Call of Duty: Vanguard (Beta) – Preview

A new Call of Duty with a new mode!

call of duty vanguard preview cover

The highly anticipated new installment to the Call of Duty franchise launcher is here. Call of Duty Vanguard goes back to its roots as it is set in World war II. We were able to get our hands on a preview of Call of Duty: Vanguard.

The open beta gives you access to the standard multiplayer modes Domination, Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch, and the new Patrol Mode. Patrol Mode feels like Hardpoint but the area you need to hold is now moving instead of changing locations. One good thing about the game mode is that it discourages camping. However, with how players are, you still won’t be able to stop the camper from pitching out their tents and sitting down for some smores.

One of the issues that I have is spawning. Spawning can cause so much chaos as enemies keep spawning behind me milliseconds after I myself respawn. Another one is the difficulty to distinguish enemies from allies since teams are made up of the same allied forces. The only difference would be seeing that they don’t have a teammate marker or would highlight in orange.

Controls are great and responsive they don’t feel as heavy as Warzone. To be fair the game is set in WWII, they don’t have to carry much stuff. The game also has native keyboard support which a lot of the long-time Call of Duty fans should already have ready and plugged into their consoles.

The visuals are okay enough but from what it looks like I would describe it as Call of Duty: Coldwar or even Call of Duty: Warzone but reskin. The Map designs are amazing which they have 3 in total: Hotel Royal, Gavutu, and Redstar. Gavutu is my least favorite due to the issue I have with spawning. Redstar is my favorite because of how vast and the multiple corners and crevices you can rotate when your playing Domination.

The weapons design is great but not quite historically accurate as one would hope. World War II guns with red dot sights? Now that can’t be right. Weapons can be modded to the bone more than you would expect. You can change barrel lengths, stocks, grips, and even add foregrips, something that you wouldn’t think possible in the time period.

Overall the game is acceptably ok but it sometimes feels like a lot of things are just recycled. But probably that’s just me hoping for something new.

You can now pre-order the game here: https://www.callofduty.com/vanguard. Call of Duty: Vanguard will be releasing on November 5, 2021.