Last week publishing house Activision Blizzard and studio Sledgehammer Games organized the alpha test of the shooter on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles Call of Duty: Vanguard… Editorial staff GameMAG.ru did not pass by this event.
The focus is on the new regime Champion hill (“Battle of Champions“), which is a further development of ideas from the regime Gunfight for Modern Warfare 2019… The idea of Sledgehammer Games is very similar to what originally the studio Respawn wanted to add to Apex legends, but eventually mutated into Arena…
The concept is as follows. Eight teams can participate in Champion Hill at the same time. In alpha, only two people could be in one group, however, variations for singles and triples will be available on release.
Players are provided with a large map, divided into eight battle arenas and a separate hub, in which every few rounds you can buy weapons, perks, grenades and armor. After the preparation stage, the teams are thrown into the arenas.
The duration of the round is 60 seconds. Each team has 12 lives, which are taken away after the death of the character. The group of fighters left without lives is eliminated from the tournament until there is only one left.
Additional life tokens can be found in arenas, as well as purchased in shops. In addition, piles of money and ammunition are scattered on the maps, which also drop from killed players. In this case, the weapon can be upgraded right on the battlefield, thanks to which the Thompson assault rifle has some kind of futuristic collimator.
The problem with Champion Hill is that the regime is poorly thought out. And all the main shoals are able to manifest themselves in just one battle.
The visibility in the game leaves much to be desired – brown men run around on a brown map. The problem is aggravated by the compactness of the arenas, as well as the abundance of various boxes and obstacles blocking the view.
As we predicted, the much-hyped “tactical destructibility” turned out to be nothing. In practice, many players did not notice the changes, because the mechanics are limited to the destruction of the boards with which they boarded up the window spaces.
Yes, you can destroy a few pieces of wood to set up a trap. But this method of fighting is contrary to the main gameplay of Call of Duty, as well as the design of arenas. While the player is trying to aim through the hole, the enemy in the first space will run from the side and shoot the “hunter”.
Feels like Vanguard kills significantly faster than Cold war… It’s easier to forget about “tactical destructibility” and just run around the map. Or even hide in some corner, waiting for the end of the round. Yes, this is quite a working tactic at Champion Hill, given the 60 second limit.
Due to the decent amount of lives and teams, the matches turned out to be quite lengthy, which is why players can perform rajquit. It can make life difficult and easier at the same time. The fact is that it is easier for a loner to hide on the map, as well as to keep valuable lives. Thanks to this, in one of the rounds we were able to eventually take second place.
Another problem was immediately revealed – an imbalance. If there is an odd number of teams left, then one of them is sent ahead of schedule to the hub. On the one hand, it saves valuable lives. On the other hand, players may not have additional money to purchase equipment, which is of serious value. So, armor allows you to withstand several hits, and a reconnaissance aircraft marks opponents on the map within one round.
As a result, a situation may arise when the victory may not be won by the strongest or most well-coordinated team, but by the luckiest one. And it’s confusing.
Clearly Champion Hill needs some work. In addition, questions arise regarding the implementation of “tactical destructibility” in other modes.
In terms of Vanguard optimization, the shooter worked well on the PS4 Pro. Problems can be created by forced registration of an account on the site Activision, without which they are not allowed into the game.
Call of Duty: Vanguard beta will kick off on PlayStation next week. It is then that more detailed conclusions can be drawn. Perhaps the developers will make some additional edits to Champion Hill.
See also: Call of Duty for Rainbow Six: What’s in store for Call of Duty: Vanguard players?
