08/11/2021
Call of duty Vanguard
Okay so this is based on my first weekend of playtime in which I was able to get through the base 55 levels and unlock first prestige.
TLDR: Multiplayer is exceptionally fun when set to blitz mode on objective game modes such as Domination, Patrol, Hardpoint. Zombies has potential but on release is an absolute snore-fest.
So, let's talk about what is objectively bad about this game’s multiplayer and that is Zombies.
To start off let’s discuss what this Zombies mode is trying to be and what it comes out as is a weird amalgamation for outbreak and round based that doesn’t do justice to either. While not a fan of Cold War’s outbreak mode; it was innovative and fun to play on occasion. Der An fang however is not. Immediately upon loading into the map you instantly get a feeling of how devoid of content this map is. The objectives contain 3 different modes to “choose” from and they become repetitive as quickly as they speed through the rounds but lack the replay ability that a traditional round-based map has to offer due to the lack of content such as easter eggs and optional side quests. Also like in outbreak rounds flip at the completion of the objective, the problem is there’s no way to reliably farm points, with exception of the Harvest objective to get set up for how quickly the difficulty curve ramps up. You’re constantly feeling underpowered after just a few rounds, and it progressively gets worse even as you struggle to increase your own lethality. The complexity and depth of a perk system the Cold War brought and the alternative ammo types that Black Ops brought have been either removed or extremely poorly implemented. Last major gripe is there is no pausing the game even in solo mode.
Potential fixes I feel would make this game mode go from a snore-fest throwaway to one of the best is to increase the kill point value from 20pts to 100pts would make getting setup and scaling with the difficulty rise seem more congruent with each other while maintaining the fast pace that the game mode is trying to go for. Next is to implement an Easter Egg and a side quest for a map specific wonder weapon(s). Finally pack-a-punch damage needs to be buffed or 4th tier added in. This would flush out the map and make it more interactive as well as allow players the ability to scale more appropriately with the way the game scales on difficulty.
As far as what’s good/great with the game it all comes down to the multiplayer aspect. With the advent of combat pacing it allows you to better tune your experience. For example if you want a fast, chaotic multiplayer experience harking back to COD glory days of MW2 go with the blitz pace. If you want the MLG sweat fest go for tactical pacing.
All guns are viable while there is a couple that stand out above the rest. You don’t necessarily feel disadvantaged for using off meta guns or goofy attachments. They didn’t reinvent the wheel here, they just perfected it by keeping true to the formula that we as fans have come to love. The skill based matchmaking is still present unfortunately but with blitz mode and his higher player counts the overall effect of SBMM is lessened to a great degree which is why I recommend playing in the pacing mode. Another good thing about the multiplayer is the depth of gun customization. With MW19 bringing in gunsmith to the franchise it was a breath of fresh air and Vanguard has continued this for the game. The challenges are not overwhelmingly difficult like some of the ones in Cold War but they are definitely very grind oriented so there’s that.
So that’s my review after my first weekend playing Vanguard.
