Call of Duty: Vanguard’s final Season begins on August 24, and it will also serve as the final Season for the original version ofCall of Duty: Warzone. WithWarzone 2.0right around the corner, Activision, Raven Software, and other developers will seemingly be hitting a reset button on the ongoing story, with weapons and skins also rumored to be reset. Before this happens,the originalWarzonewill be going out with a bang, though many longtime fans are confused by the approach.
Call of Duty: WarzoneSeason 5, otherwise known as Last Stand, is set to bring back several iconic villains from past entries in theCall of Dutyseries. However, some of these characters have birthdates that do not line up with the established canon, or they come from universes that are very much separate from those that have been tied toWarzonethus far. With the EM1 energy rifle fromAdvanced Warfarebeing renamed the EX1 and coming toWarzonein Season 5 as well, any bit of realism or continuity has gone out the window. WithWarzone 2.0, this mistake should not be repeated.
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Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Needs a Clear Identity
Prior toCall of Duty: Vanguard’s segment of theWarzonestoryline, players were given some clear plots to follow with bothModern Warfare2019 andBlack Ops Cold War. Expanding the narrative through post-launch updates is a solid approach for a live service title, as games likeFortnitehave grown enough to tell an intriguing story through seasonal events, cutscenes, and quests. AfterModern Warfaregot the ball rolling by showingCaptain Price’s mission to stop Victor Zakhaev,Black Ops Cold Wartook things a step further by showcasing Stitch’s plan.
The rivalry between Stitch and Adlerwas genuinely gripping and kept players invested, serving as a solid extension of theBlack Ops Cold Warcampaign that provided answers about Perseus. Unfortunately, the concept of a clear story that keeps things relatively grounded was thrown out the window withCall of Duty: Vanguard, as the narrative has only grown more absurd with every passing Season.
Carver Butcher’s recollection of events seemed interesting and believable early on, as he stumbled upon a secret Nazi bunker on an island. Unfortunately, things quickly took a turn toward the absurd, asGodzilla and Kong appearedon Caldera in Season 3. The next Season took an odd detour to focus on money, while Season 5 has seemingly gone out of its way to go against theCall of Dutyfranchise’s established canon.
Players can control Rorke from theCall of Duty: Ghostsuniverse, Menendez from theBlack Ops 2campaign, and Seraph fromBlack Ops 3and4multiplayer. Not only istheGhostsuniverseseparate from theModern Warfare2019 timeline, but Seraph’s birthdate is 2027. Clearly, Raven just wanted to have a bit of fun by featuring an assortment of villains from across the series, but it feels extremely unnatural following the serious stories ofModern WarfareandBlack Ops Cold War. Raul Menendez randomly appearing cheapens his conflict with Woods, too, and the only way to justify Butcher’s story is by revealing that he was making things up - something that would make everything from the past year feel pointless.
WithWarzone 2.0, Activision, Raven, and all the developers involved with the battle royale game need to decide on a single approach. Attempting to tell proper stories in the first two integrated games, only to randomly throw legacy content intoWarzonelike it’sCall of Duty Mobile, is a truly odd decision. If Activision wantsWarzoneto be a collection ofCoDcontent and random, fun events, it should go all-in on the idea from the beginning. Similarly, if the publisher wantsWarzone 2.0to tell a story, it needs to avoid inexplicable appearances from characters that have no involvement with the story. The tonal shifts between Stitch’s death scene and Godzilla vs. Kong are too extreme, and the game feels unfocused because of them.Season 5’s random villain cameosare the latest example of the problem, and they serve as a slap in the face to those who have cared about the stories told within Warzone.
Call of Duty: Warzoneis available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
