Call of Duty may be going through a rough phase, but it has enjoyed some peaks in the past. That’s mainly because of the series’ ability to adapt to any kind of trend, so it was natural for it to try its hand at the battle royale craze. Made popular by games like PUBG and Fortnite, it didn’t take long for Infinity Ward to unleash its own take on the genre in the form of Warzone, and there was one aspect that differentiated it from the rest of the competition: its balls-to-the-wall action.
Why Call of Duty’s Battle Royale Was So Action-Packed
During a conversation about the origins of Infinity Ward’s Warzone, Patrick Kelly, the leading man behind the battle royale, revealed what led to the game being so full of action. Kelly used to play PUBG with his son on one PC, so they had to take turns, leading to a rule that would change the course of Call of Duty for years: no camping. The developer appreciated the title more when these rules were in place, so it was only natural for him to implement them into his own game.
Being strictly against the idea of camping, which is considered an annoying aspect in general anyway, Patrick Kelly wanted players to not stay in one spot on the map and actually move around to make Warzone more exciting. “In battle royales at that time, the common pattern we saw was camp until the end,” stated Kelly, which would have made the Call of Duty game a bit dull and exactly like the rest.
This mindset resulted in the team becoming adamant about encouraging gamers “to be a bit more active and provide a strategy” in its take on the genre.
Infinity Ward Ensured That the Intensity Levels Stayed High
Patrick Kelly continued that he had “written down” the rule of fast-paced intensity for his battle royale game. “Your life matters, but there’s opportunities to respawn,” said Kelly, because if every Warzone player started camping to avoid death during matches, it would just be a boring experience.
But implementing all of the action is not the easiest thing to pull off, as it led to “a real big design challenge” that the team had to face to get the aspect just right.
To achieve this, Infinity Ward introduced elements that made it quite easy to spot enemies, and if they stayed in one place, there was the option of hitting them with weaponry and airstrikes. This resulted in the players always being on the move and looking for better weapons or armor all over the map, which is one of the reasons why the OG game was the franchise at its best.
Do you miss the original battle royale, or are you happy with the sequel? Let us know in the comments!
