The arrival of a new Call of Duty is always one of the most anticipated moments of the year by fans of Activision’s popular shooter series. In 2021, it’s COD Vanguard’s turn to shine on consoles and PC, and we’ve had the opportunity to play a few hours of its multiplayer in advance at the developer’s invitation!
The coolest thing is that they have already confirmed that players will also be able to check out the different game modes between September 10th and 20th, when the developer SledgeHammer will enable a series of Betas covering different profiles, from those who pre-ordered Vanguard until fully open periods.
The schedule is as follows: From 2pm on September 10th to 2pm on the 13th, PlayStation players who have pre-purchased will be able to play the beta. Then, on the 16th and 17th, also at 2 pm, it’s time for PC and Xbox players with pre-purchase made to enjoy the beta, which will again include PlayStation players, with crossplay rights!
Finally, again at 2pm, between September 18th and 20th we will have a fully released beta for all players, without any requirement to have pre-purchased the game in order to install and enable the launcher.
The modes available for testing
During the beta, players will be able to enjoy the same modes and maps we experienced in our early access: Hotel Royal, Red Star, and Gavutu scenarios, and Team Kill, Domination, Confirmed Low, and Patrol modes. It will also return to Battle of Champions mode, which was only available on Alpha.
So make a good note of it in your diary if you want to try it all! After all, when you play the Beta and reach level 20, a new weapon design for COD Warzone and Vanguard will be made available! Who likes COD Mobile can also play with the operator Arthur Kingsley, enabled after the end of the Beta if you participate in any stage of it.
The fun here is to follow the movements of a single scoring area, which circulates around the map and can be controlled by one of the two teams. The longer your team manages to control this mobile area by placing soldiers inside it, the more points you will score. The rival team, of course, will, of course, have top priority to get their troops out of there.
Playing with 24 fighters on each side, the battlefield becomes chaotic very quickly, with gunfire and grenades flying all over the place. It’s a mode with constant deaths, and the fun is precisely trying to plan the best time to rush the point and take it from the enemies. It looked quite addictive, especially thanks to the good design of Red Star’s map, which surrounds its large central open area with numerous buildings and interior routes full of possibilities.
The other scenarios were also very inspiring and fun, particularly at the Hotel Royal. Playing confirmed lows there was electrifying, as the building’s hallways are claustrophobic enough to make each dogtag rescue a fun experience in itself.
As usual in the mode, you score if someone on your team manages to shoot down a rival and then harvest your dogtag. Likewise, you can prevent enemies from adding points if you get your allies’ dogtags before them. Finally, we also play traditional deathmatch where the team that gets the most total kills wins.
Gavutu’s map does a good job of mixing urban elements with lots of vegetation, wreckage and even a rocky beach to use as cover. A ship stranded in the middle of the area was one of my favorite places for disputes, as it has several openings and floors, serving as an ambush point, but also a shortcut to reach the other end of the scene.
The games with point captures there were some of the most fun we had in this test organized for influencers, youtubers and journalists. Interestingly, even with everyone playing alone, one in three or four matches turned into a one-sided stomp, so it might be worth Sledgehammer’s keeping an eye on the balance when the game is made available to the general public.
The launch of Call of Duty Vanguard is scheduled for November 5th on PC, PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, only in digital versions in Brazil. Are you looking forward to the game? Are you going to try this beta? What did you think of the information from this preview? Let us know in the comments below!
