I wasn’t all the time only a Battlefield man—I additionally love a superb twitchy, 6v6 Name of Responsibility match, however a cerebral palsy analysis in faculty benched me, leaving my days of chasing weed-themed calling playing cards and golden skins within the mud. I lingered and languished in DICE’s digital warzones, a strolling memoir who “might have gone professional”, fondly recalling gnarly killstreaks and insane quickscopes like Roy Batty on the finish of Blade Runner.
Fashionable Warfare 2’s explosive Floor Struggle and Invasion sport sorts have introduced me off the CoD bench and again into the sector, brilliantly synthesizing the tight gunplay and accessibility of MW2 with the big scale maps of Battlefield.
I spent loads of time in Fashionable Warfare 2019, however hardly ever ventured outdoors of Warzone, Workforce Deathmatch, and Hardpoint, solely ever queuing into Floor Struggle throughout bouts of maximum boredom. As a longtime Battlefield fan, the shortcomings of Infinity Ward’s first crack at 30v30 Conquest had been plain as day to me—bad maps, worse spawns, and the tacit refusal to steadiness the armory, it was a poor mimicry of the huge battles that DICE focuses on.
Fashionable Warfare 2’s Floor Struggle builds on the unique mode in some key methods which can be so good, they’ve me hesitant to return to DICE’s struggling collection.
Fashionable Warfare 2’s 5 Floor Struggle maps are superior, channeling the chaotic vitality of Battlefield 3’s notorious Operation Metro, however with large open areas to help automobiles and killstreaks. Should you thought Santa Sena was chaotic in 6v6, its 32v32 variant is a complete different ballgame. Floor Struggle is, for me, the one a part of the Fashionable Warfare 2 package deal that channels the out-and-out absurdity of the 2009 authentic. The nonsense on show right here is uniquely hilarious—seeing scores of B2 bombers flying low over the border wall to wipe out a Mexican cartel armored column looks like pulling again the veil on the deeply deranged writing room that gave us the unique MW2’s white home degree.
It’s not simply the theming that makes these maps a pleasure, although. Take Taraq, a cross-stitched composite of each Name of Responsibility map that takes place within the Center East, the place the enjoying discipline seamlessly pulls collectively a blown-out downtown, an oil discipline, and a mosque into a big sandbox to play out essentially the most devastating imperial battle of the millenium (to date). The oil discipline’s rolling dunes wrap round a loving recreation of a fan-favorite map, Rust, with a great deal of cowl and sightlines too large to successfully management. The sport slows all the way down to a crawl in these outskirts, until your group is rolling tanks and heavy air cowl as much as the purpose.
The Battlefield comparisons really feel most related when behind the wheels of Fashionable Warfare 2’s new suite of automobiles. There’s a brand new heavy tank, cargo helicopter, and Armored Personnel Carriers, the latter two fulfilling transport roles. Anybody on the group can leap into certainly one of these closely armored tactical insertions and park them anyplace, permitting a gentle stream of Seal Workforce Six knockoffs to swarm any flag.
The helicopter doesn’t even want a pilot, actually—you may simply set it and neglect it within the air and it will hover. Sadly, automobiles nonetheless have the identical stiff dealing with from Warzone, usually leading to automobile fight feeling like a match between two scaled up RC vehicles. It’s nowhere near Battlefield 1’s legendary tank battles, however provided that DICE can’t appear to get that lightning to strike twice, it’s hardly a dealbreaker.
Quite, the benefit and fluidity of infantry to automobile fight (and vice versa) ferments some actually nice interaction. Not one of the vehicle-mounted cannons ship exact sufficient fireplace or close to sufficient splash injury to function an overpowered answer to swathes of massed infantry, and use of the Double Time perk to dash for longer successfully neutralizes suppressive fireplace lengthy sufficient for daring C4 and thermite crops. It’s actually Battlefield in micro, very a lot appreciated given the tendency of DICE to dump swathes of negligibly helpful automobile upgrades and unlocks onto their automobiles.
Floor Struggle pressured me to make a little bit of a mindset change from my ordinary lizard-brained CoD routine of stubbornly dumping SMG fireplace from the hip. These ways can work right here, however some wonky controller solely purpose help meant that I used to be simple pickings for quick-scoping youngsters.
My greatest performing matches had been the results of a playstyle I’ve by no means related to CoD earlier than: affected person and observant play. My gameplay seemed and felt like a kind of pre-recorded Ubisoft demos, fastidiously utilizing each device in my package to maximise my probabilities of survival. I used to be utilizing the mounting system to peek round corners, consistently monitoring my spare ammo and grenades, and all the time protecting an eye fixed out for the place my deployable cowl package might give our boys an edge in a sideways firefight. My greatest weapon is the M16, tuned through gunsmith to extend the recoil simply sufficient to reliably have the third bullet join with the top when aimed on the chest.
Gunsmith is nice for lots of causes, however I believe it actually lives as much as its potential in Floor Struggle and Invasion by offering an open-ended sandbox that rewards earnest engagement with its methods. Lastly, the dozen variations of grip tape and shares have a objective.
The person expertise isn’t all there but—I’ve been enjoying crossplay with a buddy and we suffered simultaneous crashes on PC and PS5, a real first for crossplay usually. This was apparently a recognized bug with events that Infinity Ward says ought to now be mounted. Whereas that particular concern isn’t a Battlefield drawback (but, give it time), Fashionable Warfare 2’s server stability, netcode, and efficiency are altogether higher than most Battlefield video games on launch, and CoD’s level-based development is simply a way more accessible strategy to unlock weapons and instruments than Battlefield’s terrible challenge-based unlocks, the worst of which made you play the horrible dogfighting maps on janky European servers with >150 ping to unlock a drone that you simply use twice.
I additionally wish to name out Invasion, a Floor Struggle variant with barely fewer gamers (20v20) that populates the sector with dozens of simply dispatched AI-controlled grunts, TItanfall fashion. It’s an actual boon for informal gamers, with mobs serving as a buffer between aggressive squads of gamers, giving these on the backside of the scoreboard one thing to blow away and contribute to the group rating. It’s excellent for these days when my hand ache is uncontrolled and I’ve a scope I’m lifeless set on unlocking.
Fashionable Warfare 2 (opens in new tab)’s Floor Struggle and Invasion sport sorts are hammering the Battlefield pleasure facilities in my mind. On the finish of the day, we’ve solely obtained a set quantity of leisure time out there to us, and my incapacity means I’m all the time gonna be hesitant to leap headlong into hours leveling weapons and chasing unlocks in one other fashionable navy shooter. Infinity Ward’s 64-player choices put DICE on discover—no matter’s subsequent within the Battlefield collection, it must be impressed, secure, and higher than the facet modes of its competitor.
