How Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 1 Maps Improve Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 1 has been released, and with it comes an almost overwhelming amount of new content to discover and unlock. The Season 1 update came out on December 3rd, and includes a payed Battle Pass along with a wealth of free content. More content will continue to be released on a weekly basis throughout the season, so all of the new content will not come in an overwhelming rush.
Activision seems to committed to giving Modern Warfare a constant stream of new content to unlock, but it is not all just payed content. There are also free tiers to the Battle Pass, while constant updates have taken player feedback into account to improve game balance and quality of life.
The free tiers of the Battle Pass included two new guns that will likely play a big part in defining the meta of online play in Modern Warfare. The update also brings new game modes, operators, and co-op missions. Several other guns have been teased, but whether or not they will be added as a part of this season remains to be seen. However, the most important features of the update are the new maps being added.
The maps have been one of the major sticking points for Modern Warfare, with many players complaining about their huge size, open sightlines that encourage camping, and abysmal spawn systems. Certainly, there is nothing fun about being picked off by snipers in a run-and-gun shooter, or continually spawning in the same spot only to be blasted repeatedly by airstrikes. Maps like Hackney Yard are well known for their lopsided spawn points, and many players long for the tinier maps of older Modern Warfare titles.
The spawn systems have been updated, and the addition of Shoot House as a smaller, more hectic arena has been a breath of fresh air. However, the maps being added in Season 1 stand to drastically change the way the game feels for the better. Three maps from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are being updated and added in season 1, to the satisfaction of many long-time fans. Future season may bring in classic maps from other games, which will likely be welcomed with open arms into the multiplayer playlist.
The addition of smaller, more focused maps from previous games will alleviate a lot of the issues players have with the overwhelming presence of large, sprawling maps. With just a few compact, hectic matches sprinkled in, the monotony of the game’s current maps will be broken up. The larger maps have their merits, but a little variety goes a long way in multiplayer games that have players duking it out in the same list of maps over and over again.
Crash is a classic map from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, centered on a fallen helicopter in the middle of a small town. The map maintains the same great design, with flanking routes and rooftops that keep the battle moving fluidly. However, Crash has been updated to fit in the new Modern Warfare engine and has a lot more detail.
Some players are complaining about changes made to Crash, but the overall design is still top-notch. As a change from the issues that come with larger maps, it is a success, and with enough playtime or small tweaks even long-time players will become accustomed to it.
Vacant is another Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare map, taking place in a narrow abandoned office. It will be added later on in the season, but it promises the fast, action-packed gameplay that long-time fans have come to expect from Call of Duty. It is also getting the same treatment as Crash in that it will be updated to fit into the current Modern Warfare, but only time will tell whether these changes cause problems too.
Shipment is a bit of a special case. It is also a great map from CoD 4: Modern Warfare, but it will be appearing in both normal multiplayer matches and Gunfight games. It is an extremely small map, making it well suited to Gunfight gameplay, but it is just big enough to warrant inclusion in the multiplayer playlist as well. Players will be fighting almost the instant they spawn, but the map has also been tweaked to make it better for more modern gameplay features. Some of the details have already been leaked, and some players think that Shipment will be ruined. However, the playerbase will be able to get their hands on the maps very soon and see for themselves.
Two new Gunfight maps as well as another Ground War map should keep those two game modes feeling fresh. Gunfight is one of the best additions to Modern Warfare, so it deserves more attention. The large, Battlefield-esque Ground War mode will definitely benefit from having another map in the rotation.
Port is the new Ground War map, located in a shipping yard in Verdansk. The claustrophobic shipping containers and buildings should make Ground War games played on this map a little more intense and close-range. Because of their massive size and high vantage points, other ground war maps have been ideal for snipers. A little more cover to duck between will make the gameplay a lot more varied.
The small maps of Gunfight are, for the most part, very well crafted while still feeling unique from one another. Each one has its own theme, and the designers put in just enough cover to make flanking around the enemy team both risky and rewarding. More maps are never a bad addition, and they will only serve to make Gunfight even more endlessly re-playable.
Atrium takes place in the center of a palace in Verdansk, with a large tree at the center to break up sightlines and encourage rotation around the map. Players will certainly be seeing plenty of the new maps while grinding to level up in the new Battle Pass, so they will quickly become a familiar part of multiplayer gameplay.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Post a Comment