old fashioned more tactical liner war fighting that burst onto our consoles with modern warfare back in the day.
As it was only the Beta there was a limit to what was on offer and this was to be expected. The Beta first went live for all the PlayStation Fans out there, and then came live the following week on to Xbox. I first played the Beta while I was at Insomnia 61 at the NEC on the 28 Aug 17. Having only spent 2 hours playing it on the PlayStation and a full weekend on the Xbox there was some differences between the two consoles that I will come on to later.
Background:
The game has been developed by Sledgehammer games and Is set in the time of World War two.
You battle across Numerous maps around Europe and get to play as both the Allies and the Germans in the game. Some missions will have you impersonating a Nazi officer, taking part in the French Allied Campaign and even marching through the infamous D-Day Landings. It appears Call of Duty: WW2 will be no slouch when thrusting you into the heart of World War 2.
Sledgehammer Games describes the campaign as “brutal and intimate” with players taking control of a single unit of soldiers throughout the entire experience. Judging from what we’ve seen thus far, it’ll be similar in tone to Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk in terms of its depiction of realistic, tragic warfare.
BETA Game modes:
Now there were a few game modes on offer in the Beta, with the classic team death match to the new and exciting War mode. There was domination as well as mosh pit and capture the flag modes. All the game modes where very different and had pros and cons in their own way.
Domination for example was bit of a mess if I am honest. The Maps were far to small for this game mode which meaning you would always end up getting out flanked meaning the other team would spawn behind you all the time shooting you in the back and sending you in what I can only call a HULK like Rage.
Team death match was just what I was looking for, make sure that they went back to boots on the ground ensuring you had to work as a team to hold down your spawn and pick off the enemy as they advance, but be warned if you are not a full team and you have that lone Leroy Jenkins on your side the spawns will surely flip and you are DOOMED.
This now bring me on to the totally new game mode called WAR this sees you play as either the allied troops or the Germans where you have to complete 4 objectives (Capture a point, Build a bridge , Blow up an Ammo bump and stop a tank )or defend each of the objectives.
This requires you to work as a team either way and is very very intense brining new, fast paced life with a very tactical feel to Call of Duty. Kill streaks aren't awarded in this game mode which is very refreshing and you also have to build, destroy and be hold your ground a lot which adds a new dynamic to the game. We only got to play on one map in this game mode but it with other maps coming on full reralse this could be the new game mode that helps COD claim its crown back.
LOOKS & SOUNDS:
Now having played this both on the PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One s I can say it looks a lot better on the PS4 PRO but that is to be expected.. The maps themselves are pretty varied, from the frozen forest of Ardennes to the suitably wartorn bunkers, trenches and outcrops of Pointe Du Hoc. Then there’s Gibraltar, which offers the most elevation of the maps so far, with walkways and points of higher ground to keep things exciting.
However it does not seem to wow me as much as I would have hoped for a game which such pedigree and considering the consoles and PC tech specs the games developers have to play with day. Don’t get me wrong it looks good but could be better and fingers crossed when the Xbox One X comes out they have a graphics patch to boost this. The sound effects are out of this world mind you with the bullet flying past your head, to the roaring of the planes and the amazing sound of the bullet cartridge ejecting from the M1 Grand.
Divisions :
Divisions replace the class system of old and have al have a big impacted on how you play the game making it more important to balance your team ala Battlefield?
Between Infantry, Airborne, Armored, Mountain and Expeditionary Divisions, you’ll find that they’re locked to certain types of weapons and abilities. The Airborne Division, for example, wield a silencer that hides you from enemy radar when you fire your gun.
The Mountaineers can hold their breath while sniping, and the Expeditionaries carry a heavy shotgun that can be loaded with a limited amount of incendiary rounds. On top of class specific perks you can create unique characters, but the shake-up isn’t that significant at all.
Conclusion
Well it is clear to see that the wall running screamers of the world would of found this a totally different COD to what they are used to and for gamers like me it was a breath of fresh air. No more wall running jet pack jumping fanny’s to contend with just good old fashioned look down the barrel of a gun and blow some one’s head off action. You can get this of course with Battlefield but because of it only being 30 FPS and the maps are massive it can become very boring at times.
Call of Duty is very much fast paced and just what the FPS game world needed in my option. Don’t get me wrong it had a lot of faults but that is why it is only the BETA. The shot guns are so over powered with the dragon’s fire breath rounds and almost sniper like range they are a joke. The Assault rifles need more punch and the SMG need less punch at range. The hit detection over all was ok but at time it was shocking but this could just be due to the games running on BETA servers so this will become apparent in the game. Domination Maps need changing.
It would have been nice to get a hint of what Zombies might be like and a little snippet of the Campaign but all in all I am glad I have pre – ordered it and when it comes out it is going to be hard to choose between this and Star Wars Battlefront 2, so I suppose it is a good thing we have dedicated games nights in the KGK so I don’t have to choose all the time
EK KIZER.
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