The Three Worst Things About Call of Duty: Warzone
1) Back in the U.S.S.R.
The one thing I really enjoyed about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout mode was the awesome map. Filled with iconic Call of Duty locations, the map had a ton of variety and just looked really cool. Unfortunately, the map in Warzone is a bit bland. Sure, it includes some recognizable Call of Duty locations – but it lacks the really fun areas that were scattered around Blackout such as Nuketown, the Firing Range, the Dam, and the Asylum. The Warzone map is also quite a bit larger than the Blackout map – and while this is to accommodate an extra 50 possible players, it almost feels too big at times. Maybe as I play Warzone more and more, I’ll grow to appreciate the map – but for now, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
2) A Glitch in the System
Call of Duty: Warzone is currently classified as being in beta. This means that it’s entirely possible that the game will feature all sorts of glitches – and it does. We recently reported on one particular game-breaking bug, and I imagine more will be discovered. While it’s to be expected, it doesn’t make it any less disappointing. During my play, I encountered three particularly annoying glitches. The first involved picking up a Contract during the tutorial mission – it caused the games frame rate to drop significantly making it near impossible to play. On Twitter, other users have reported similar issues in the actual game – which would be even more annoying. The second glitch involved placing the Shield Turret killstreak. As soon as I placed it, I became trapped – I could jump and turn around, but couldn’t actually move or use the turret. Ultimately, I had to use my grenades and rocket launchers to blow up the turret, which also led to me going down. Fortunately, a teammate nearby was able to revive me. The third issue is less of a glitch and more due to hardware limitations. The map is vast, with very lengthy draw distances – but often when you’re looking into the distance, the game textures will pop in and out sporadically. This is particularly annoying when you’re looking for an enemy player and your eye keeps getting drawn to fluttering textures in the distance. I imagine there isn’t much developers will be able to do to resolve this – but hopefully it Warzone is ported to next-gen hardware, those kinds of texture pop-in issues will be eliminated.
3) Mandatory Crossplay
Mandatory crossplay is one of the things I’m most bitter about with Call of Duty: Warzone – mostly because I’m such a huge advocate for crossplay. For the unfamiliar, crossplay allows gamers on various console ecosystems to play together. While crossplay in games, especially between consoles, is relatively new – that shouldn’t stop developers from using common sense when delivering this potentially amazing feature. In Warzone’s case, this means PC players, PlayStation 4 players, and Xbox One players can all compete together. Sounds great, right? Well, unfortunately, the system does not prohibit PC players from using mouse and keyboard – and that control set up is generally far superior over controllers for aiming in first-person shooters. This gives PC players an unfair advantage from the get-go. In Warzone, crossplay isn’t optional, you must turn it on. Hopefully, developers will make some much-needed modifications to crossplay in the future. The most logical approach would be to ban mouse and keyboard players from lobbies with console players. Or at least give players the option to choose who they crossplay with, ie: console players only or everyone. Until then, those of us using controllers will have to deal with the disadvantage.
And that concludes our look at the three best and three worst things about Call of Duty: Warzone. Are you one of the millions of players currently enjoying Call of Duty: Warzone? If so, we’d love to hear what your feelings are on the various aspects of Warzone. Drop us a line in the comments below or come visit us on Twitter or Facebook. Until then, see you on the battlefield.