During these trying times, Call of Duty: Mobile has emerged as the most downloaded game on mobile platforms and has kept kids at home and away from the scare of the pandemic.
The lockdown has been long and people are turning to their hobbies to keep themselves entertained in these troubling times. Cooking is a trend that has been going viral on social media. The teenagers turned to their PC’s and consoles for amusement. I have been an ardent fan of e-games right from childhood. Games like FIFA, GTA and Call of Duty struck a chord with me. The progress of these games over the years has been remarkable, enhancing the user experience drastically with the launch of each new game. However the lack of a high end computer or a console meant that I had to make do with my modest laptop and games that are compatible with it. Having played a lot of Call of Duty, it was my go to game for an action packed first person shooting game. Their story arcs made for an immersive experience and you could almost believe whatever the characters said. A brother in arms falling on the battlefield would actually hurt you, because you had fought next to him for hours.
When Call of Duty: Mobile was released in October 2019, I was ecstatic. Like an eager fan, I jumped on the bandwagon immediately. I had tried my hand on PUBG, a similar game, but never got to liking it. Maybe it was brand loyalty towards Call of Duty. The mobile version of the game did not disappoint me at all. It was exactly what I had hoped for. Since my laptop could not comprehend all the fancy new Call of Duty games, I could now have the action in my hands literally. It is a hybrid game featuring both multiplayer as well as battle royale modes.
Now in 2020, Activision can proudly claim to have developed the most downloaded game for mobile in its first 265 days. Call of Duty: Mobile has managed to claim the top spot from PUBG and has amassed a whopping 250 million downloads.
So what makes Call of Duty: Mobile so appealing?
Call of Duty: Mobile offers a varied range of game modes. A multiplayer mode which involves a 5 v 5 battle in small maps, making for a thrilling experience.
You can further select from Domination, Frontline, Hardpoint or Search and Destroy to play in. Each mode has a different objective thus providing an assorted range of gameplay options. The ranked mode doesn’t let you choose the game modes and adopts a random selection. Victory would propel you to higher ranks and matching you with similarly ranked opponents thus increasing the difficulty level.
If multiplayer is not your cup of tea, then there is the highly anticipated battle royale, where one has to survive until the last man standing. Players can choose to play solo or in a team of 2 or 4. The player can also choose between a first-person view and a third-person view based on their comfort. The experience is much more dynamic and the graphics lifelike. There are vehicles that can be used for traveling within the map. Yes, there’s a helicopter and a tank top!
Maps in Call of Duty mobile
If you have played Call of Duty on PC, the maps in the mobile game will bring a sense of nostalgia. Plans like Killhouse, Scrapyard, Nuketown are very much like the PC game and bring a wholesome experience to the game. The game developers keep bringing in new maps. The original Rust map is a small map made for real action.
The battle royal map has made use of the above multiplayer maps to create an entire world. The graphics very much resemble the real-world and enormous attention to detail can be observed in the buildings and structures used in the map. Players enter the world by diving out of a plane and sky-dive to the location of choice.
New Season New Theme
Call of Duty: Mobile utilizes a season based approach. A season usually lasts for 3 months and a player has to achieve the highest rank possible in each season. Every season has exclusive rewards that players could get if they managed to reach a particular rank. The beauty of this is that each season the developers have come up with a unique theme to engage the audience. Season 5 was called “Steel Legion” and had characters like robots as part of giving away. Season 6 was called the “Wild West” and introduced a desert-like map – ‘Rust’. The latest season 7 is known as the “Radioactive Agent” and has brought in characters in hazmat suits and new guns.
Weapons
The weapons in this game are very realistic and offer a wide array of choices to the users. The choice of weapon doesn’t just stop at guns, players have to choose their equipment and a whole bunch of gadgets before entering the warzone. You could choose from an airstrike, UAV, killer drone, predator missile just to name a few. You could strategize with your teammates thus bringing in a complete authenticity to mobile gaming. The guns have different skins to make them more appealing. Unlocking different guns is just part of the whole gaming experience. One would have to complete numerous tasks in order to get their hands on the newly launched guns, thus keeping the users engaged. The M4, LK24 and Arctic 50 are my personal favorite guns in the game.
Limited Time Events
The developers of the game have an interesting take on keeping its users submerged. They keep bringing in new game modes for limited time. Game modes like Free for All, Gun Game, Sniper Challenge are introduced for a short duration to keep the game multidimensional. The developers have also brought in the much acclaimed ‘Warzone’ to its mobile users. Warzone has been a limited time event where the player respawns after dying in BR world and the objective is to accumulate maximum points. These events keep the game fresh and players always have something new to look forward to. A World Championship is being organised with the winner getting 1 million dollars as prize money
All in all, Call of Duty: Mobile is an excellent and a very sophisticated game. It has enabled kids to roam around in a virtual world while staying at home. Playgrounds were replaced by virtual battlefields and has made the lockdown a little less boring for these kids.
