For MeinMMO author Mark Sellner, Call of Duty is not a big deal. He is more at home in other shooters and did try Warzone 1, but quickly and permanently closed it afterwards. However, that is completely different with Warzone 2 and he can hardly put the game down.
Admittedly, Call of Duty is not really my genre. At least that’s what I thought. Because at least the last two to three thousand hours I spent in shooters were more for slower games.
Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown were right at the forefront. I was also quite taken with Sniper Elite in the past. The last Call of Duty that I actively played was Modern Warfare 3 (2011). After that, I only had brief excursions into the series.
However, I have always found battle royale titles exciting and really liked the concept of permanent failure through a single death. So, I tried just about all the BRs on the market at least once.
However, I liked Warzone 1 the least. When the game came out, I fired it up immediately and took a spin, but somehow the spark was missing. I didn’t like the map, the Gulag annoyed me, and the whole thing with the self-built loadouts I found completely out of place in a battle royale.
We don’t even need to discuss the odd “Plunder” mode. Even today, I cringe every time someone says Plunder. It doesn’t happen that often, but something has definitely been imprinted there.
I started Warzone 2 involuntarily and had a fantastic time
Any attentive reader may have noticed that I am not necessarily the player type who engages in a new Call of Duty. But nostalgia, thanks to Modern Warfare 2, really got me. I bought the latest installment right at release.
In the editorial office, the topic came up that we needed a small clip from Warzone 2 for a video. I was there and had the game installed, so I offered myself up. I expected absolutely nothing and actually just wanted to film my 30-second clip and get out of Warzone 2.
But in that one match, I had so much fun that it just didn’t happen. I aimlessly walked through the much more appealing and significantly larger map of Warzone 2 and found a helicopter.
As I am an absolute fan of anything that can fly, I jumped in immediately and accidentally ignited the bright anti-air missiles. After a brief moment of euphoria, I realized that I needed to refuel my flying vehicle and landed right next to a petrol station.
What Warzone 2 does differently, you can see in our video:
When I heard gunfire, I darted for cover and had the brilliant idea: other people love helicopters just as much as I do. If I just sit in this tower and aim at my helicopter, I will surely win.
My incredibly innovative plan worked out better than I suspected, and I was able to bag 16 kills in my very first round. Although no one seemed to want to come to my helicopter, the position was well chosen.
I particularly enjoyed that thanks to the proximity chat, someone constantly let me know that he had a very good relationship with my mother when I shot at him. But I already liked proximity chat in Hunt a lot, and here it made me laugh again.
CoD hooked me and my friends
I enthusiastically told my experiences on Discord and was able to get my friends to play a few rounds in Warzone 2 with me. Together, the shooter is even more fun once you can master the entry hurdle.
As a well-rehearsed Hunt: Showdown team, there were three of us. A scenario that Warzone 2 hardly considers. In the main menu, I have the choice between solo, duo, and team of 4. For trios, there is only the “Crazy 3” or the 3rd-person mode to choose from.
After one round of 3rd-person mode, we decided to go for the Crazy 3. 3rd-person is a cool gimmick, but just not my playstyle. In the Crazy 3, you can recruit other trios and then play in a team of 6.
That sounds really cool, especially thanks to proximity chat. However, it doesn’t really want to work. In every single one of my rounds, I was just shot at without any questions being asked or attempts at recruitment. Approaches from my side were met only with gunfire – unfortunate.
Nevertheless, I am enjoying the trio mode the most so far. At least the chance of teaming up with complete strangers appeals to me greatly. Here, my Hunt: Showdown past stands out again. Even if it only feels like it happens once every 200 matches, it’s brilliant to unite with the enemy and outsmart a third team with it.
Just the chance alone makes the trio mode and proximity chat my absolute highlight of Warzone 2 and the main reason why I fell in love with the second part, while I still can’t stand the first one.
Warzone 2 is also bigger than its predecessor:
Warzone 2 does a lot right, but is not perfect
But even as someone who enjoys Warzone 2, I must say that I regularly have issues with some things. The non-permanent death in battle royale stands out for me.
The Gulag has already annoyed me in the first part. In Warzone 2, it’s again the thing that annoys me the most. When I die, I’m thrown into an arena where I then get to fight for my life in a 2 against 2.
If I win, I get to respawn, but without my previously collected equipment. That was already annoying in Warzone 1, but at least it was 1 against 1. In Warzone 2, I now have to rely on a stranger or win a 1v2. I just don’t think that’s a smart solution.
Please Warzone, let me die
Aside from that, I personally find it annoying that the Gulag even exists. It takes away a large part of the appeal of battle royale games for me when I know my death doesn’t have to be permanent.
Accordingly, I also find it unproductive for the fun of the game that even after I die and lose in the Gulag, my teammates have a workaround. Because for 4,000 in-game dollars, which you can really find at every corner, they can buy me back into the game at certain points on the map.
Sure, this is now complaining at a high level. Some might be thinking: “Is this guy really complaining that he gets to play more?” – Yes, he is. Because the possibility of returning always makes me play less tactically. Less cautiously than in an Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown. And that’s what I find unfortunate.
But I also generally am not 100% the target audience for Warzone 2. Nevertheless, I’m having a lot of fun in the battle royale shooter and I’m already looking forward to jumping over Al Mazrah with my squad many more times. And who knows, maybe I’ll come across one of you who actually wants to team up, that would be great.
