Activision and the legion of studios behind the Call of Duty franchise recently held a Call of Duty NEXT showcase where it unveiled what we can expect from the future of franchise. In the showcase they unveiled a lot of exciting updates on the Modern Warfare II multiplayer suite, Warzone Mobile, as well as the highly anticipated Warzone 2. In this article we will be taking a deep dive into everything revealed around Modern Warfare II’s multiplayer offering. However, you can also find everything you need to know about Warzone 2 here.
It seems like every year you hear the term “built from the ground up” to describe the annualized release of several game franchises. These claims are often nothing more than marketing jargon, but in the case of Modern Warfare II, it seems the team at Infinity Ward has actually brought some receipts to back it up.
For starters, they talked about making changes to the physics systems, which change the way the game’s first-person camera connects to your character’s body and how your character’s hands connect to the gun they are holding. All of this in an effort to ensure that when bullets leave the gun, they are coming out of wherever the barrel is pointing, which is influenced entirely on the physical actions your character is taking. It’s changes like these that happen behind the scenes that don’t make for great headlines, but could add some freshness to the tried-and-true COD feel.
The above also ties into the fact that there is the inclusion of a new third-person mode, which will be available in select playlists.
Not all of the changes are that granular, though, as there are several new features that are more front facing. Throughout the press event, the development team talked a lot about the significance of water and aquatic combat in MW2. Water was something the team desperately wanted to add into Modern Warfare 2019, but they simply ran out of time, so they leaned heavily into it with Modern Warfare 2.
Visually, the water will contain some pretty advanced physics as waves and white caps will form when it is disturbed. It will also be able to produce caustics (reflections) as the game’s different light sources bounce off of it. From a gameplay side of things, due to the advanced lighting engine, the deeper you swim the more murky and less visible things become, making it a good way to escape a firefight. Being in combat underwater will drastically affect the ballistics and effectiveness of your weaponry as well.
Some of the new equipment being added to the game’s sandbox includes a DDOS device that can jam other electronics used by players, as well as a Rainbow Six: Siege-like sticky camera that you can freely place to keep an eye on what’s around the corner. Perhaps the biggest changes to your tool kit, though, are the major updates with the gunsmith system.
The new gunsmith will allow ultimate freedom with how you customize your weaponry, being able to make changes all the way down to the gun’s receiver. This means you can go as far as turning an Assault Rifle into an SMG depending on how you decide to kit it out. The kicker is that, when you reach the point where you unlock a new receiver, any attachments you previously unlocked will all transfer over. This means you won’t need to constantly unlock the same attachments over and over for every different gun.
While the team did not reveal everything that will launch with the game in terms of maps and mode, they did share quite a bit. For starters, multiplayer maps will be split between standard 6v6 core maps and what the team refers to as “Battle Maps,” which are intended for the return of COD’s 32v32 ground war mode.
One of the new maps they showed off was Sarrif Bay, a battle map which is set in a fishing village that makes great use of the game’s new water systems. Another was core map Mercado Las Almas, which looks very similar to Favela from the original Modern Warfare 2, with lots of cramped corridors and tight corners.
Along with these new maps will come several new game modes for both Battle and Core maps. Invasion is a new big team deathmatch mode that will put 20 players and 20 A.I. combatants on each team for all-out war. New core modes include prisoner rescue and knockout, where the former is a pseudo capture the flag mode and the latter is a Call of Duty take on the classic oddball mode from Halo.
Finally, there will be a chance to test out nearly all of the above in the game’s beta that is going live on September 16th. In the beta you will be able to play some of the game’s traditional 6v6 combat, as well as hop into the Sarrif Bay battle map for some 32v32 ground war. The beta will feature all of the standard COD modes you are used to, like Team Deathmatch and Domination, but also will include the three new modes revealed at the showcase: Knockout, Prisoner Rescue, and Invasion.
By participating in the beta, you will be rewarded with several unlocks for the full game based on how far you progress. The beta will run for two weeks, with the first week being exclusive to PlayStation. People who pre-order will get early access.
Overall, Modern Warfare 2 is shaping up to be a one of the biggest releases of the year and looks to be a rare instance of a service-based game launching with a very complete package. The multiplayer suite is chalk full of maps, modes, and progression content, with the team also mentioning a new questing system. Spec-ops also makes a return as the game’s co-op option, featuring a more asymmetrical take on COD’s horde-like experience.
There is also the campaign that will continue the story of Task Force 141 and looks to be a complete and utter spectacle, as well as the release of the sequel to one of the most popular games in the world in Warzone 2 on November 16th. Stay tuned to Seasoned Gaming for hands-on impressions with the multiplayer early access beta, as well as our full review when the game launches on October 28th!
