CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE

We celebrate the battle royale sensation’s best features, as the latest addition to the biggest shooter series on the planet takes aim at Fortnite and co

Need a reason to play COD’s battle royale? We’ve got 25. Now get out there, soldier!

Make love not Warzone… actually, screw that.

You should do both! Call Of Duty’s battle royale offering has been out in the wild for a while now and the early results are impressive. Last year’s Modern Warfare may have been a successful reshuffle for a series in need of a makeover, yet Warzone goes one further: it leans on the gigantic shoulders of Apex Legends, Fortnite, and PUBG while making some key improvements in the process.

The numbers are extraordinary. Though Warzone’s free-to-play status has naturally made it more accessible to a larger number of PS4 owners than a traditional full-priced game, the pull of this Modern Warfare companion piece shouldn’t be underestimated. Six million players within its first 24 hours. A ludicrous 15 million after just 24 hours on the PlayStation Store and other digital storefronts. At the current rate, every last person on this annoyingly damp globe will be racking up kills in Warzone within the month.

Make no mistake: this is the most pivotal moment for Call Of Duty since the original Modern Warfare nuclearblasted our expectations in 2007. Call Of Duty may still be the most popular videogame franchise in the world, but the emergence of Warzone shows publisher Activision is adept at reading the current market and adjusting its place in an ever-shifting medium to keep pace with free-to-play phenomena like Fortnite.

Does Call Of Duty: Warzone lay down an entirely new template for the biggest shooter series around?

Will its success change how future

COD entries tackle single-player campaigns? Does its impact put yet another nail in what feels like PUBG’s rapidly closing coffin? Whatever the future holds for Warzone, we’re all too happy to celebrate its wildest features over the coming COD-tastic pages.

01 THE GUNS ARE GREAT

This sounds painfully obvious, but the fact COD brings its peerless brand of blasting into the battle royale space shouldn’t be sniffed at. While Fortnite and PUBG’s shooting are perfectly serviceable, the biggest FPS franchise on Earth uses its 17-year history to easily outgun the competition.

02 SIZE MATTERS

The spectacle Warzone serves up really is something. While Battlefield used to continually wow us with its hectic 64-player skirmishes, the fact COD’s recently released battle royale can host 150 different gamers in a single map is downright astonishing.

03 THE PERFECT FORMULA

Step back and look at Warzone from a beard-stroking conceptual standpoint, and it is the ideal game for the late-PS4 era. The impeccable shooting of the world’s most successful FPS series plus a zeitgeistcapturing battle royale format equals a shooty match made in heaven.

04 CRAZY SCORES

There’re some seriously wild killstreaks happening in Warzone, and as we write the three-person squad of Lymax, Zepa, and Micka has the best record yet: 78 kills in a row. In a standard 150-player match, this means these three alone killed 52% of the match’s players.

05 THE RACE IS ON

Fearful of pro players like Lymax, Zepa, and Micka owning you? Then take a time out and set up an ad hoc ATV race. There’s a kart track in Verdansk; heading down there you can often find groups of players charging around on ATVs. Lymax, Zepa, and Micka will probably win this too.

06 MAP DETAILS TO MAKE YOU NOSTALGIC

Warzone’s huge map is crammed with references to old Call Of Duty entries, and to date we’ve found areas based on Broadcast, Vacant, and Mile High Club (unlocked at the end of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare). The one that caught us, though, is the iconic ferris wheel from All Ghillied Up.

07 TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION

In a nod to one of our favourite PS2-era open world shooters, Mercenaries, why not weaponise your vehicles? A helicopter can become a makeshift missile if you jump and parachute to safety and watch your whirlybird career into an unsuspecting enemy.

08 IT’S A SOCIAL SHOOTER

You start in a three-player squad – there’s no lone wolf option – as Call Of Duty: Warzone’s take on battle royale it’s all about being part of a team. From shared money to a focus on ticking off Contracts as a squad, selfish players simply aren’t welcome here.

09 CONTRACT KILLER

Tapping into the idea that every second of play matters, you’re encouraged to complete tasks while doing your best not to get shot in the virtual spleen. Taking on Contracts – from intel extraction to eliminating a nearby rival – gives you a goal that isn’t just centred on simple survival.

10 SOME LIKE IT HOT (ZONE)

Hot zones encourage the bold, while coaxing the cowardly out of harm’s way. Areas like the Atlas Superstore and Zordaya Prison Complex are often marked as hot zones, enticing trigger-happy players seeking high-end loot while warning away more gun-shy combatants.

11 YOU CAN BE ‘BOUGHT’ BACK

No, we don’t mean ‘brought’ back. If you die in the field, then die even harder in the Gulag, your teammates have the option of resurrecting you – for a price of $4,500, at the nearest Buy Station. It’s another feature that taps into Warzone’s selfless, team-focused spirit.

12 LOCK AND LOADOUT

Save up $6,000 and you can call in whatever custom loadout you’ve set for yourself from one of Verdansk’s Buy Stations. Make use of C4 to set traps; players are creatures of habit so why not set a charge on a grounded helicopter and set it off when a helpless stooge takes off with it?

13 ’CHUTE FOR THE STARS

Warzone’s parachute is infinitely reusable. It’s used to start a round but can be released at any time, so don’t fear leaping off a building to scoop dropped weapons and ammo. It also affords you the opportunity to shoot the shizzle out of airborne rivals, as we’ll explain…

14 SHOOT ’CHUTING

…Unlike in Fortnite and PUBG, you can fire weapons while you’re plummeting towards terra firma, including bazookas and rocket launchers. Why not unload a few clips in mid-air? With any luck, you’ll thin out the competition before your feet hit the ground.

15 GIVING A GULAG SECOND CHANCE

Originally made famous by Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, this disgustingly moist Russian prison offers a chance at redemption. In a genius twist on the battle royale formula, players who die in Warzone get a shot at a second life should they win a one-on-one firefight in this insta-kill post-death mode.

16 THE WARM-UP MATTERS

Whereas warm-up countdowns in PUBG are time-ticking exercises in keeping your patience, pulling off kills in Warzone’s pre-match loading area rewards you with XP that goes towards levelling up your character and weapons. There’s no such thing as wasted time in Warzone.

17 WHEEL KEEP GOING

Never give up, as playing around with Warzone’s physics and stim injections can lead to some Hollywood kills. Some goon in a SUV tries to run you down? Jump in the air at the last minute – you’ll land on the bonnet injured, so use an injector, and then shoot the driver while moving. Phew.

18 GO FULL GTA

The mix of open world and heavily armoured vehicles shouldn’t be lost on anyone who loves a bit of Grand Theft Auto. In the right hands Warzone’s vehicles are four-wheel drive weapons as you mow down unsuspecting rivals – the Tactical Rover can even enter some buildings.

19 LOOT TO THRILL

Picking up new guns, armour, and weapon attachments is a big deal, but because of the focus on teamplay and the Gulag’s ‘get out of jail (semi-) free card’, opening chests is less of a distraction than in other battle royales. This places more emphasis on the shooting.

20 KILLSTREAKS ARE KILLER

Warzone absorbs all the lessons you’d want it to learn from Fortnite, then puts a distinctly COD stamp on proceedings. Look at killstreaks. The feature is ported over from the mainline series’ multiplayer, and should you off enough dudes without dying, attack helicopters and airstrikes await.

21 THAT MAP, AND ITS DANGERS

Verdansk really is a wonder. The scale and height of the map ensures there’s room to abuse the weapons on offer. Fed up with snipers picking you off from a far-off tower block roof? Then launch a stinger, sit back and watch them explode unaware that danger was dropping from above.

22 DOWN PLUNDER

Battle royale is Warzone’s headline mode, but Plunder also deserves some love. This side-mode challenges your squad to earn $1 million before rival teams by completing Contracts and looting chests.

The big twist? Death chips away at your group finances every time you bite it.

23 GET TO THE CHOPPA!

Whirlybirds play a major role in Plunder. As soon as you acquire a decent chunk of cash, make sure you hightail it to a helicopter to bank your stash safely. The only catch? Phoning in a chopper paints your position on the map for every opponent to see. Ruh-roh.

24 CASH IT IN

Cash balloons are a cute feature in Warzone that can save you a serious amount of readies if used effectively. Pool your funds with your two teammates and you can buy one of these inflatables that let you deposit up to $150,000 before it floats up into the clouds.

25 THROWING BLADE

Yes, you can shove a rival player into the rotors of a helicopter. Time it just right, and a precision push can catapult an enemy straight into the spinning blades of a chopper. It’s not an honourable kill, but it sure is a sneakily satisfying one when you pull it off.