I’ll get things out of the way immediately and state that I have yet to get hands-on with Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. If you’re an Xbox gamer, you’ll have to wait your turn until this coming weekend. That’s right, PlayStation players get to play the BETA first, yet Jim Ryan and Sony are persistent in complaining about the acquisition of Activision on the Microsoft end. This article isn’t going to be about that ongoing debate, but more of what we can expect from the next title in the behemoth franchise that is Call of Duty. Modern Warfare 2019 took the world by storm and was the most solid entry to the series in a long while, bringing with this the popularity of Warzone which dropped in the midst of a global pandemic when a lot of the world was sitting at home, and you had a killer game!
Will Modern Warfare II follow on from the huge success of the last instalment or will there be too much change? The hardcore community can be extremely critical if these development teams drop the ball with anything.
When Can I Play It?
If you’re on Playstation it’s likely you had early access or open entry to the BETA over the last weekend. This was an exclusive test for Playstation 4|5 gamers. If you have pre-ordered the game, you can start playing on Xbox from 22nd September 2022 through to 26th September 2022. Those who haven’t pre-ordered the game can try it out from 24th September 2022 to 26th September 2022 across Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4|5 and Windows PC. The door slams shut after this BETA period and the full release will be on 28th October 2022 across the world.
Play The Campaign A Week Early!
There is every reason to pre-order this time around as not only do you get BETA access, you’ll also get the campaign a week early. Starting on 20th October 2022, you’ll be able to play the full story a week before diving into some intense multiplayer action. If this campaign is anything like MW2019 then we should be in for a treat, and this will give players a chance to give it their full attention before playing with friends and opponents online.
The Big Multiplayer Reveal
At the Call of Duty NEXT event, we saw over 200 content creators across the world get the very first glimpse of not only the multiplayer aspects of the game but also Warzone 2.0, the new DMZ game mode and Warzone for mobile devices. There was an awful lot showcased throughout a 5-hour+ show. By far the most impressive was the introduction and enhancement of swimming and aquatic combat allowing players to get wet and wild. You’ll now be able to hang from ledges, slide or dolphin dive to the floor which now allows for more spontaneous movement with a new layer of freedom both on the ground and traversing buildings.
New weapons, perks, gadgets and vehicles along with fresh maps are all expected to land with some already covered and spoken about. Brand spanking new modes are incoming as well with the re-introduction of a 3rd person perspective playlist. Knockout and Prisoner Rescue were showcased bringing intensity to some round-based combat, Ground War also looked pretty amazing with some AI thrown into the mix.
Spec Ops Returns & All New Raids
The popular co-operative experience is said to be returning and thankfully this time it isn’t exclusive to Playstation for 12 whole months. We also hear that raids are coming to Call of Duty and whilst information on this is pretty scarce, I’d imagine it will have the intensity and inspiration from other popular games such as Destiny and The Division. Infinity Ward and the supporting development teams are going hell for leather bringing a banquet of content to suit and cater for all types of gamers this time around.
Call Of Duty Warzone 2.0
Warzone absolutely blew up in 2020 with over 100 million unique players diving in and giving it a try. Being able to hook up with your mates across platforms and dive into large-scale battle royale matches was spectacular. It perhaps got a lot more attention as a lot couldn’t work due to COVID-19 and spent more time locked behind closed doors. It came with perfect timing and borrowed the best features from a lot of other BR games such as PUBG, Fortnite and Apex Legends. I poured over 700 hours into Verdansk in a short period of 6 months with over 1300 matches played before I was well and truly burnt out.
What ruined the experience for me on Xbox was the fact that you couldn’t switch off cross-play with PC players. There was a foul taste as hackers and cheaters were exploiting the fun for all with aimbots and software that no one could compete with. It remains to be seen how this fresh outing will fare and whether protocols have been put in place to prevent cheating from the PC side of the fence. JUST LET US TURN OFF CROSS-PLAY! I beg you Activision and Infinity Ward.
What’s New For Warzone?
Rather than me explaining everything, below is a list of just some of the new updates and changes for Warzone 2.0 as extracted from Xbox Wire.
Prepare to deploy to Al Mazrah, the large and meticulously crafted new map launching with Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 as part of Modern Warfare II Season One.
New Modes of Transportation: In addition to utilizing the new swimming mechanic, you’ll also have the chance to take the controls of over a dozen unique vehicles. Occupy gas stations and seek out gas canisters to keep your fuel reserves topped up.
The Shop: An enhanced Buy Station that allows you to buy back squadmates; purchase gear like Gas Masks, Killstreaks, and Armor; and buy and upgrade weapons. You can also sell valuable loot for Cash.
Circle Collapse: A storm gradually envelops the Al Mazrah landscape. Expect variations to the traditional collapse, such as weather pattern anomalies that split the safe zone into multiple areas before reconverging into a single safe zone.
The Gulag: Starting with just your fists, loot, and battle in a 2v2 multilevel arena for a chance to earn reentry to the map. Alternatively, eliminate the “Jailer” and use his keys to escape.
AI Combatants and Strongholds: Test your skills by attempting to conquer a Stronghold, featuring a high density of AI combatants ready to defend the loot within.
DMZ: Compete in a new sandbox experience launching alongside Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. Stay tuned for more info.
Warzone 2.0 has been scheduled for a November 16th 2022 release.
Gunsmith 2.0
Gunsmith has been overhauled in Modern Warfare II, giving the player even more flexibility and customisation options when it comes to putting weapons together. With a clean and crisp new interface, it’ll give players more simplistic options and news dropped that certain attachments only have to be unlocked once to be used across a family of weaponry. This should mean less grinding and more fighting!
Final Thoughts
For me personally, Call of Duty is a series that I really became fatigued with. Having played the series from the very beginning, it became apparent after the eruption of Call of Duty 4 that we would see a release each and every year. After the success of Black Ops 1, there were some very mediocre entries with the same rinse and repeat gameplay year after year. There was something special about Modern Warfare 2019, it recaptured the elements of what made the original MW games so fantastic. This has me excited to endure another year of pretty much the same albeit some of the MWII stuff reimagined.
With Cold War being fairly decent and Vanguard being a little meh, I think the world is ready for another Infinity Ward-bred title. There is one concern for me though and this is with the core game outside of Warzone. With Activision now demanding £69.99 for the base game which caters for the campaign and multiplayer with possibly DMZ/Spec Ops, those wanting just that Warzone experience will not invest.
Sure, some will only pick Call of Duty for its story, or just the MP maps and modes but it seems a steep entry fee when you can consume yourself in the same engine and gameplay for free come November 16th. This begs the question, should all FPS titles with battle passes and purchasable cosmetics be free to play now? In my opinion, it’s a yes. I’m locked in and have purchased Call of Duty MWII though, see you on the ground.