We’ve all seen the epic reveal trailer and we’ve all been charmed by its visual aesthetic. But does the game keep this promise? Let’s find out!
At the end of May we finally got a glimpse of what the next Call of Duty will look like and we were in for an epic surprise! Following Park protecting South-Korea against foreign powers, the trailer promised us tight and fast-paced action through Korean streets with great visual fidelity. It’s a fresh take on the classic COD formula and it’s a change of scenery to areas that haven’t really been explored before in the franchise. At least not within the center stage of the unfolding campaign. As you have guessed, I was quite excited to get my hands on the game during the BETA.
Campaign
The first weekend of the closed BETA had a rough start server-side for multiplayer, so I chose to postpone my initial thoughts for the multiplayer (so servers would be smoother and up and running), and instead I ventured into single player. To be fair, when I play any Call of Duty, I always play the campaign first anyway. I was expecting to be blown away, as the trailer promised me some fast-paced and tight gameplay. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. And frankly, I was quite disappointed in the campaign. The game opens with some great explosions that actually look decent, but the rest of the visual experience was lacking to me. We’ve been spoiled with great-looking games that finally take every ounce of our console’s power, but somehow this BETA did not blow me away with the visuals. Were they toned down for the BETA? Or is this the fidelity we should expect on base PS5? 6 years ago I reviewed Cold War, and to me it’s still one of the better-looking COD experiences on console. Maybe the choice of level for the BETA wasn’t the best either? Most of the level consisted of driving tanks towards a power plant. Hitting cars lightly would result in them spinning around in a silly way that just does not feel very realistic in terms of physics. Or maybe because this particular level was a bit slow-paced and predictable, I had too much time to actually look around noticing that the game wasn’t the prettiest?
Gameplay-wise, I wasn’t very entertained either. It was a very classic-feeling COD that was kind of predictable and felt a bit dated. Animations on jumping during the power plant escape felt like I was playing a last-gen game, in all honesty. I know this sounds very bad, and I was quite disappointed with how the campaign left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I was expecting some fast-paced action in visually impressive streets of Korea and not this very “American” classic COD level. Maybe the choice of level wasn’t the best, and I hope there are more exciting things to do in the full game, with hopefully graphical improvements as well.
Things I did like were the bullet physics, which I did notice. It’s one of the things claimed to be at the center of the new gameplay. The movement freedom is also good, but I feel earlier games already had this base and they just ramped it up a little more. But then again, it’s still nice, and you get to move fast. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t really force you to do so, as the campaign is very slow.
Multiplayer
Now this is where the fun starts!
Where the campaign left me hanging dry, the multiplayer was absolutely impeccable. Yes, I was plagued by some server issues, and yes, I had the game freeze multiple times on me. This made me move around as if all the others were frozen in time. Quite annoying, but when the servers were running well, the game was smooth and exhilarating!
I had the chance to play extensively and reach max level in the BETA so I unlocked quite some fun stuff but honestly I couldn’t care less. The game mode that was the real star of the BETA had no premade loadouts anyway!
“KILL BLOCK” is by far the best gamemode Call of Duty has ever made. The mode has an ever-changing map layout that takes 3 random pieces of well-known maps and throws them together so you’ll never play on the same map again. Every 2 rounds, the map changes, and every player has the same loadout that the game rotates as well. It’s your tight team against the others. High stakes, as you only get one life per match. It’s a combination of TDM/S&D/CTF, and I played 90% of my BETA on this game mode. It feels fresh to not have to worry about campers or people that try too hard by knowing every map by heart. The compulsory loadout also drowns out the dreaded “pay to win” factor I quite hated in the COD games as of late. It’s just a smooth, clean, skill-based multiplayer team mode that is fast-paced and combines everything good about Call of Duty multiplayer.
Visually, the multiplayer was way better than what I saw during the campaign, which again, I think is very strange to say the least. The multiplayer on the small and tight maps like “KILL BLOCK” is well rendered and looks detailed enough to feel like you’re playing the new COD game you expect it to be.
First impressions
Overall, I really enjoyed the multiplayer BETA, and I feel like “KILL BLOCK” might be the next big “esports” mode for Call of Duty, as it is purely skill-based and takes the “pay-to-win” element out of the equation. The campaign, however, left a bitter taste, and I hope I only saw a slow, visually toned-down version of what is to come. We’ll see in October.
Tested the BETA on PlayStation 5