As an evergreen in the industry, “Call of Duty” meets players every October-November. As the latest installment in the series, “Call of Duty: Vanguard” once again focuses on the battlefield that we are all too familiar with. After three generations of changes, what changes will be made compared to the highly acclaimed “Call of Duty: WWII” before? How does the multiplayer and zombie modes perform as the true essence? Let’s take a look together.
The story of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” (hereinafter referred to as COD18 ) begins one night, when a team infiltrates a German train with the aim of seizing the top secret “Phoenix Plan” of the Nazis. When the train stops at the submarine base, the team also takes corresponding actions. After infiltrating the command room, Lucas discovers that the secret German army is stored in the submarine, and the story begins.
The subsequent plot narrates the grievances between the four members of the team and the Nazis through flashbacks. In describing the experiences of each member of the team, players can experience four soldiers with different styles. Sergeant Arthur can command the team to suppress firepower, and for some bunkers that cannot be directly attacked, Arthur can command his teammates to suppress firepower and then take the opportunity to break in. Polina can also move quickly while crouching, and even if she loses her sniper rifle, Polina can easily use a small knife to deal with the enemy. Lieutenant Wade can provide aerial firepower support to friendly forces, and his strong focus ability can not only identify the enemy’s position but also turn it into bullet time to defeat the enemy. Finally, Private Lucas, as an explosive expert, can not only store various explosives but also see the trajectory when dropping bombs.
This time, in addition to the regular tug-tug and vehicle driving sections, parkour has also been added to the plot mode. In the “Stalingrad” level, players will play the role of Polina Petrova, a female sniper based on the sniper queen Lyudmila. At the beginning of the story, Polina’s family was happy. After breakfast, Polina went to the nurse station. The sudden German air raid broke the calm. With the collapse of the houses on both sides, Polina began parkour. This section directly gave me the illusion of playing “Uncharted” or ” Tomb Raider “. Here, it can be seen that the production team is trying to make changes, but this kind of stiff addition is really out of place.
Although the COD series has movie-level camera movements and audio-visual appearances, the plot this time did not leave a deep impression on people. The plot did not take the reversal route like the previous work, but took the route of a popcorn movie. One person kills a team, and two people take down a German warehouse. This kind of plot is not uncommon, which is why I say this work is unparalleled against Germany. Throughout the entire COD18 plot, there are no famous scenes like the collapse of the Eiffel Tower or the death of soap. The scene that impressed me the most was when Lieutenant Wade plunged while flying a fighter jet. It can be said that anyone who has watched a few brainless movies can basically guess the subsequent plot development.
Also, in the game, there are no sound effects prompts for melee attacks with knives, gun butts, or bayonets, which directly leads to me having to press 4-5 melee attacks on enemies that can be easily defeated with just two melee attacks. This is also the most headache-inducing part for me throughout the entire gameplay.
The online game this time is divided into multiplayer mode and zombie mode. The multiplayer mode continues the consistent gameplay of the series, including team deathmatch where you can score points by killing, occupation battle where you can score points by occupying points, kill confirmation where you can get points by retrieving soldier cards, and free melee. In addition to these classic old anime, a new patrol mode has also been added in COD18. After the patrol mode starts, a random area will be refreshed on the map. After the player occupies the area, the area will move, and the longer they follow, the higher the team’s score will be.
The zombie mode of this game will explore a brand new dark etheric secret. While exploring the secret, you also need to join forces with allies in another world to prevent the leader of von Liszt and the demon overlord Kotifex from awakening the immortal Nazi army. Players can choose to play alone or in teams of four. After the game starts, the team will be teleported to Stalingrad. Players need to pass through the portal distributed throughout the map for three challenges: collection, blitzkrieg, and escort. After each challenge, the survival environment in Stalingrad will deteriorate, and the difficulty of each challenge will also increase. For example, blitzkrieg will increase the player’s survival time, and collection will provide more rune stones. After each player completes five challenges, the system will give players a prompt to evacuate. Whether to continue challenging to win more points or to stop when it’s good depends on personal preference.
In the online mode, players can gain relative experience to level up according to their performance in the game. When the player’s level increases, they can get the upgrade of the combo reward. From the initial mini-map intelligence to the support of aerial strafing aircraft, upgrading weapon proficiency can also unlock more weapon accessories. Moreover, each character also has their own challenges. For example, Lucas needs to complete 100 waist shooting kills, and sniper Polina needs to get 200 sniper rifle kills. Completing subsequent challenges will unlock more rewards such as clothing, such as the clothes Polina wears in the plot “Lady Nightingale”.
Overall, the multiplayer mode this time is still stable, with all the necessary modes. Although there is not much difference from the previous game, players can still experience relatively top-level gunfights. Compared to the multiplayer zombie mode, it is not as eye-catching. Not only are there only three challenge modes, but there are also very few zombie types. When players engage in early-stage challenges, they can only see two types of zombies: ordinary zombies and blasting magic sounds. If we have to talk about the highlights, it is that after each challenge, players can exchange their hearts for passive skills.
The single-player plot of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” this time is like a popcorn movie, and the chaotic storyline insertion will even make players wonder who I am and where I am halfway through the plot. The multiplayer mode is not very innovative, but fortunately, the relatively top-level gunfights will bring enough fun to players. The zombie mode can be said to be a complete failure. If you are a player who values the plot, I will not recommend this game to you, because at the end of the game, you will find that the whole story is like a trailer. If you are a zombie mode player, forget about this game…
