You knew this was coming.

It’s time folks. Let’s talk about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer beta.

Heads up: I’m playing this on PS4 as it’s the early access beta at the moment. I might add more to this depending on the additions they allow players to access as the beta progresses.

The beta started on Thursday 1 pm EST, and people were hype. We finally were returning to a modern setting. Did Infinity Ward deliver?

Gunfight is cool. I don’t really have much to say about it since it’s self explanatory, but it’s a cool addition to the game. The above footage was captured during the Alpha.

Let me just start off by saying I don’t like Infinity Ward multiplayer experiences. They’ve always gone the broken/overpowered way when it comes to the CoD series, which I get is fun, but sometimes fans do get annoyed by it. Anywho, I went into this with an open mind because I do believe that IW could pull off a great modern setting.

Head up #2: These are my opinions and mine alone.

Let’s pro and con my experience.

Pros

• Graphics/Style: Holy jeez this game looks incredible. Your character has a watch on their wrist, and it’s stunning. The smoke coming from your guns, the detail of your guns, and overall presentation is amazing.
• Super Sprint: I’m the terminator coming to get you.
• Gunsmith: This is a pro and a con, but we’ll get into it later. The Gunsmith offers a crap ton of customization to your gun, and it just looks amazing adding and subtracting things from your gun. You can access it mid match too which is neat.
• Feedback: Infinity Ward has been sharing updates at the end of every day of the beta. It’s cool to see them sharing updates, noticing issues, and telling us what was available for the next day of the beta. This included adding the mini map after 80% of the community agreed it should be in the game.
• Start of a Match: Jumping off a helicopter or out of the back of a truck in the beginning of the match is cool as heck. Don’t change that.

Cons

• Feel of the Game: I think none of us were really prepared for what we were getting into. This game plays slow like Rainbow Six Siege, but just fast enough for it to be considered Call of Duty. Players played slow due to not having a mini map, and it made this a painful experience. Pair that with the high time to kill, and you’ll be melted by some before you know it.
• Maps and Spawns/Spawn System: These go hand in hand. The maps in this game move away from the traditional 3 lane setup, and I hated them. Maybe I’m simple minded. Some areas had low visibility meaning it’d be hard to spot someone right in front of you. Hackney Yard had the worst spawns I’d ever seen in a map that’s not Rust or Shipment. Granza Raid and Gun Runner had too many spots where players could hide and shoot you from. Couple that with the bizarre choice to include a spawn timer, and I just did not like playing.

• Ghost and Perks: I’ve always hated Ghost. Treyarch made amends by changing how Ghost works in Black Ops 2 by forcing players to move only giving them a break when planting the bomb in objective based modes. Infinity Ward is hell bent on making Ghost cover players all the time, and making sure Ghost is powerful enough to make all the other perks in its tier not worth exchanging for Ghost. This needs to change. Ghost should’ve been a field upgrade (ability/equipment on a timer) just like Dead Silence is. Claymores have been an issue as well, and if players don’t choose Ghost, they’ll choose Restock, which allows them to recharge their equipment over a 30 second period.
• Time to Kill: People love a fast time to kill, especially after Black Ops 4 had a 150 HP system. For some reason, this one feels too fast. I know you shouldn’t be getting turned on, but at the same time having a fighting chance should be an option. I don’t really know how describe this one, but it just feels too fast for me, and I’m not even playing Realism.
• Mini Map Debacle: To me, this shouldn’t have been changed. Who asked for this change, but said to leave it on for Competitive play and Ground War? They did turn on the mini map, but it doesn’t reveal enemy fire. TheXclusiveAce made a good point that if it makes people that mad, Core should have a mini map and Realism should have the compass. There’s even a sick edit some dude did on Twitter combining the mini map and the compass if Infinity Ward does not want to include friendly fire for “red dot chasers”.

• Skill Based Matchmaking: This hasn’t been confirmed, but Reddit is aflame right now with “proof” that it’s there. I was getting smoked, and somehow getting matched against good players so I need to watch the proof. However, if this is in the game, the game will be dead on arrival. Skill Based Matchmaking or SBMM should only be in Competitive play and has no place in public matches. It’s a tough line to balance, but I’m a solid player, and sometimes get matched against parties that beat us or I’ll blow the enemy team out myself. It happens, but Infinity Ward has yet to comment on it. Not good.
• Supply Drops: You knew this was freaking coming. Neros Cinema found out inadvertently that supply drops were in the game, and people were not surprised. Needless to say, CharlieIntel later confirmed that sprays and emotes would be coming to the game. Weapons coming soon?
• Cruise Missile: This thing just sucks.

 

I don’t want to keep going because I could, but I’m not trying to look like a complainer.I also gave a ton of my opinion in a separate post when we received the multiplayer reveal. I want this game to succeed, but based off the beta, it’s not looking too hot. People either love or hate this game, and CoD can’t sit here and further the community split even more. Oddly enough a lot of my complaints mirror that of Wings of Redemption’s video about Call of Duty: World War 2 at launch.

Speaking of World War 2, I feel like this game will suffer a similar fate as WW2. When it came out it was broken, complained about, and basically wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. However, after months of patches and reworks to the core gameplay, it’s a solid game. I’ve been playing a lot of it lately, and it’s good. This is almost two years later though.

This week marks the start of the second wave of beta testing, and it’s going to be a big one. Cross play is coming this week along with the other 33.3% (edit: 33.3 times 2 equals 66.6%) of the community (Xbox and PC players). This could get out of hand real quick if Infinity Ward isn’t on their A game. I really want this to work out though.

What are your thoughts on the beta? Are you going to play it, have you played it, or what have you seen that’s making you feel some type of way? Let me know in the comments below homies.