It’s the moment many have been waiting for when it comes to Call Of Duty. Whilst those who dipped their hand in their wallet have had access to the core Campaign and Multiplayer for a fair few weeks now, we have had to ensure an agonising wait for Season One which comes complete with Warzone 2.0 and DMZ. Now I am writing with a reserved mindset, as a former inexperienced me decided to score the original outing in 2020 a perfect ten because I thought it was the best thing ever when it arrived.

Soon after my review, it was apparent that flaws started to appear when it came to a minority of the PC community accessing the servers with software allowing them to cheat. Sadly, on the Xbox platform, we have never been able to properly turn off the cross-play option on Warzone and have had to just grin and bear it. Here I’ll be sharing what is new, my thoughts and where I think improvements can be made in Warzone 2.0.

Introduction

I have to admit that I properly burnt out on the original Warzone after around six months. There were several factors for this, and the main reason was due to the hacking and cheating galore. Bring with this the fact the world was on lockdown and I spent hundreds of hours hammering the same map over and over, I just rinsed it. I didn’t like the fact that the development team kept rotating the modes weekly and whilst this did keep the game fresh for some, if there was a mode you enjoyed then your time with it was limited. With the arrival of Warzone 2.0, I am willing to give it another crack of the whip and see if the team have tweaked things and learned from any mistakes.

New Warzone, New Map

Gone are Verdansk, Caldera, Rebirth Island and Fortunes Keep and in comes Al Mazrah. Here lies a huge playground with 18 points of interest and plenty of the multiplayer maps we all know, and love and the new ones carefully knitted into the entire map. You may notice these subsections from playing the multiplayer portion of the game. Integrated into Al Mazrah are Al Bagra Fortress, Embassy, Zarqwa Hydroelectric, Taraq, Sariff Bay and Sa’id. You may recognise several nods to the past Modern Warfare games as I have already spotted Terminal and Shipment blended into this fresh playground. This map is built from the ground up and Warzone 2.0 is free to play for everyone on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4|5 and Windows PC.

Custom Loadouts Are Harder To Obtain

If you played Warzone previously then you’ll know it didn’t take a great deal of effort to get the funds together between a squad of you to call in a loadout drop or rush towards one during the game that was dropped purposefully for you. Things are slightly more balanced here and depending on your playstyle, it may take a little longer or require a bit more work to get the guns you truly want your hands on.

Buy A Primary Weapon From The Shop

The in-game shops are back and become a beneficial tool for how the rest of the game plays out for you or your squad. You can of course buy the usual jazz here, armour plates, UAV and more, but stock can be limited. At the time of writing, it is not possible to purchase an entire loadout drop from the store, but you can purchase one of your prebuilt primary weapons for personal use.

Random Loadout Drops

The previous Warzone did have loadout drops not long after the game commenced which would always come in close proximity for you or your team. This time around the mid-game portion there will be several dropped across the Al Mazrah. The difference here is that they are limited, and any team can rush in and obtain them. Expect to be looking over your shoulder and firefights if you go in for the prize though.

Fight AI At The Strongholds

Strongholds are areas of the map that are under AI guard and infiltrating these sections can be lucrative if you can get in and out alive. Stock up on loot, cash and if you clear the area, you’ll be able to get an entire loadout, perks and all.

Fill Up Your Shiny New Backpack

Backpacks are a new addition and whilst I think they were originally intended for the DMZ game mode; they are part and parcel of Warzone 2.0. Picking up a medium or large backpack will give you extra slots to store more gear, carry more ammunition, armour plates, tactical stuff and even killstreaks. This is the perfect opportunity to extend your survival rate or share with teammates when they are low on personal stock.

New Gulag

The gulag is something that makes Warzone so unique. The ability to come back after death is always a 50/50 gamble and you know the gunfight is always like treading on eggshells. Personally, I don’t like the new approach to the gulag this time around since it pits you in a 2v2 battle. This means you are almost always dependent on your partner to perform well, or you’ll be left alone with two to kill. If you’re lucky enough and die at the same time in the Warzone experience as a team member, then you may pair up in the gulag. If not though, you’ll be in a duo with a random person and you’ll both need to kill the opposing two players or collaborate to take down a juggernaut where you’ll all return to the action.

Circle Collapse Can Be Spontaneous 

You’ll need to constantly and consistently approach the circle collapse with caution. Not only do the yellow fumes appear to be much more punishing late into the game, but there can also be multiple circles. Three circles can branch off separately and merge together as the game progresses, this encourages more players and squads to merge together temporarily for more intense firefights throughout the match. The final circle also can shift quite quickly discouraging camping tactics, so always try to be well-equipped for a close-range encounter.

Interrogate Your Enemy

A new feature added this time is the ability to interrogate downed enemies who are in the last-stand position. Successfully pull this off and you’ll be able to reveal the location of their team allowing you to move in and wipe them out.

Proximity Chat Is King

Proximity chat is absolutely outstanding and can be an absolute game-changer. If you’re knocking about in-game chat, you’ll be able to hear enemy chatter if they are in your vicinity and even talk back to them. Will you buddy up with them? Have a game of cat and mouse? Trust and anxiety will all play a key part when in these moments and trust me it really does add to the atmosphere and makes for memorable moments and possibly new friendships.

Assimilation

Touching on that proximity chat, there will be playlists where you can join forces with enemy operators to form a larger squad. Currently, this is only applicable to the trio’s mode, but I am sure this will adapt over time. Again, this is based on trust but once you link with another squad you can’t kill each other.

Vehicles & Aquatic Combat

Vehicles have been given a bit of treatment also. No longer can you endlessly traverse the map in a helicopter unless you refuel it. That’s correct, all vehicles run out of fuel and can be topped up at gas stations or done manually with gas canisters. Flat tyres can be repaired by operators manually and whole vehicles can also be fixed at the gas station.

There is plenty of water in Al Mazrah and sometimes you’ll need to get a bit wet to get from A to B or to stay undercover from enemies. You’ll be able to swim underwater and engage in combat from here but be mindful that your mobility and range may be limited. You don’t want to get caught short by someone waiting on the shoreline.

Third-Person Playlists Enter Warzone 2.0

One thing I wasn’t expecting was a third-person playlist in Warzone 2.0 and honestly, it is a welcome addition. I actually really enjoy dipping into the third-person modes on multiplayer now and again for a bit of a fresh change, so it will be a great extra bonus for Warzone. Unfortunately, there is only a trios mode for this at present and I hope they add the option for solos, duos and quads soon.

In Conclusion

It is early days for Warzone 2.0 and I imagine this early phase will be all about listening to the community and engaging in their feedback. I do have some things I’d love to see changed or altered over time, but the gameplay loop is absolutely perfect for me. It feels less about players constantly rushing for loadouts and more about fighting with a mixture of what you can find on the ground. Al Mazrah is simply a beautiful map design with a mixture of urban and open areas with really interesting points of interest to explore. The addition of proximity chat gives players another layer of intensity to an already exhilarating gameplay loop and it is a welcome addition.

Personally, I’d like to see the gulag changed back to a 1v1 encounter especially when it comes to the solo playlist or maybe some different combinations to mix things up. Looting can be a little fiddly when it comes to rifling through dropped gear, often things can glitch when swapping out weapons to the point you can’t pick up your original weapon if you made a mistake with weapon switching. Cash can be extremely hard to come by in certain areas of the map so perhaps raising $100 stacks to $500 may be a help.

I’m almost certain we will see some experimentation when it comes to modes and more, however, I don’t think they should steer too far from this gameplay loop now. One thing that still angers me is the fact that Xbox users still can’t switch off cross-play and it frustrates me massively. As for the overall experience though, Warzone 2.0 is much better than the original 2020 outing and I hope to see any niggles ironed out over the next few weeks.