At Gamescom 2017, Esports News UK managed to get our hands on the upcoming Call of Duty title, World War II, ahead of its November release. Jacob Hale provides his thoughts.
Whilst it’s tough to judge a game’s esport prowess whilst still in its beta phase, we know the kind of backing the Call of Duty franchise gets from Activision.
So, whilst we can’t establish a deep understanding of it from our quick playtest, we believe that World War II is likely to be as successful as Infinite Warfare, or more.
With a whole wave of retired pros seeking to come out of retirement, Halo professionals wanting to make the switch, and a game that the entire community can firmly rally behind, we have high hopes for the upcoming season.
The first thing I must mention is that the game is genuinely fun. It is a truly enjoyable title that appeals to the core Call of Duty audience, who have perhaps felt neglected for the last three years with the advanced movement – like jetpacks and wall-jumps – initially introduced by Sledgehammer Games.
It does not play excruciatingly slow like some suspected it may; the pace is still there, though nowhere near the randomness and craze of the ‘jetpack era’ games.
“This is likely going to be the best iteration of Call of Duty we have seen since Black Ops 2, from both a casual and competitive standpoint.”
The maps we have seen so far also seem to play well, though their viability in an esports setting could prove to be a bit of a headache.
For example, take Pointe Du Hoc. It is a very small, tightly-controlled map that would likely play a tad too hectic for any of the game modes that will be played in World War II esports (Hardpoint, Search and Destroy and Capture the Flag). There are too many opportunities for teams to effortlessly break a hill, pick off kills in Search or to run a flag.
That’s not to say small maps aren’t competitively viable, but they must be developed with esports in mind to maintain competitive integrity. For example, Raid in Black Ops 2 was fairly small, but had perfect flank routes, spawns and map design to allow for it to be one of the most popular Call of Duty esport maps ever introduced.
In terms of gunfights, I did take a slight issue with both the flinch and the slow ADS time. Though ADS has been addressed by Sledgehammer, saying they will be taking a look at it, flinch has been a mainstay in all Call of Duty esport titles and has frequently been an issue for the pros.
In the WWII beta, though, flinch was a lot worse than it has been in recent memory, with the first person to shoot often being punished by a sharp reaction if the enemy gets their gun up in time. Though it’s unlikely to ever see this leave Call of Duty esports, it would be very beneficial to have flinch at least reduced and increase in-game consistency.
@SHGames Please please consider removing flinch from Call of Duty. All it does is add inconsistency to the game, it has no place in FPS.
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) August 28, 2017
My final complaint about an otherwise superb game is the ambient noise and ‘battlechatter’ in the game. The ambient noise is clearly there to accentuate the feelings of being in a true to life World War II frontline scene, but the result is more frustrating than realistic.
Screaming and shouting, with random gunfire around the map, is not ideal in a competitive landscape.
As for the ‘battlechatter’, NPCs make callouts based on your own position – and the enemy’s. This was removed in Infinite Warfare competitive matches and it is integral that the same is done this year for World War II, otherwise the competitive integrity of the game is completely removed.
Overall, though, this is likely going to be the best iteration of Call of Duty we have seen since Black Ops 2, from both a casual and competitive standpoint.
With minor fixes, some of which Sledgehammer has already pledged to look at, the game could definitely be a title that propels Call of Duty esports to the heights fans have always clamoured for.
With the second weekend of the private beta coming this Friday (September 1st), we will look to see what has been fixed and what still needs to be worked on ahead of the game’s full release.
