CoD: Warzone has been on the market for over 1.5 years now and MeinMMO editor Jürgen Horn has never touched it, although he has occasionally written news about it. That should change now, and Jürgen likes the CoD battle royale better than he thought. But not in the classic BR mode.
Who has played it? Jürgen Horn is an editor at MeinMMO, enjoys playing shooters, and loves the battle royale genre. He started with PUBG and Fortnite but later got stuck with Apex Legends.
Why have I never played Warzone? When Warzone was released, I was just on parental leave and didn’t have the energy to dive into a new game. And on top of that, I never really warmed up to CoD back then.
The overly exaggerated, pathetic, patriotic macho-military setting that glorified the USA and often stood out negatively due to stereotypical portrayals of Russians and other enemy images never appealed to me.
Colorful, quirky shooters like Fortnite and especially Apex Legends appealed to me much more. Therefore, I never had the strong desire to play the game when I could just spend my limited free time in Apex and similar games.
Why am I doing it now? Since my surprisingly fun outing in CoD Cold War, I have at least enjoyed the game and gunplay enough to be more interested in CoD. And then there’s the fact that I have repeatedly written quirky news about CoD and Warzone in my job as an editor. At some point I thought to myself, “Hey, since you write so much about it, you should maybe play it properly too!”
So I did, and many hours later (Hey, why is it so large?!) I can finally dive into the famous Warzone.
Death in the Gulag and Euphoria from Loot Luck
This is how my first round went: I start a solo battle royale round and land in the Warzone. There I get unlucky during the jump and land right in the middle of a firefight. I only have a pathetic pistol, so I have no chance when a guy from 100 meters away aims at me with an assault rifle. I shoot defiantly in his direction, and just like that, I’m eliminated.
Off to the Gulag. And as tasteless as I find the naming of this feature, it is clever for the gameplay. Because a fight for life and death for respawns fits perfectly with the setting, and I’m really looking forward to my first round in the Gulag. Just as I turn the corner, however, an enemy runs past me from the side and gives me a headshot. That’s it.
That was round 2: But alright, once is no time, and I try again. Again in solo since I don’t want to hinder innocent players with my noobiness, and I want to take a look at the game in peace.
This time I land in an area of Verdansk where no one is lurking around me at first. I also quickly find a crate that dispenses special loot with a pleasant guitar sound effect. An assault rifle of the Krig 6 type at purple quality. Wow, from various Warzone articles on MeinMMO I know, that this weapon is one of the top guns. “Yippie-Ay-Yeah, piglets, I now have an assault rifle!”
And indeed, a clueless piglet comes trampling towards me as I run into a backyard in Verdansk. I aim and a burst from the Krig tears apart my poor victim before it can even fight back.
“Wow, this weapon hits hard!” I think, and just as I reload, another reckless guy appears on the roof across from me. Since the Krig in my version has a variable zoom scope, I coolly aim and ignore the panicked suppressive fire from the opponent. Bullets are striking around me as I take aim at the enemy and pull the trigger with pleasure. Kill number 2, yeah!
I have to admit, the gunplay in Warzone is – as expected from CoD – very good, and shooting is really fun. The handling and hit feedback are great.
Therefore, I feel like I wander through Verdansk forever and manage to take down 2 more opponents while hiding in a delivery truck. Just before the end of the game, with around a dozen people left, a rogue catches me from a roof and sets me on fire.
I can hit him, but he is fully armored and ultimately takes me down. But this round was really fun, even though the map feels way too big to me and I often traveled a long way without encountering an enemy.
Let’s see what the other modes have to offer.
Other modes are more fun than classic battle royale
This is what I experienced in Armored Royale: The Armored Royale mode sounds promising. You drive around in a truck and have respawns as long as the thing stands. But my session was rather boring.
My teammates immediately drive away when I quickly go looting, and I spend the rest of the session chasing after the truck until the damn thing finally gets destroyed and I soon get shot afterwards. This mode won’t be my favorite at all, at least not with random players.
How cool was Rebirth: Finally, I try out the “Rebirth” mode. It tempts with respawns and a small map. Since Verdansk was too big for me anyway, it sounds extremely appealing.
My first round starts extremely chaotically. I land directly with opponents who are already equipped, and with my pistol I quickly become a victim. Multiple times! Because after every respawn, some enemy jerk awaits me again and blows my head off with superior firepower.
After countless deaths, I finally manage to find a decent weapon, and then it gets much more fun. I still get hit a lot, mainly because in the small map someone often intervenes in my fights uninvited and takes me down from the side. But I also deal good damage, and so it doesn’t end with just one round.
In the end, I play Warzone late into the night and mostly stick to the Rebirth mode because the action fits and I can peacefully try out different tactics and weapons.
Eventually, I have to go to bed, but one thing is certain: that was not my last round in the Warzone!
Conclusion – Warzone is now part of my game list
I have long avoided Warzone and now I almost regret it. Because the game is really a lot of fun, and even though I still prefer Apex Legends, I especially enjoy the excellent gunplay and the ideal TTK for me.
While I usually need three magazines to kill an opponent in Apex in the endgame, it’s a bit faster here, and the weapons don’t empty their magazines so quickly.
The kills I had here in Warzone were extremely satisfying, and it’s just fun to explore the ghost town of Verdansk or experience wild battles on Rebirth Island. I’m definitely curious to see how Warzone continues to develop.
Jürgen Horn
Editor at MeinMMO
By the way, one thing I didn’t notice were the cheaters that currently plague Warzone. But the developers have a plan for that, and stronger anti-cheat measures are expected to arrive in 2021.
