With the addition of Season 3 in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the teams at Activision have brought the troubled battle royale mode Warzone back to the forefront of the genre in what is a genuinely fun experience.
Never thought I’d ever say that again about Call of Duty battle royale after the past 3 or so years of misses, but here we are, and here is back on Verdansk, and Verdansk hits.
Positive changes
Black Ops 6 Season 3 has brought with it a fair bit of Multiplayer and Zombies content including new maps (and guns that don’t fit the 90s time period but at this point there’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so we move). But what I’m most impressed with are the changes to Warzone.
This, in my opinion, is what the original integration of Modern Warfare and Cold War should’ve been like back in 2020/21. A nice mix of old and new weapons, with most things (more or less) feeling viable in some way. There is room for improvement as I’ll discuss later, but this is a massive step in the right direction.
Audio, sniping, movement & more!
The visuals are great, but what really stood out to me straight away is the audio. Something which has almost felt bugged with how bad it’s been as of late, I feel like I can hear again. Footsteps are clear and you can tell what level enemies are at just by listening out. No more full sprinting teams catching you completely off guard because there was no audio cue. Big.
Snipers one shot to the head again. A change which I never thought would come back and I’m so happy it has, sniping is viable again (at least with the newly released HDR). The feeling of downing an unsuspecting enemy 300m away, or having a peek duel to the death in solos, is unmatched. Big.
Movement is slowed down and feels less clunky. This is a hugely positive change for me, as the fast-paced nature of Black Ops 6 just doesn’t translate well in battle royale. Slower movement means more focus on positioning and gunfights as opposed to just mindlessly sliding around. It’s also not as slow as Warzone 2.0 which featured the even slower MW2 (2022) weapons, so it’s in a really good place currently with a nice balance. This lends itself well to the map in general, which has interesting points of interest (POIs), which in turn promote cool firefights and fun engagements.
There’s also small additions which go a big way to making the game feel great. Nostalgic sounds return, cool easter eggs have been added, buy stations feature a clearer menu with updated pricing (loadouts cost less, buy backs cost more), and gone are the annoying redeploy balloons and gulag tokens, which put more emphasis on survival and vehicles – just like the OG Warzone did. This makes the game feel and play more like a battle royale and less like a large scale team deathmatch.
All in all I’m getting the itch to play again which I haven’t really felt since the map went away. It’s giving me that old school feeling – so it that sense the devs have really nailed it. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get messed up again.
Potential improvements
Honestly they’ve addressed most of my issues with the mode and I’m happy with it. The only changes I would want to see for now really is weapon tweaks. Weapons from the older games, such as Modern Warfare 2 (2022) need some more love. They were destroyed so hard in those games, to the extent that Raven have had to essentially make all the attachments do the same thing which has reduced the cons to using them. This has helped to make them more viable, but they still need buffing to the level of the Black Ops 6 weapons to increase variety (which I’m pleased to see quite a bit of – or more than we were seeing at least).
One shot sniping is back and feels incredible but all bolt action snipers in the game need this capability, with the faster ones having their range or stability lowered as a trade off. There’s currently only the HDR and KATT-AMR that can one-shot to the head at any range (not that I’m complaining, HDR is my baby).
There is also rumours of changes to the map over time, much like in the original Verdansk; with the stadium opening up, as well as the train service coming back online.
Want to watch a full video of my second solo game back on Verdansk? Of course you do! It’s like we never left. It even comes complete with Ghost skin, a Prison drop, and plenty of tactical immobilisation.
Should you play Warzone again?
Yes. Download it now and you’ll be pleasantly surprised (movement kings and sweatlords need not apply). I was, and I was ready to give up on Call of Duty battle royale. For players that never got to experience Warzone in 2020, this is as good as it gets – think DMZ but with more focus on PvP on a better map with better feeling guns and you’re pretty much there. Long live Verdansk.
It’s a bit outdated now (some guns and perks are not available any more) but my loadout guide is actually quite relevant again – use as a reference if you need help getting started.
Overall I feel like this is the big comeback that Warzone desperately needed. Failed maps and bad decisions have probably driven most players away never to return, but if this article convinces at least one fan to give it another go I’ll be a happy camper.