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While last month’s Call of Duty: Vanguard reveal showcased the campaign, fans hadn’t yet been treated to many details about what is arguably the series’ bread and butter: multiplayer. PlayStation players had the opportunity to get a small sneak peek with the Champion Hill Alpha, showing off a brand new and unique gunfight meets real-time ladder tournament mode.
We had a chance to go hands on with Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer a bit early, ahead of the coming open beta. Different Call of Duty developers always have their own particular style, and immediately noticeable was how Sledgehammer is deviating from Treyarch’s more arcadey approach in Black Ops Cold War. Vanguard feels like it takes a few cues from 2019’s Modern Warfare, which makes sense, considering its built on the same engine.
In particular, the maps are more complex that Treyarch’s signature three-lane design. There are a lot more opportunities for flanking and out maneuvering opponents, which creates gameplay that feels a bit more tactical in nature. And if you don’t watch your own flanks, you’ll be taking a lot of shots from the sides.
This is especially true given the destructible levels that change the dynamics of the map over the course of the match. Doors and window shutters can be opened and closed, and bullets will tear them apart, creating new sightlines and opportunities. Coming off of Black Ops Cold War, it took some getting used to slowing down a little (my gameplay style tends to be a little too “leeroy jenkins” for my own good, so a reminder to play a bit more cautiously is always welcome).
The gameplay itself also promotes a bit of a “slower” pace. Of course, slower is relative, and this is still Call of Duty, but with the destructible environments and the return of MW’s weapon mounting—now adding the ability to strafe and slide along the surface you are mounting on—it behooves players not to rush around corners and down lanes.
We also got a brief glimpse at the new gunsmith system, allowing for up to 10 attachments/modifications to weapons. Unlocking attachments still requires using and leveling guns, however, so our ability to see too deeply into this system was limited for right now. The full beta should give players time to really dig into how an unrestricted gunsmith system will impact gameplay. It’s likely that Sledgehammer is still spending a lot of time balancing the wealth of attachments and combinations too, so don’t get too attached to anything that seems overpowered in the beta.
Call of Duty Vanguard Multiplayer – Gameplay Pacing
Vanguard multiplayer comes in three flavors of pacing: Tactical, Assault, and Blitz. In effect, this is a way to dictate player counts on maps dynamically. If you choose Tactical, you’ll generally play with smaller player counts—4v4 to 6v6, the more “standard Call of Duty experience.” This is designed to mimic the slower and more methodical play of competitive Call of Duty—longer time to engagements, fewer players, and generally the ability to think, well, tactically, especially given new map designs that allow for myriad flanking opportunities and dynamic reactive environments to change up the flow.
Assault turns things up a bit more—slightly larger than appropriate team sizes for the map size, generally anywhere from 10v10 to 24v24 on most standard maps. This is a balance, less “sweaty” than Tactical, but not nearly as chaotic as Blitz. And then there’s Blitz. The ridiculously chaotic and over the top madness that dumps players into up to 24v24 matches on the same small maps normally designed for 6v6. It was honestly a bit much at times, especially considering the complexity of the maps. Getting killed from the sides or behind is not at all uncommon in Blitz. Time to engagement in Blitz is the blink of an eye.
Gameplay pacing is effectively putting alternate player counts into different words, but unlike Black Ops Cold War’s rigid 6v6 or 12v12, it allows Sledgehammer to be a little bit more flexible with how it matchmakes and sets up teams in various maps. It also lets players set what experience they want to have, which then dictates the more dynamic matchmaking per map and mode rather than players simply selecting something like a 12v12 playlist. Like everything Call of Duty, it’s a gradual evolution of previous ideas, and a great way to let players dictate the experience they want to have when they sit down to play the game.
Call of Duty Vanguard Multiplayer – Maps ‘n’ Modes
Vanguard will come with a staggering 20 multiplayer maps at launch—the most of any Call of Duty ever—and our preview gave us a look at a few of them. Covering four different fronts of World War II, the maps also have a wide variety of environments. One is a stormy shore, weaving in and out of beached ships and fortifications. Wind and rain whips around you, while plenty of verticality means you have to watch for flanking opportunities overhead as well.
Another is set high on a sunny mountaintop, in a Nazi base known as the Eagle’s Nest. This map is a long narrow rectangle, with paths running through the middle of the building, as well as flanking outdoors on each side. It feels like a more traditional three-lane setup, but with plenty of windows and doors that can be blown apart to create new sightlines and flanking abilities along its length.
On the other side of the spectrum is a snowy map on the Eastern front, an enormous open courtyard in the middle bordered by buildings on its edges. And one more we tried was set on a nighttime rooftop of a hotel in Paris, letting players move in and out of the building, much of it on fire on the inside. The sheer variety of maps even in the just the few we were shown—from layout, to environment, and even to weather effects—bodes well for the variety that we’ll see in the full game’s 20 maps, with even more to be added in post-launch seasonal releases.
New Mode: Patrol
While most of the traditional modes are back in action here—team deathmatch, kill confirmed, etc.—one of the new ones is an interesting twist on the Hardpoint idea: Patrol. Instead of a specific point that switches every so often, teams must hold a small zone that is constantly on the move. This creates a whole new dynamic where stationary strategies no longer work. You can’t just pop a trophy system and feel safe. You need to push around corners and down lanes with the point, potentially putting yourself in danger. Do you move with the point, or try to outflank the enemies moving in on your team? Press in on the point, or wait for it to come to you? This mode goes really well with the more tactical map design because it forces players to keep on the move; keep things flowing.
As an early look at the multiplayer, a lot of things are bound to change, so I hesitate to comment much on weapon balancing. Even elements like how chaotic the Blitz pacing feels could be refined by launch. Sledgehammer has already committed to improving player visibility following criticisms from the Champion Hill Alpha, so player feedback—and collected data—surrounding the beta could help shape Call of Duty: Vanguard ahead of its full release and beyond.
While Treyarch and Infinity Ward have traditionally held the flame high with the Black Ops and Modern Warfare subfranchises, Vanguard genuinely feels like Sledgehammer’s moment to step into the spotlight and cement its spot with a title that will hold a spot in Call of Duty history.
Call of Duty: Vanguard releases on November 5th, 2021. You can try out the multiplayer for yourself in a series of beta weekends coming soon. The first is exclusively for PlayStation players who preordered the game running from September 10 to 13. All PlayStation players then get to join in on September 16, when early access for Xbox and PC preorders starts. That beta period will run until September 20.
