Yet both computer games are about the same thing. Players (up to 150 in Warzone, up to 100 in Fortnite) are dropped by parachute over a large area. A wide variety of weapons can be found on the ground. Shotguns, machine guns, grenades. The only player to leave the virtual battlefield alive is the winner.

Battle Royale is the name of the genre that has been successful among gamers for years. After PUBG, Apex Legends, and Fortnite, Warzone is the game of the moment for millions of gamers. Its Publisher Activision-Blizzard reported 30 million active players a few days ago – that was ten days after release. On the livestreaming platform Twitch, which is a good indicator of the popularity of computer games, Warzone has the most viewers on average since March 10.

On the very day of its release, Warzone caused a lot of throughput in European Internet lines. 9.1 terabits per second was reported by the De-Cix Internet node in Frankfurt for total data traffic on March 10. A new record, to which the expansion of the first-person shooter “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” contributed its share. On the one hand, this is due to the corona crisis. Because more people are staying at home, more of them are playing on the computer. In addition, Warzone is free and can be played independently of the base game Modern Warfare. But the increase in traffic is also due to the download size of the game. Those who don’t already have Modern Warfare installed have to download more than 85 gigabytes.

Second chance in the gulag

The amount of data can be explained, among other things, by the size of the map. The scene of the war is the fictional Russian city of Verdansk, which covers several virtual square kilometers. At the airport in the west, players can climb into a huge wreckage and browse aircraft hangars, while in the east there are small farms and fields. Verdansk has a huge stadium, a port, many bridges and a dam. The districts and landscapes in Warzone look more expansive and varied than in Fortnite or PUBG.

Nevertheless, the US developers from Infinity Ward have copied many things from the two games. In the course of each round, the playable area of the map becomes steadily smaller until only a circle of a few square meters is left at the end. In keeping with the atmosphere in Warzone, a ring of poisonous gas is drawn together. Players compete alone or in teams of three. If you believe the rumors, teams of two and four will also be possible with the next update, like in PUBG and Fortnite.

Already the predecessor game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4” (2018) had a battle royale mode. However, the mode called “Blackout” did not really catch on. Blackout is a solid shooter, but the game lacks something that sets it apart from other games in the genre. Infinity Ward tries to do that differently in Warzone – with success. If you die for the first time in the game, you don’t lose immediately, but are dragged to a gulag. In Warzone, there is a small arena in the center of the prison. In it, the player, usually armed only with a pistol, competes against another player who was hit outside on the battlefield. The winner of the duel gets a second chance.

Microtransactions tarnish overall impression

In the team mode, colleagues can also buy a player free. They can find the necessary money for this in crates, for example, next to weapons and equipment. However, the player does not have to be satisfied with the guns he finds. With the money he can also buy parts of his favorite equipment in addition. Additionally, there is a variant of Warzone called “Loot Hunt”. This is not about survival, but about which team has the most dollar bills at the end of a round. An entertaining change if you’ve had enough of Battle Royale.

Because Warzone is free, the game is brimming with possible micro-purchases. A virtual sticker that players can use to decorate their rifle costs eight euros, a new operator (i.e., changing the appearance of one’s character) costs more than 20 euros, and a rare assault rifle costs more than 25 euros. While players who invest real money don’t have a direct advantage in Warzone. Most of the items that can be purchased are cosmetic in nature. However, new players must first laboriously unlock the weapons that can be bought on the battlefield with play money.

Even though this dulls the overall impression, Call of Duty: Warzone is still an entertaining computer game for adults and a new interpretation of the genre. Especially in times of imposed social distance, the shooter represents a possible way out of isolation. Many take the opportunity to meet online and play together. Provided that one’s own computer can cope with the high system requirements. It is unclear whether the initial hype will survive the crisis. Competitor Apex Legend at least did not manage to compete with the pink teddy bears from Fortnite last year.