This is the second title taking place during world war 2 for Sledgehammer Games, Will Call of Duty Vanguard make the difference?
the most recently published Call of Duty game was eagerly awaited and was released with great fanfare. Available on PC and consoles, Call of Duty Vanguard signs the return of a choice age for war games, that is, the international conflict of the Second World War.
Sledgehammer Games, in charge of this opus, has decided to come back to a topic that was already treated by its studio a few years ago, with Call of Duty World War II.
But this time, as seen in the trailers, the game is based on conflicts all over the world. We find battlefields in North Africa, in the Pacific, in Eastern and Western Europe. Apart from this difference, are we dealing with yet another tasteless war game, or has Vanguard succeeded in establishing itself as an indispensable game?
Campaign - Call of Duty-style war stories
the campaign begins in 1945, as Germany tries to regain its power after Hitler's death. If that's where the story ends for us, Sledgehammer creates a world in which Nazi soldiers have a mysterious project called Phoenix that should help them establish the rule of the Fourth Reich. To find out what Nazi Germany's best-kept secret is and to stop it, a special squad is organized.
As you may have guessed, these special forces are called the Vanguard and contain 5 specialists in various fields. Arthur Kingsley, Richard Webb, Polina Petrova, Jackson Wade, and Lucas Riggs. We follow them in turn, in gameplay sequences oscillating between flashbacks and present moments.
On paper, this method changes us, particularly from the linear course that adopts the campaign of a Call of Duty. Activision takes us directly into the skin of each character, taking care to show us what they have experienced. A more personal and intimate approach in the heart of the Second World War, but especially in the hearts of its soldiers.
For Battlefield connoisseurs, this campaign can easily be compared to the war stories of the franchise, which is an interesting point when you consider that EA has decided to abandon the idea for its upcoming Battlefield 2042.
Visible technical prowess
Visually, the bet is won. Between the CGI cinematics and the gameplay phases, Vanguard managed to take the best of the current technologies to offer us splendid sceneries, whatever the environment. The only flaw is that the textures are too bright in gameplay mode. The textures are still a bit too smooth and reflect the light excessively as if everything was made of metal.
Facial expressions are also not really up to scratch, a recurrent problem when using motion capture. Apart from that, the immersion is there, and the cinematics, in particular, literally blew us away.
The technique, linked to the different gameplay, allowed us to taste more things than before in the other Call of Duty games. After a very guided first game, we also enjoy discovering more open environments than before, which is a good thing for mobility. Combined with the destructibility of some scenery, the possibilities are more numerous.
As for the integration of DualSense, we are still skeptical. Completely disabled during the cinematics (it's a shame!), DualSense makes us feel certain things with more or less precision during the gameplay phases. If we won't say that we were marked by the adaptive triggers or the haptic feedback, the controller still gave us a heavy feeling that we particularly appreciated.
Like all the campaigns of the franchise, Vanguard will only keep you in suspense for 8 to 10 hours, depending on the chosen difficulty. A reasonable amount of time, especially for a game that is mostly awaited for its multiplayer mode. And this year, Activision has some great surprises in store for us.
Multiplayer - An unfailing diversity
This year, Sledgehammer Games has done very well. The studio has hit the nail on the head with one of the most comprehensive multiplayer modes since the franchise's inception. There are some great classics such as Team Deathmatch, Melee, Confirmed Elimination, Domination, and Strategic Point. But we also welcome new ones, namely Hill Champions and Patrol.
The latter is very similar to Strategic Point, but instead of moving from one place to another every minute depending on a predefined loop, the point keeps on moving during the entire game by walking around the map. This avoids the teams to anticipate the next places of the point, and partly the campers. Nevertheless, it favors the taking of the point by a single team as once it's on the objective, it can decide to stay there and depend on the movement, insuring both its front and its back.
Champions of the Hill is a different mode, in which you have to return to the lobby often. In this game you are in teams of two and have to survive 4 different rounds, regularly switching your guns and staying on top of your life supply (per team). A challenging mode that takes some getting used to, but could be a real asset for the most competitive among you.
Vanguard also introduces combat rhythms: Frantic, Tactical, or Assault. These change your game by giving you more or less time to reach the game objective. A good addition that allows you to further customize your multiplayer experience.
If we talk about variety, we have to mention the maps and guns available at launch. Since the 5th of November, about twenty playable maps are available, which already makes a good package. As far as weapons are concerned, we're off to a good start with a range of unlockable and customizable weapons.
In this sense, Sledgehammer has aligned itself with the crafting system of the last released games, just like for the other parameters. Thus, we find a season system linked with Warzone, which had been introduced with Modern Warfare in 2019. Good or bad thing, it's up to the players to choose what they prefer, on our side it didn't particularly bother us, although it clearly favors Warzone players who also play multiplayer, since they can climb their weapons more easily.
The bête noire of Activision
Activision is persisting with its killing streaks, which for us are a big obstacle to taking a goal in multi-player. Indeed, rather than looking for scores (scorestreak), the most competitive players will find it easy to look for kills, and thus to abandon the collective side of the game.
Another controversial point is the life bar in multiplayer. In Vanguard, the life bar is reduced to the bare minimum, which quickly shortens the duels and doesn't leave room for talent. Let's explain: you are in the middle of a game, you turn right at the corner of a house and you come face to face with an enemy. If he hasn't been displayed on the mini-map, if he shoots at you from behind, or if you are caught off guard, it will already be too late for you when you want to shoot back. Three shots are often enough to eliminate an enemy, and this with a light machine gun, no matter how far away.
Having more life as a player makes it harder for you to kill an opponent, of course. But your opponents also take longer to kill you, allowing you to warn, or even turn around. In Vanguard, the eliminations are way too fast in our opinion, we would have preferred a life gauge like in Black Ops 4.
However, the feeling of mobility is good and there is not much to say about the in-game mechanics. We find a fairly realistic opus, with slides that don't stretch over 3 meters or a well-calibrated shooting and aiming sensation.
An old fashion zombie, still not complete
The zombie mode, a real missing link in Call of Duty, goes often unnoticed, and yet it is a highly attractive aspect of the game when it is well executed. The one in Vanguard didn't really convince us. The main reason is that the zombie mode, unlike the Campaign, was developed by Treyarch.
Indeed, we regret Sledgehammer didn't go all the way with Call of Duty because we expected to have a zombie of the same high quality as the one in World War II. We find instead the zombie exuberance of Treyarch, already at work in every Black Ops opus.
So, fans of the Supernatural, modified voices from beyond the grave and excessive lighting effects will be delighted to find this game mode, which nevertheless makes the effort to be anchored in a more realistic environment, by using one of the maps of the multiplayer mode. However, this won't be enough to make us forget the lack of subtlety of the puzzles and the dated special effects of the zombie mode.
Nevertheless, the mode did surprise us with some unexpected novelties. In Vanguard, you will have clear objectives to complete and this will change the endless waves of zombies to eliminate without really knowing why. This makes it much more accessible than the previous zombies developed by Treyarch, and it also seems that it doesn't offer any secrets for the first time in a long time.
In this direction, you can for example get exfiltrated after completing your objective, and thus win the game. Later, the studio will add a much more narrative part to the zombie mode, especially with new chapters of the Black Aether, started in the Black Ops Cold war. So for those who are especially receptive to the visual aspect of Treyarch's zombies, you should love this mode once it's full.
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