World War 2 has happened so many times. In video games. You know what? I LOVE heading back to the period for my love of history. Call of Duty may not be exactly known for it's precise historical accuracy, but some of my favorite COD moments have happened in this WW2 era. Whether it was the launch of Call Of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360, or running around in the current gen versions of COD WW2, I've loved it. We have since moved a little bit forward in time, went back to the current years and even dabble in zombies.
Vanguard looks to bring us back to when the planet was erupting into chaos for the second time and I will say that I was pretty pumped about it at first.
After playing the beta, I have some doubts.
This Is No Spawn Trap
We're going to start off with what I feel should be the highest of high priorities. You see, Vanguard has a nice and vibrant world. Taking us to different locations that happened to be fought at during World War 2. The problem is, you get no time to take in these sights because you are constantly being killed. I thought maybe I was in bad lobbies with REALLY good people since I started playing the beta during the Open portion. This is not the case. You will get enemies spawning behind you, in front of you, to the side of you, INSIDE of you and everywhere in-between. This happens on the opposite end as well so it becomes a huge cluster mess of spawn/die/spawn/die.
It's worth mentioning that this IS a beta, so problems like this are being tested to (hopefully) get ironed out close to full release. As for now, it's a tarnishing experience that makes me want to keep playing Cold War rather than Vanguard. The idea of I may never get a chance to move out of my initial spawn once players get good at the game is a red flag for me.
To add to this, you also have hackers ALREADY in the beta using auto aim, seeing through walls and all the good gravy joys of that. I do understand that a anticheat will be launching alongside of Vanguard, but as for now, it's a miserable experience.
We Came To Play
All that being said, when you actually get to play Vanguard, it's pleasant. Aside from some latency and wonky hit detection, the game feels past paced and thrilling. I have noticed some extreme balancing issues in terms of even trying to get close to some one when you have a shotgun loadout as you will get killed in about .5 seconds. The TTK is incredibly quick in this iteration which I am sure will leave some players wanting to lay back a little more than to dive head first. Honestly, though, after a few matches, I found myself wanting to grab an SMG and run through hot zones to see how fast I could rack up kills. When it works, it feels great.
The killstreaks are back and this time, so are the dogs. If you hated the dog killstreak before, prepare to fall in hate all over again. They're annoying, can climb ladders and even parkour on the obstacles around the map. They don't take too much to get rid of but it seems they last an eternity. For example: In one of the 10v10 matches, I got an extermination (eliminate all enemy team members) twice in a row by just having my dogs out. It seemed a little OP for some casual like myself.
Weapons feel pretty lackluster and unusable until you start to level them up and gain attachments and such for them. The recoil control actually feels like it helps more than anything as when you first use again you are hoping to hit any sort of target in front of you at least once. When it's upgraded *chefs kiss*
Beta Modes [ON]
Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search and Destroy are here as well as the new Patrol and Champion Hill modes.
Patrol is pretty hectic and I found myself having a good time with it. You chase a moving point around the map and battle it out with your squadmates to see who can control it the longest. It's moving Hardpoint, basically. It's frantic and I dig it.
Champion Hill is the mode that was in the first Alpha where you get to go 2v2 or 3v3 in small maps and fight with your limited respawns to become the champion of the hill. It's a solid mode and I hope it gets some love throughout it's time so it doesn't become stale.
Lasting Thoughts
Call Of Duty is headed back to where I fell in love with the series. That alone is enough for the pipedream thoughts of the greatest entry to come out yet. The problem so far is that it's hindered by spawn points, bugs and balancing issues. The game is coming out in less than two months and I certainly feel that it's not enough time to really work out all the issues to have a decent launch.
If Sledgehammer can achieve this mighty task, it'll be a miracle. I am truly expecting a (all too familiar these days) rough launch with it being another few weeks after the release before it starts to get on track. Once it's there I believe that Vanguard has what it takes to keep people interested for the long run.
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