Call of Duty: Warzone 2 review-in-progress

For the first time in what feels like ages, Call of Duty is innovating again. Even bogged down by a rough launch and saddled with an agonizingly clunky user interface, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is still a massive step up over its predecessor. 

A battle royale game is only as good as its map(s), and Al Mazrah is up there as one of the best I’ve yet played on. A jewel of the Islamic Golden Age, the fictional Syria-like has been laid low by internal strife and foreign intervention. Gaudy contemporary business districts contrast wonderfully against the mosques and bazaars, creating a map that feels much more lived in than predecessors Verdansk and Caldera. 

Al-Mazrah’s been carved up not only by foreign capital, but climate change as well, leaving a network of man-made waterways that allow for easy traversal via boat. Strongholds populated by surprisingly vicious AI goons dot the map. These encounters are tough but predictable, serving as a great warmup in the early to mid-game, making the Warzone 2 structure feel less like a strict battle royale and more like an MMO PvP area. 

The art design is a welcome return to simplicity, and Warzone 2’s cohesive visual identity is as of yet unburdened by gaudy cosmetics and ludicrous operator skins. Even if the Season 1 Battle Pass rewards look like overdesigned airsoft guns, there's at least a theme rather than a hodgepodge of styles. MW2’s stellar line-up of royalty free gun approximations integrates well with the near-future war aesthetic, even if some of the hyper-tacticool guns feel out of place. Visually, Warzone 2 is a major improvement over the bloated Warzone 1.0. 

The sound design is still incredible, owing to some clever mixing and layering. Letting off a salvo of 7.62 rounds from an RPD at a passing vehicle is made all the better when you hear that crunch of ceramic armor plates shattering. It feels great to be able to identify the pops and crackles of nearby gunfire as belonging to a specific caliber of bullet. In a meta that favors the AK-74u, it’s saved me from getting melted in CQC a couple times. 

The Gulag system received a substantial overhaul. It's now a lobby that fills up with prisoners and stots them into 2v2 deathmatches in a large arena littered with weapon pickups. If the match drags on too long, the Jailer, a minigun wielding juggernaut, will drop down and hurry things along. Being able to rely on a teammate is a welcome switch-up from the sweaty 1v1s of Warzone 1.0, and the opportunity for both teams to team up and go after the Jailer in pursuit of freedom gives Warzone's unique Gulag system a lot more depth.

Al Mazrah is huge, with hostile terrain perfect for ambushers littered all throughout. 

Vehicles are now vital for crossing those dangerous areas. One of my favorite new features is the ability to transition from the car seat to the roof with a button press, a change that feels like Infinity Ward acknowledging how cool it is to move freely in the backs of trucks or on the hoods of cars while they’re in motion. It’s a lot of fun to get into a chase with another squad and see soldiers crawl out the windows, desperately trying to quickscope the other driver from the roof. 

Another great new addition is the proximity voice chat, which means that a loud-mouthed fourteen year old will never get the drop on you ever again. Every match so far has been made better by its inclusion—hearing a voice nearby has always elicited either frantic shushing or berserk war cries from my party. Remember the OG MW2 lobbies? Warzone 2 is less toxic, but just as fun. 

Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing: Wonky performance, extreme stuttering when dropping at the start of the game, and frustrating inconsistencies with hit detection have soured what’s been a mostly fantastic time in Al Mazrah. While the stuttering has been remedied by last-minute update, it remains to be seen if Infinity Ward can avoid the technical pitfalls that Warzone 1.0 constantly tripped into. Worth flagging is that in my brief time in Warzone 2, I haven’t seen any fishy killcams that make me wonder whether my assailants are cheating. 

Ultimately, I’m curious to see how Warzone 2's battle royale suite stacks up against the Tarkov-like DMZ mode. Our finished review of Call of Duty Warzone 2 is coming soon, but check out more coverage here.