Hello Everyone. I recently replayed CODWW2 and Vangaurds's main campaigns and would like to talk about it.
CODWW2 is the 14th mainline COD game. It was released in 2017 and was initially heralded as a "return to form" for the series with "Boots on the Ground" gameplay after the past 3 COD games featured Exo suits and advanced mobility.
Personally, I remember being really disappointed at that and how many other players seemed to be overjoyed. As I always felt games like Advanced Warfare really added to and innovated on the singleplayer experience as Exo suits gave the player more options and abilities which added more variety to the gameplay. But I guess that's what people wanted.
Anyway, CODWW2 has the player playing as mostly Pvt., later Cpl. "Red" Daniels of the 1st Infantry Division. The story starts from around D-Day to the push into Germany and ends on the liberation of the Berga Concentration camp on April 4th 1945. Unlike past WW2 CODS which switched perspectives or had different characters in different theaters of WW2, CODWW2 is mostly centered on Daniels and events he is involved in.
On the gameplay side, the game plays more like how'd you expect a typical COD level to be. Levels are mostly straightforward affairs with standard shootouts mixed in with setpieces or "gimmicks" such as the odd stealth level, or turret section or vehicle section. If you've played any prior COD Campaign or any WW2 shooter, this is all familiar.
The main new feature of CODWW2 is how health and resources work. CODWW2 is taking its cues from prior WW2 and MW CODs where the player is supposed to feel more like a regular solider in a squad rather than a superhero. It accomplishes this by replacing the regenerating health standard for the series with health packs scattered throughout the level. Any damage sustained now needs to be healed with these health packs and you can only carry 4 max.
The second new feature is that your squadmates can pass you resources after killing enough enemies. For example, killing a certain number of enemies allows Zussman to pass you a health pack, Turner an ammo refill, Stiles a Grenade Refill etc.
These changes do make it such that you feel more vulnerable and more dependent on your squadmates and on searching the level for supplies. I found ammo to be relatively scarce so I was swapping weapons a lot more on levels where I didn't have Turner on the squad. And Health packs are always useful given that you are dealing with enemies using accurate hitscan weapons.
Personally, I am rather neutral on this aspect on principle. I don't mind it either way. It's not deep enough like a full on squad shooter for me to really want it more. Nor does it interfere with how I usually play COD Campaigns. I can take it or leave it.
My main issue however, is how it sometimes executes. When you kill enough enemies for a refill, you need to aim at the squad mate in question and press "up" in a close enough range and they will then toss you the refill. In levels and scenarios where environments are tighter, it's straightforward enough to find the squadmate you want and get him to toss you a refill. But in slightly larger or more complex areas where your squadmates can spread out and cover different sections, it's a more tedious process. Quite a few times in these sections when I needed more grenades or health packs, I'd have to disengage from the enemy and look around for where Stiles or Zussman were, go to them and get the refill. This really hurt the flow of gunfights. In addition, your HUD doesn't show you exactly where your squadmates if they present in your field of view so narrowing them down isn't quick.
I understand it probably wouldn't be ideal to fill the screen with icons or highlight all your allies (particularly in larger engagements where you can have 5 squadmates + other NPCs). But at the very least, I feel it would have been better if I could use the D-Pad to select with refill I want and either have that squadmate try to come to me or then be highlighted so I could easily find them and go to them for the refill thereby preserving the feel and flow of encounters.
Another minor new feature is "Heroic Actions". During certain points, you get these timed "mini-challenges" such as dragging an injured ally to safety, helping an ally in a dangerous spot or apprehending enemy troops that have surrendered. I like these ideas in concept as these quick challenges you need to act fast on in the heat of the moment and there being consequences but the game seldom makes these very interesting. Like, many of the people you rescue just return to what they were already doing or die afterwards anyway. It even makes replays less interesting since there is often no reason or benefit to help people out.
The Mission Liberation is the only one I feel that does Heroic Actions in a cool way. Here, you rescue people the Germans have imprisoned during the undercover portion of the mission. And if you get spotted in the later stealth section, they will come out and help you. I wish more of the levels were like this where if you did the action, you get some different action or reward or section compared to if you didn't.
Also, is it just me, but when I was playing the game, I found it really hard to visually distinguish between the American and German uniforms. The Americans wear these pale tan-ish coloured uniforms. The Germans wear these pale grey/blue-ish uniforms. In certain situations such as when an NPC was further way, or in certain lighting, the uniforms would be hard to visually distinguish. CODWW2 is the only COD I've ever played where I found myself getting a lot of mission failures for friendly fire as I shot American allies as they resembled Germans. Or found myself casually walking next to Germans thinking they were friendly only for them to shoot at me (or hesitating shooting at certain enemies as I was unsure of if they were German). I messed around with my TV's brightness and display and colourblind settings to no luck. CODWW2 is the only COD where I feel this has happened.
It's more occasionally annoying as when it happens, I can usually eventually remember and brute force my way through the level. I was often quite glad when Pierson was on my squad as his ability to highlight enemies was extremely useful.
Also, this game doesn't seem to save your checkpoints as you progress through a level. Meaning if you close the game partway through a mission, you'll have to restart the entire mission. Other CODs didn't have this issue. A more minor issue is the game's cutscenes. On PS5, the gameplay is at a rock solid 60FPS. But as soon as the game enters a cutscene, the framerate tanks and it is jarring. There's also no crosshairs when hipfiring. So I found that I had to use ADS way more than usual even with shotguns since I couldn't be sure of my aim.
As for the story of the game, it's.....alright. In terms of tone, it feels more like a quasi-gritty/spectacle like Saving Private Ryan so don't expect a more brutal take on WW2 like CODWAW. I enjoyed the arcs and interactions of the characters. From Daniels' self-doubt and bonding with the squad, to the conflict between Pierson as this hard-ass leader with hidden trauma and reasons (reminds me of Mr. D from the Percy Jackson Books) and Turner as this more compassionate leader.
The story does feel a bit like a movie adaptation of a book that had managed to keep the main scenes but had to cut a lot of the connecting material for the sake of time and budget. The frequent timeskips ensure the gameplay doesn't get a chance to slow down or get boring but skips some of the story and character interactions.
As an example, one arc of one of Daniel's squadmates is how Aiello overcomes his racism for Howard. But the story only really shows us the beginning of his arc with how he's racist towards Howard at the Batlle of the Bulge and the next we see of them is several months later when he now respects Howard. We don't get to see the interactions that happened in between. Of course, I imagine if the game did do that, it would slow down the pace of the gameplay and I'd be complaining about that.
One aspect I was rather disappointed by was how rather timid the game was in showing the extent of German atrocities in their concentration camps. The game's epilogue does take place in such a camp and some of the aftermath is shown. But it's mostly told and over quite quickly. I wish the game actually went further and really showed something like a camp with Jewish prisoners being liberated. Really showing the deplorable and brutal conditions they were in instead of it being after the fact. It would have even added to the story since it highlights what would happen to Zussman if Daniels didn't save him.
On a sidenote, when I was playing this game, sometimes my grandparents would watch me play. They were impressed at how seemingly accurate the game's various interiors and props were. Stuff like the various kettles, vinyl turntables, lights etc. We spent quite a bit of time just exploring the interiors of certain levels (all while my NPC allies kept shouting at me to get a move on). My grandfather was interested in the history of the US in particular during all this. We had a great time discussing WW2 and how he remembered JFK's assassination as he was watching it on TV.
My grandmother said she didn't like the game because seeing the scenes of tanks rolling through destroyed cities, the deaths of soldiers and the sounds of shelling during a blackout reminded her of the times she experienced similar in wars from decades ago as a civilian. So I elected to play CODWW2 when she wasn't present.
-COD Vanguard
COD Vanguard released in 2021 as the 18th mainline COD title. Set in WW2 and and following 4 major characters across many more fronts such as the the forests and trenches of the Western Front, the urban combat of the Eastern Front, the desert warfare of North Africa, and an island of Pacific Front.
Vanguard is generally considered something of a recent black sheep for the franchise in both its singleplayer and multiplayer due to some of its gameplay choices and zig-zagging for historical accuracy. I won't talk about the multiplayer here but I will drop the hottest take for the singleplayer: It's actually really good. I really enjoyed my time with it. It may even be my favourite COD campaign of the post futuristic era.
One of my criticisms towards CODWW2 was how it didn't really have much time to develop its cast of characters. Vanguard's mission is to make sure its 4 main leads get as fleshed out as possible. The game's main framing plot is that the characters get captured by the Nazis in Hamburg by Jannick Richter who plans to interrogate and torture valuable intel out of this elite SOE squad. Each interrogation plays out as an entire flashback mission showing that character's past and main events that got them recruited in the squad.
There's a theme of each member of the squad being someone incredibly skilled or talented but having their contributions overlooked or stolen as well as having a negative stigma. With SOE being the first place where they are of a team of similar individuals and can actually use their skills to the fullest.
For instance, you have the Australian 2nd Lieutenant Lucas Riggs. The story tells and shows us he's an explosives and demolition expert. The gameplay represents that by giving him access to 4 different sets of explosive equipment and having frequently blow up tanks. His levels take place in the North African front where it's shown him bonding with his squad and being quite close to them, as well as being responsible for the allied victory. But despite his contributions, he never received recognition for that or rose above the rank of Private given his incompetent and abusive commanding officer, Major Hamms stole all the credit. And that Riggs was always a troublemaker and didn't always follow orders. On top of that, Riggs was frequently imprisoned. His most recent one being that Hamms' incompetence resulted in Riggs' friends being killed during a mission that Riggs still eventually managed to completed solo while Hamms stole the credit for it and replace the Australian flag with the Union Jack on the hill Lucas claimed to honor his fallen comrade. Riggs in his anger, attacks Hamms and gets arrested as a result.
Like, this is some good stuff. These levels give us his character, give us time to bond with Riggs' friends, see what his situation is like and see why SOE would want to recruit him. I like it. The gameplay isn't really too different from prior CODs but still has a nice mix of stealth, open ended objectives, linear shooting corridors and "hold the point" objectives so it doesn't get too boring. I did dislike his boss fight against shooting down a plan given how hard it is to aim and shoot at a small moving plane in the sky using a controller.
The one thing I wish got more development here is Riggs' prejudice. The game only barely touches this but in the comics, we learn Riggs harbours prejudice against Brits because his British commanding officer, Hamms was a corrupt, abusive racist who treated him like crap. As such, he believes all Brits are as bad as him, and as far as Riggs was concerned, there was no difference between Brits and Germans. When Lucas got thrown in prison for assaulting Hamms, he refused to ever work for or with a British soldier ever again. This does get the Nazis to oddly praise Riggs with his displeasure at Kingsley to which Riggs has to be like "no. I don't hate him because he's black. I hate him because he's British".
Also, fun fact, but Riggs is apparently based on the IRL figure Charles Upham, albeit Upham was from New Zealand.
The next character is Sergeant Arthur Kingsley, an Afro-British soldier hailing from West Africa. Kinsley's character is that he's a natural born leader but is overlooked because he's black. His early levels have him take charge after their prior commander was killed and his story was him taking every death of every man under him personally. His gameplay feature is that he can give orders to his squad. This can be more trivial stuff like "open that door" to more choice driven fare like "there are 2 targets, shoot to distract one, I'll handle the other". His levels are generally more standard fare tho.
The next character is the American Lieutenant Wade Jackson. A Thrilseeker Ace Pilot who feels more at home in the skies as opposed to on the ground and is overlooked because of his insubordination. His initial level starts with him in a plane before getting shot down and forced to survive for some time on the dangerous ground floor with the 93rd Infantry Division where his arc is to see what life's like on the ground floor. He reminds me a lot of Poe Dameron from Star Wars The Last Jedi and he even gets a similar line of "There's a difference between suicide and sacrifice. Remember that".
His special ability is "focus" which highlights enemies through walls and slows down time gives him aimbot on all enemies he has line of sight on. His levels are about on par with with Riggs as a nice mix of stealth, shooting and set pieces.
Wade is apparently based on the IRL figure: Vernon L. Micheel
The last, and most fun character to play as is the Russian Lieutenant Polina Borisovna Petrova. A sniper whose family were killed in the Nazi invasion of Stalingrad. She lives for combat because she has nothing else. When Kingsley attempts to rally the squad's morale with a discussion of what they'll do when they get home, Polina bitterly replies that her family and friends are dead, her home is a pile of rubble, and the only thing she has left in the world is killing Nazis. That's why she joined SOE in the first place. Her arc is going from barely tolerating her teammates to having a positive view of them.
Polina's early levels have her spend time with her family and job before the aforementioned invasion. Polina becomes a force of revenge against the Nazis, earning the nickname "Lady Nightingale" and inspiring the Russian forces to help push the Nazis out of Stalingrad.
Polina's main abilities are that she can crawl and crouch quite fast and can quickly climb up certain walls like in Uncharted. This may sound rather simple given the other characters, but I assure you. Polina is the most fun with these.
Her final levels and firefights tend to be built with her abilities in mind. So you occasionally have large multi-story buildings where you are absolutely swarmed with enemies. But as these levels have vents and climbing walls dotted all around them, you always have agency and things to do. For example, in other levels, when you are shooting at enemies and take damage, there's not much you can do except stay behind cover and wait for your health to regen. If an enemy rushes you or throws grenades at you, there's limited counterplay. But in Polina's levels, whenever my health got low, I would simply disengage and move through a vent or climb up a wall and flank the enemies from a completely different angle. I almost never stopped moving in these levels. It was great. It almost felt more like a weird hybrid of Batman Arkham Asylum's predator segments and Doom Eternal's movement than a typical COD level. I kinda wish the entire game was Polina's levels given how fun these are as these levels alone are some of the most fun I've had in a non-futuristic COD game (I guess I could just play Doom Eternal for the full experience lol). Like, when I died in these levels, I wasn't frustrated or upset. I was happy because it gave me a chance to try out a new strat or approach. Add in the frequent checkpoints and these are fun open ended levels with lots of options or choice and speed. It's the closest these new CODs get to the fun gameplay of the futuristic CODs without giving the player advanced movement.
Hell, it actually made going back to playing as the other characters really boring as they move REALLY slow, especially when crouching and their levels lack the alternate paths or flanking routes or depth of Polina.
Seriously, I hands down recommend renting this game just to play Polina's final levels. They're that good. Everything before that is about on par with Wade and Riggs tho.
She's apparently based on the IRL figure: Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko
That's sorta the weird thing about Vanguard. In terms of tone and commitment to an aesthetic of realism, it's quite far removed from what most would consider a typical "WW2 COD". Like, if CODWW2 is sorta like CODMW1 (2007) as this sorta plausible and authentic looking depiction of the real thing. Vanguard is more like CODMW3 (2011) as this far more over the top spectacle that more wants to look cool and make the player have fun rather than focus on looking plausible. This is most evident in how the 2 games treat their main characters. In CODWW2, Daniels was like, the 3rd most important guy in his squad at best and even then, he wasn't special or that much of an expert. He was more of a "regular soldier" alongside his peers. Whereas in Vanguard, each of the main characters is an ace or expert in something and the story treats them as special soldiers.
While I did like COD's commitment to its "regular soldier in a sorta Hollywood fashion" approach, I really enjoyed Vanguard's approach a lot more. Both in its gameplay and its story giving more for its characters to work with. The final mission, "The Fourth Reich" showcases this with how it switches between the main characters in a really bombastic way.
If anything, I feel the occasional commitment to a WW2 setup kinda hinders Vanguard a lot more. I kinda wish the game took more cues from its zombies mode and was set in an alternate history timeline where it was more free to go all out.
In closing, if you want a more authentic WW2 COD experience that is a lot more harrowing and brutal, check out CODWAW (2008). If you want a more "Hollywood" take on it, check out COD WW2 (2017). If you want a more wacky and over the top COD that happens to be set in WW2 and features some surprisngly enjoyable gameplay and set pieces, check out Vanguard.
My next review will probably be the 3DS port of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. See you then.
No comments:
Post a Comment