Call of Duty Vanguard Feels Rushed

Call of Duty: Vanguard Feels Rushed

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Call of Duty: Vanguard’s lackluster zombies, disjointed campaign, and recycled multiplayer makes it feel like it was rushed to meet a deadline.

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Call of Duty Vanguard Feels Rushed

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Activision has just released the 18th mainline Call of Duty game with Call of Duty: Vanguard, but it feels like it was rushed. Call of Duty: Vanguard provides virtually nothing new to the almost 20-year-old franchise and cuts a lot of corners to be able to check all of the normal boxes for a typical Call of Duty game. It has a campaign, it has a proper multiplayer mode, and of course, it has a Zombies mode. Activision can market this as a complete game, but it doesn’t feel very well-rounded.

The unfortunate truth of Call of Duty: Vanguard is that it feels half-baked, partially because it kind of is. Activision has been rushing Call of Duty for some time now. According to a Kotaku report in 2019, Sledgehammer was working on a new entry in the beloved shooter franchise for a 2020 release date. Due to development issues, Activision removed Sledgehammer from the project and had Treyarch revamp it into a Black Ops game. Given that timeline of events, Sledgehammer would’ve had two years to make a new game from scratch as opposed to the usual three development cycle provided to Call of Duty developers.

As a result, it appears like modes were cobbled together, major assets and mechanics were recycled with no changes made, and more. Even the new additions such as the destructible environments in Call of Duty: Vanguard feel simple and they don’t change much. None of this appears very hidden, and it feels a bit shameless, but it’s probably not completely Sledgehammer’s fault. Activision has never delayed a mainline entry in the Call of Duty series, leading to an expectation that one will release every single year. The publisher relies on Call of Duty to be its biggest moneymaker as it no longer has franchises like Destiny, Marvel, or James Bond. It has a few notable franchises like Overwatch, but none of them release frequently enough to be reliable. That said, when a Call of Duty releases and is underwhelming, it’s noteworthy.

Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Multiplayer Feels Recycled

Call of Duty Vanguard Feels Rushed

Given the circumstances Sledgehammer seemed to have been put in, it couldn’t make something from the ground up. Most Call of Duty games build off of each other, as if one is taking the baton and running in a new direction. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Call of Duty: Vanguard is another WW2 game and doesn’t really do anything significantly new.

There are some destructible walls and some playlists with larger player counts, but that’s really the gist of it. The rest of the game feels like a WW2 rehash of Modern Warfare down to the UI. Of course, some games reuse assets and things from previous entries because they work, and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, but given the rest of Vanguard, this feels like it’s out of necessity. Sledgehammer may have had to pull from Infinity Ward’s very successful 2019 game in order to create a stable foundation for its new game in a very quick fashion.

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Things like running animations, ammo crates, UI, and mechanics like the gunsmith are identical to Modern Warfare. This even led to some issues as Vanguard’s beta had cheaters due to the fact the game’s code is nearly identical to Modern Warfare. There are more attachments in Vanguard’s gunsmith, granted it’s at the cost of pretty egregious historical inaccuracies, but that’s about it. Sledgehammer seems to have just used the time to make a lot of new maps, which is a plus because Black Ops Cold War had a lot of remade maps that felt dated and boring.

Nonetheless, the Modern Warfare feel isn’t just an inspiration for Vanguard, it’s just Modern Warfare with a WW2 spin. Given WW2 has been run into the ground by the series, this isn’t a very interesting angle. For a full-priced game, this is disappointing to see and seems to show that Activision is willing to cut corners to meet its deadlines.

Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Zombies Feels Budget and Rushed

Call of Duty Vanguard Feels Rushed

Speaking of cutting corners, the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Vanguard is baffling. For the first time since the mode was introduced in Call of Duty: World at War, it feels like an incredibly soulless husk of the iconic co-op mode. Treyarch was tasked with doing the Zombies mode in another lead developer’s title for the first time in the franchise’s history, but given it just released a new Call of Duty game last year – a year ahead of schedule, no less – and has been releasing new Zombies maps over the last year, it’s hard to expect a high-quality product here.

It’s unclear if Sledgehammer was planning on doing its own Zombies mode at some point, but Treyarch is working with the most barebones version of Zombies to date. Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Zombies mode is connected to the story from Black Ops Cold War’s take on the undead, but it feels like a first draft. The usual wave-based horde mode is largely gone, and there are no barricades to board up or defend. Players are instead tasked with teleporting to different locations to complete tasks.

All of these locations, including the hub area in the mode, are existing multiplayer maps that have been repurposed to look a little darker and creepier. In these locations, players are tasked with surviving for a couple of minutes, following an orb around, and depositing material into some supernatural object. It’s the same bland tasks repeating until players die or exfil. When players pack-a-punch their guns, there’s no unique camo like usual, it’s just the same gun with some lasers.

Even though Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Zombies is a game about the undead, it feels even more lifeless than one could expect. It’s also missing basic features like the ability to pause mid-game, even if players are playing in solo mode. Treyarch has promised this feature will be added in post-launch content (via CharlieIntel), but it seems like something that should be in there on day one. There isn’t even the tried and true Call of Duty Easter egg that players have been getting from Zombies for years.

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It’s hollow, it’s bland, and it appears to be something that was cobbled together in a short period of time. Instead of cutting the mode or just releasing it as part of the free seasonal content coming after launch, Activision allowed a stale and disappointing Zombies mode to be tacked on to Call of Duty: Vanguard to check a box. It’s truly disheartening and almost a betrayal given how dedicated the Zombies audience is.

Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Campaign Is Disjointed

Call of Duty Vanguard Feels Rushed

Somehow, the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign is the most realized and new thing in the game. It’s an original story with a new cast of characters, but it has a really bizarre structure and pace. The campaign is quite short; it has nine levels and can be finished in a handful of hours. It also tells its actual core story in a very minimal amount of time. Seven of the nine levels in the game are flashbacks, and they largely have nothing to do with the core plot. Every protagonist gets two missions to flesh out their origins, but since the game is so short, players don’t have enough time to connect with them. They’re pulled away right as they start to become really interesting, leaving everyone just short of being compelling characters.

The main story of Call of Duty: Vanguard is told through cutscenes, but it feels like padding and like everything is running in place. There’s little to no momentum in this campaign, leading to an unearned finale. The campaign of Call of Duty: Vanguard feels more like a collection of vignettes to showcase some fun set-pieces, which would be fine if the game committed to that idea, but it doesn’t, so it becomes unfocused. It’s still fun to play, but it lacks the necessary oomph to feel like a good Call of Duty campaign.

Is Call of Duty In Trouble?

Black Ops Cold War had a few issues like this, but it managed to be more well-realized so it wasn’t as big of an issue. That said, there is some concern that this could be the beginning of the end of the Call of Duty franchise if quality control isn’t kept in check. Rumors indicate next year’s game is Modern Warfare II and will follow Task Force 141 as they combat the Columbian drug cartel. It sounds new and like a refreshing direction for the series, so maybe it’s not all doom and gloom. Infinity Ward seems to be in a good place and isn’t struggling to find its footing with its games.

The failings of Call of Duty: Vanguard seem to be more of a result of Activision being unwilling to budge on allowing Sledgehammer to have more time for its game. Although sales numbers have yet to be released for the new title, it’ll likely do well enough that Activision can push through and act like this whole ordeal never happened. That said, if this happens again, who knows if fans will be as forgiving.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/call-duty-vanguard-activision-rushed-sledgehammer-unfinished/

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