Shooter series Call of duty continues to live a busy life, remaining one of the flagship franchises for the company Activision Blizzard… However, even such a finely tuned game production pipeline can be malfunctioning. And history Sledgehammer Games is proof of that.
Founded in 2009 by immigrants from Visceral Games studio originally planned to release a third-person shooter adventure about Vietnam. But in 2010, a scandal broke out with the dismissal of the Call of Duty fathers. Vince Zamplella and Jason West, as a result of which from the studio Infinity ward only ruins remained. In such conditions, the leadership of Activision decided to close the Sledgehammer Games project, transferring the team to the completion Modern warfare 3…
Eight years later, a crisis broke out in Sledgehammer Games, which again tried to release Call of Duty about Vietnam. In 2018, the founders leave the studio Glen Scofield and Michael Condrey, taking some of the staff with them. And due to a conflict with colleagues from Raven Software The shooter production line almost stalled again, jeopardizing plans to release the new part in 2023. As a result, the problematic project was hastily given away Treyarch, which in an emergency mode converted it into Black Ops – Cold War…
Now we have 2023 in our yard. The Sledgehammer Games studio has been rebuilt, and its employees are determined to rehabilitate themselves through the announcement Call of Duty: Vanguard… AND GameMAG.ru edition attended the presentation of the game.
Most of the leaks have been confirmed – Vanguard will bring players back to the battlefield World War II… At the same time, Sledgehammer Games clearly tried to work on bugs after an extremely controversial Call of Duty: WWII… However, the source of inspiration was chosen very non-standard.
As a result of what we saw, we had a clear feeling that Activision Blizzard was clearly watching closely Ubisoft and her series of shooters Rainbow Six. The latter was based on the book of the same name by the American writer Tom Clancydedicated to the elite counter-terrorist squad “Rainbow Six“composed of the best operatives from around the world.
As the staff of Sledgehammer Games said, the main themes of the Call of Duty: Vanguard story campaign will be “the birth of special forces” and “the transformation of ordinary people into extraordinary on the battlefield.” In the center of the story will be a group of four soldiers who, at the end of the war, managed to end up in dungeons Gestapo…
The so-called squad Task force one composed of a black British paratrooper Arthur Kingsley, Soviet female sniper Polina Petrova, American pilot Wade Wilson and Australian saboteur Lucas Riggs… As you progress through the single player campaign, the player will be able to get to know each of the heroes better.
This decision also allowed to significantly enrich the shooter, making it more variable, immersive and “varied”. As part of 9th Parachute Battalion Sergeant Kingsley will take part in Operation Tongato land in France and ensure the success of the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord).
Lieutenant Petrova will witness the German attack on Stalingrad. Captain Wilson will take part in the battles with the Japanese for the Solomon Islands. Well and “rat Tobruk“Riggs must foil Desert Fox’s plans Erwin Rommel in Africa. Thus, players will be able to take part in battles in four theaters of war.
The main opponent for Task Force One will be the fictional head of the Gestapo Heinrich Freisinger, who, along with other Nazi leaders with the help of the Phoenix“seeks to prevent the collapse of Germany. Trying to fulfill the task of eliminating the enemy, the detachment is captured in Berlin, which is already preparing to take control of the Soviet troops.
Sledgehammer Games was inspired by real events, so the characters have historical personalities. So, the prototype of Polina Petrova was Hero of the USSR Lyudmila Pavlichenkowho is considered the deadliest female sniper in history (309 confirmed kills, including 36 enemy snipers). In the West they called her “Lady Death“. As for Freisinger, his prototype is Heinrich Müller…
As part of the presentation, the developers demonstrated a piece of the mission for the British paratrooper. Disembarkation in Normandy on the night before D-Day is not going to plan, so Arthur has to carefully move in search of surviving colleagues in the countryside, which is patrolled by the Germans with dogs. The developers turn the operation into a kind of horror, which is greatly facilitated by the musical accompaniment from Beara McCreary (God of war), actively leaning on cellos, double basses and violins.
Judging by what they saw, the developers decided to return to the usual Call of Duty health regeneration system (in WWII they had to be treated with first aid kits, which contradicted the dynamics of local battles). However, no one has forgotten about QTE, so it is worth mentally preparing for them.
Visually, the Vanguard looks good. The project is based on the graphics engine from Modern Warfare 2019which was clearly designed with the preparations for the transition to next-generation consoles in mind. Activision Blizzard assures that the optimization of the new part of Call of Duty will remain at a high level. This also applies to consoles of the previous generation, on which the game will issue 60 frames per second.
The developers tried to recreate the photorealistic environment in detail using archived images. And here the main feature of Vanguard comes to the fore – physically correct destructibility, implemented according to the principle Rainbow six: siege (another hello to Ubisoft).
What is meant by this? There will be many objects on the levels that can be destroyed. We are talking about furniture, doors, flimsy walls, wardrobes and so on. Let’s say you can make a hole in the cover to observe the actions of the enemy.
Obviously, the mechanics were created with an eye to multiplayer. In theory, using a reactive environment should make players act more tactfully. But given the dynamics of Call of Duty, it can be assumed that the battles will slide into insane chaos in the spirit of Battlefield 3: Close Quarters…
If the storyline campaign was devoted to the formation of special forces, then in the competitive mode, the fighters will already hone their skills. In total, the release will be available to players 20 cards, of which 16 are designed for classic mode 6v6… Sledgehammer Games has high hopes for new modes, among which stands out Champion hill… However, journalists have so far been asked not to disclose details in order to keep the intrigue.
We can say for sure that the system will return to the game Gunsmith, which will allow detailed customization of firearms. In addition, the developers have reworked ballistics and 3D sound.
The story about the new part of Call of Duty would be incomplete without mentioning two more pillars of the franchise – Warzone and Zombies… And Activision Blizzard has a couple of surprises in store.
So, Warzone will be fully integrated into Vanguard. This applies to pumping accounts, customization items and weapons. In addition, Raven Software is working on a new map for Warzone, which will be released in 2023. The icing on the cake should be the new anti-cheat system, which the developers have been asking for for a long time.
However, the main changes are waiting for Zombies. The fact is that now its creators from the Treyarch studio are responsible for the development of the mode. This means that the plot of the shooting of carrion in Vanguard will be directly related to the events from Cold war: zombies…
What are your impressions after the presentation of the new creation of Sledgehammer Games? A slight bewilderment. The fact is that the developers position their game in a very strange way.
On the one hand, studio representatives claim great attention to detail and historicity. On the other hand, we have a rather delusional story about a multicultural special forces detachment led by a British paratrooper with the rank of sergeant (in the presence of two lieutenants and a captain), which is trying to stop another sinister plan of the Nazis.
The absurdity is that already in 1946 it sank Iron curtainTherefore, this experience of international cooperation raises many questions. No matter how the promotion story ends up repeating itself Battlefield v, which also pushed for credibility, but in the debut trailer, the Nazis were brutally beaten with a cricket bat by a cyborg girl.
But the main intrigue remains how much the “reactive environment” will affect multiplayer. Will the developers be able to achieve tactical gameplay? It won’t be long to wait.
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be released on November 5, 2023 on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X | S and PS5…
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