For many gamers, the first Call of Duty Warzone title was arguably the best battle royale to ever exist. For others, it was a travesty of a platform that was riddled with hackers, bugs, and flaws. That’s the duality of the gaming community, and it’s an eternal constant, but it doesn’t stop us from asking questions like this. Today, we’re launching into a relatively controversial debate by asking, is Warzone 2.0 the best battle royale?
It has been on the market (well, it’s free…) for a month, and in that time, players have been voraciously lapping up every inch of Al Mazrah. As an all-new title, it boasts brand-new mechanics and features, a refreshed engine, never-before-seen game modes, and, of course, a plethora of new exploits, bugs, and glitches. However, if we put all that together into one huge mixing pot, do we end up with the best battle royale on the market right now?
Let’s find out.
Is Warzone 2.0 the Best Battle Royale Game?
Image Credit: Activision
Call of Duty Warzone was immensely popular within weeks of its launch. It became a literal career path for gamers that decided to make their fortune streaming their gameplay on Warzone, and during the COVID-19-enforced lockdowns, the platform absolutely exploded. If it wasn’t the best battle royale game, it certainly was the most popular – for a period of time, at least. As time went on, more issues and even some controversies surfaced, and eventually, Warzone became a hacker-ridden wasteland.
If we fast-forward to today, Call of Duty Warzone is something of a relic, pushed to the side, renamed ‘Caldera’, and left open as nothing more than an alternative option. Now, a new king rises, and its name is Warzone 2.0. This is Activision, Infinity Ward, and Raven Software’s baby for at least the next two years, and it has already proven to be a roaring success. It pulled in tens of millions of players within a week, despite many teething issues occurring at launch.
There’s a lot of competition in the battle royale space, especially considering it has risen to become arguably the most popular genre in recent years. It’s an intense world out there, but is Warzone 2.0 the best battle royale game of the bunch? It’s a mostly subjective argument, but there are various aspects of the game that we can pull to pieces in order to determine how good it really is.
Nobody is Happy with Warzone 2.0
At the moment, no, Warzone 2.0 isn’t the best battle royale game. Its current popularity can be attributed to a honeymoon period, but we’ll see a sharp drop-off if certain aspects aren’t addressed in the near future. For instance, there is evidence that cheaters and hackers have, once again, infiltrated the Warzone platform, and they’ve been wreaking havoc across the board. Even a month after the game was released, there are also ongoing issues with the stability and network connectivity present in the game.
There are several bugbears that are perpetually getting on the nerves of gamers, such as the much faster (and seemingly imbalanced) TTK, and the much slower pacing compared to the first Warzone game. This is a sentiment that has been echoed by even the best Call of Duty players, and for some, the game is borderline unplayable. For example, some of the top Call of Duty streamers, like ZLaner, have wasted no time in calling the game out online.
It didn’t end there, though, as arguably one of the most iconic COD players of all time, Nadeshot, also stepped in front of the camera to condemn the game:
It’s a sad fact, but there’s so much potential wrapped up in the Warzone 2.0 platform, and it seems unlikely that it’s going to be realised at any point soon. There’s a gorgeous, large map, somewhat intelligent AI roaming around, all-new side objectives to explore, and a whole host of fresh weaponry to level up with. There’s the DMZ mode, which is a never-before-seen extraction shooter mode set in Al Mazrah and boasting many of the same mechanics as Warzone 2.0.
In the near future, Warzone 2.0 will be expanded, potentially even with a brand-new ‘Resurgence’ style map. There’s a lot of ground for Infinity Ward and Raven Software to make up, and it all begins with making the game stable. If it’s improved upon – and quickly – then Warzone 2.0 could be the best battle royale.
Right now, it really isn’t.
