Call of Duty: Warzone 2024 & Area 99 map review — Awaiting the boom

Warzone is an interesting beast. Unlike other battle royales like Apex Legends and Fortnite, it’s a product of a franchise arguably greater than itself. Thus, it is beholden to an annual release, with new content dictated by said new game. This time around it’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and the results are both promising yet discouraging on day one and even a month later. A quick disclaimer: this review has been written over the course of a month, with my attempting to allow the devs time to adjust as the rushed launch has ensued. To read my thoughts on Season 1’s new weaponry and multiplayer, check this article out here. For my full Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 review, click here.

First off, this is a much better launch for a Black Ops game than Cold War’s integration. With it, the engines weren’t the same, necessitating a lot of realignment. The games didn’t play similarly either, so swapping between the two was more haphazard than it is today. Over these last few years Treyarch worked to move onto a unified engine, and while there are issues, at least Black Ops 6 and Warzone play the same.

Speaking of that, omnimovement is now the name of the game in Warzone as well. After coming from multiplayer (and especially from Modern Warfare III), it feels extra slow on this bigger map. Even with Area 99 being the smallest Resurgence map we’ve had (more on that later) I feel like I’ve got a full pack on, trudging from POI to POI. Where it feels at its best as in gunfights, with the ability to slip, slide, and jump your way around to challenge another player. There is a smoothness to it overall, but it’s not as snappy or speedy as MWIII. I do like being able to fire my gun without tac stancing in a slide, so that’s a bonus I appreciate.

Using omnimovement on Urzikstan is another thing entirely. This map is so large that you feel like it takes forever to get from point A to point B. Sure, you can jump in a vehicle, but reusing this map leaves the memory of MWIII’s pace in the back of your mind. I’m also very disappointed that we’ve seen so many advances from the final form of Urzikstan have to be rolled back because of the Black Ops 6 integration with Warzone. No more Superstore, no more bunkers, back to square one. I’d assume some of the problems we’ve seen with aim idle sway and other things are recurring issues because of these rollbacks. It leads to unnecessary frustration from the players, especially as I know the devs are doing all they can to fix these things as they pop back up.

As mentioned before, Area 99 is the new Resurgence map available in Warzone. I’ll be honest, this almost feels like a multiplayer map given the size. Even with 44 players maximum dropping in, I always feel like I can’t drop anywhere without immediately being in a firefight. That’s not the worst thing, but I prefer a little bit of time to get my bearings. You’ll also find yourself in fights you don’t want to be in, as I’ve constantly been third-partied with how small the map is. Rebirth Island is small, but gives you the space to breathe, although similarly to Area 99, there’s a fight uphill given the mid-map elevation. The patch that went through to reduce player group sizes on Area 99 seems to have made a difference; I can land without instantly being melted.

Choosing “where Nuketown was built” for a map location is really cool. Area 99 has that Nuketown flair to it, but I’d argue it’s almost too post-apocalyptic. We know something is going on as to why Area 99 is now in the shape it is, but I’d have loved some form of easter egg behind it to give this setting some pizazz. As much as I like it, the desert warfare trope wears a little thin after a while. I do feel like Treyarch and Raven have something up their sleeve with how they want to progress this map, and I look forward to seeing what ensues over the coming cycle.

Also added to the formula: a heck of a lot of new guns. The entire Black Ops 6 arsenal is here, and although they’re going to have different values from the multiplayer in damage range, velocity, and such, the feel of the gunplay hasn’t changed almost at all. This is a perfect translation, allowing someone from multiplayer to drop in without being punished for not understanding Warzone weaponry.

I’m also loving the balance we’re seeing early on. Modern Warfare II and III’s arsenal is still present in this updated version of Warzone, but intentional adjustments have been made to ensure Black Ops 6 is the lead platform for weapons. It’s not that they’ve simply nerfed those older guns into the ground either, as some are more than viable. But, they’ve made them exist just under the capability of the Black Ops 6 armory, and don’t have them out as ground loot in many cases. It makes sense as you want to focus on what’s new, but it’s nice that the old isn’t fully retired as of yet.

This balance also extends to Black Ops 6’s armory. So far, there is a whole lot that is viable, with a few weapons that make sense to pick up or load up at all times. This isn’t what we experienced in the final two seasons of MWIII, where the DTIR and Static ruled all with no reason to branch out. Here, the Jackal may still be the better weapon, but a PP-919 seems like it has a better chance at parrying it in experienced hands. There’s still plenty of work to do, but the balancing is on the money right now.

Lootable perks have also returned, and I’m all about the idea, but not all of the execution. Picking up perks off the ground is awesome, but you’re locked into only having six at the most. I understand the need for keeping players from becoming omnipotent with perks, but with Specialist handing you all of them, why can’t I loot up a bunch as well? An interesting twist is perks that are only lootable, and this certainly creates more good RNG in this game, encouraging looting to get the best loadout possible.

Loadouts are going to look just like they do in multiplayer, with a primary weapon, secondary, and melee weapon. You’ll have a tactical and lethal piece of equipment along with a field upgrade. The perks mentioned above allow up to three from three separate trees, and you can have four if you equip the Perk Greed wildcard. Wildcards are in Warzone for the first time, and it takes a second to figure out which one fits you best. For some, having Overkill to allow two primary weapons is invaluable. Others might prefer Bandolier to have as much ammo as they can. I do hate the inclusion of a Wildcard – Battle Ready – that adds a UAV as soon as you grab it, as I’ve seen several teams cheese it to death and have four UAVs in hand to start hunting other players. In any case, with a new Wildcard coming at the Reloaded portion of the season for multiplayer and more to come overall, these will shape Warzone in interesting ways as they arrive.

The good news is that backpacks are gone, replaced only by an ammo satchel that ups your carryable ammo and equipment, and an armor satchel that doubles your plate cap from six to twelve. If there is one thing I hated in the last Warzone, it was getting spammed with cluster strikes or watching someone throw fifteen smoke grenades. Yes, it’s still possible to have plenty of these things in a squad or if you play around a buy station, but the intensity of the bottomless backpack has been squashed for now.

Ranked Play is back earlier than it’s ever been, right at Season 1 Reloaded’s launch. A big changeover is going back to Urzikstan – no more resurgence or smaller map for Ranked Play. I can see the merit of it, with a longer match, more SR available through kills (although there is a cap which discourages griefing to a degree), and pushes players to work together. This is especially present with contracts and looting, as you’ll want to have the cash necessary to buy back your teammates. Another good choice, only Black Ops 6 weapons, forcing a balance into play.

I’ve not played it enough to truly understand the flow, but with the slower pacing of Black Ops 6’s integration, along with a higher player count, I’m not sure I like it. As a more casual player that enjoys diving into Ranked modes, the longer matches, fewer engagements, and a feeling you don’t make a big dent in your SR makes this mode a bit of a slog. I’ll be interested to see if Raven wants to make changes quickly, and perhaps Verdansk can inject some juice into the formula. Beyond this, I don’t feel as attached to Warzone’s Ranked Play as I was in Modern Warfare III.

There is some bad in this update, and it mainly revolves around the build itself. As mentioned in the earlier Urzikstan portion of this review, there have been technical bugs and improvements that seem to have been lost with this Black Ops 6 integration. That is certainly the truth, as recent updates from Treyarch and Raven have confirmed the idle sway and other problems are being worked on. A recent update has at least corrected the aim idle sway, but there is a lot more work to be done.

Aggravating players further has been an “erroneous visual blood effect”, which seems to be hit registration or network issues as opposed to what it’s being labeled. Given packet burst has been a constant annoyance, it seems like the servers are a big part of why Warzone has been quite frustrating, and big steps need to be taken in order to help players have fun again. There’s too much in this update that should make this game a blast to play for it to fall apart due to these problems. We seem to be in a loop, every title change over for Warzone brings us back to the start of these issues and by the last few months the game is in a good place, only for another reset to bring it right back. Hopefully the unified engine will solve things with this being the last time, but I pray it isn’t too late to regain players’ trust.

That said, I want to give credit where credit is due. Over the last week we’ve seen a bunch of updates, with the aforementioned aim idle sway being fixed, visual recoil gone, and many other corrections. Treyarch, Raven, and the other teams involved are hard at work, here’s to their success in repairing and tweaking.

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