28 October 2023 , 09:00
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After playing the Modern Warfare 3 Beta, for the first time in a long, long time, I'm finally excited about Warzone.
I'm well aware it's unlikely to ever reach the frankly insane popularity of the original Call of Duty: Warzone, which launched just before a worldwide pandemic and with one of the most iconic Call of Duty maps of all time (Verdansk), but Warzone has been in a bad place for a while and a renaissance is long overdue. There's good news though, because it might just be on the horizon.
Ahead of the launch of the latest Call of Duty title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision gave us the first details about what players can expect from Warzone's next big update during the recent COD Next event. It revealed that the battle royale title will be getting a new big map called Urzikstan that has some intentional similarities to Verdansk. Everything about the new map feels like a nostalgia trip, and that's a good thing, with dense residential areas and plenty of verticality,
But a strong map is only half the battle for Warzone, as players quickly discovered during the Warzone 2.0 Al Mazrah era, because although that map has a lot of good things going for it, the gameplay is just not tight, responsive or athletic enough to provide the fun Warzone experience we all knew and loved. But, having had a lot of fun playing the Modern Warfare 3 Beta, I'm convinced that if the new gameplay mechanics can be successfully integrated into Warzone, it could revive the game mode once and for all.
Gameplay is king
The biggest positive about the gameplay experience during the beta, by far, was the changes to movement. For what has felt like the longest time – since the changes introduced for Warzone 2.0 last November – movement in Warzone has been a huge issue, with the mechanics being implemented in a way that makes you feel that you're running through thick sludge, particularly when you're attempting to run away from another player, find some cover or rotate during gunfights.
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This movement, combined with a time-to-kill that's too short, leads to a feeling of perpetual inevitability. If the enemy sees you first, there's no way to recover and fight back, leading to short and extremely frustrating gunfights. But, that's all about to change with Modern Warfare 3.
Not only has the time-to-kill been increased from 100 to 150, but slide-cancelling and reload-cancelling are back, with faster mantling, increased tactical sprint durations, the ability to fire during and immediately after firing, and overall, much more freedom of movement. As such, my time with the Modern Warfare 3 beta was full of sustained, varied gun fights, where I was able to use movement to my advantage in a tactical way and boy, did it feel good.
With Sledgehammer Games being the development team behind Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer, and Raven Software being the devs behind Warzone, the hope is that these teams can work together to ensure these movement changes are integrated into Warzone in a positive way. From the little bits of Warzone gameplay that we saw content creators and influencers experience during COD Next, it appears that this has happened and that – combined with the introduction of the impressive-looking Uzirkstan map – has me excited about Warzone again, for the first time in a long time.
The cherry on top would, of course, would be Verdansk coming back. And, with Rebirth Island and Fortune's Keep both confirmed to be returning in 2024, plus the fact that Verdansk locations feature in the game's campaign mode, that's looking more likely than ever. Excited? You should be.