I was going to make this video sooner but I wanted to give Season 3 of Warzone 2.0 a real chance to make an impression on me. And while that was happening, it goes without saying, this Season has been the most destructive update the CoD community has ever seen. You've probably seen the comments swirling around Twitter and YouTube — the CoD community has a right to be angry. Even the CoD shills and influencers are sensing the changing winds — apologies and pivots are being lobbed left and right. No one can spin this update as good — especially considering the hype surrounding it. https://twitter.com/ModernWarzone/status/1646229799105331208 https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1646556919752949761 Streamers are dropping this game from their rotations or resorting to farming content through spectating and reacting to other players — no one seems to want to play. Warzone 2.0 is so down bad right now, Activision is rushing another "free week of multiplayer" promo to pump those numbers. https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1648371071031164954 They're also pushing out a tone-deaf survey which can be summed up as, "Do you guys really think movement is a problem?" https://twitter.com/ModernWarzone/status/1648454334185865218 How is it so difficult to understand the CoD community's Warzone 2.0 critiques? The first Warzone captured both the hardcore and casual player bases. The new Warzone has lost the hardcore and casual player bases. It turns out the hardcore community was right. It's not all bad though. There's a phrase floating around the CoD sphere that I think gives Season 3 its props. "Steps in the right direction." It can't be denied that Infinity Ward and the cabal are tweaking Call of Duty's movement in the right direction. It's a painful drip feed, but they are trying. After letting Season 3 of Warzone 2.0 breathe, a lot of the hate it's getting is justified. But there is hope. The game doesn't feel worse. That's the greatest compliment I can give right now. The update accelerated the dolphin dive and slide timings, and while I've seen the video comparisons, I rarely use those mechanics when I play. The overall movement doesn't feel any faster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-9_8NwlD8c The biggest change in Season 3 had nothing to do with movement directly, in my opinion. In Season 2, they gave us more Buy Stations which gave us more UAVs. In this latest update, they added UAV towers. And just like with Season 2, the encounter frequency has definitely gone up. The game's pacing feels faster. I'm starting to see one of the telltale signs of a well-developed battle royale — third-partying. Warzone 2.0 is starting to feel like a Call of Duty game that happens to be a battle royale again. As for shooting, I don't think anyone can ever have any solid opinions on the weapons in any direction — better or worse. There will never be a consistent TTK in this game. Not like other arcade shooters where you can predict when an opponent should go down from muscle memory alone. The attachments, weapon damaging, and effective ranges are never going to feel accurate as long as the servers remain dog water and the alleged EOMM (engagement optimized matchmaking) is messing with real-time damage modeling. The best the CoD community can do is search for, and copy, the meta every month. #gameplay #gaming #fps #fpsgames #newgameplay #gamer #firstpersonshooter #gamingvideos #gamingcommunity #videogames #gamingclips #gamedev #gamedevelopment #warzone #warzone2 #warzoneclips #warzonegameplay #warzone2gameplay #warzonehighlights #warzone2funny #callofdutywarzone2 #codwarzone #callofdutywarzone #callofduty #callofdutymobile #codmobile #fps #fpsgames #newgameplay #gamer #firstpersonshooter #gamingvideos #gamingcommunity #videogames #gamingclips #gamingchannel

I finally got a chance to hop into XDefiant after suffering through YouTubers talking vaguely about it over generic footage for months thanks to Ubisoft's NDA.

And while everyone is debating whether or not it's the next Call of Duty killer — a phrase as old as the 2000s, the game apart from those wild expectations has a lot of potential.

XDefiant went closed beta last week with a huge Twitch event lasting through to the 23rd of April.

My initial reaction to the presentation after coming from Call of Duty was refreshing. XDefiant's UI and UX are clean, casual, and intuitive. It's great to have a UI that behaves like a video game menu and not a Netflix dashboard.

The color, contrast, and art design are simple and clean and do what every arcade shooter should — streamlines the booting up, queueing in, and fragging down pipeline.

That same philosophy — focusing and facilitating gameplay above all else — is carried over to my favorite part of XDefiant right now...

Its maps.

You've probably heard this by now, but XDefiant's map design gives off serious Black Ops II vibes.

The map design is completely reminiscent of the 3-lane, traditional, and tight adrenaline fests we all fell in love with back in the day.

Like the UI and UX, the maps are clutter-free, bright, and geared toward gameplay.

A lot of modern first-person shooters have picked up the very bad habit of equating complexity with progress, and progress with positive. You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about more doors and floors — enough angles and verticality to induce terminal camping syndrome.

XDefiant doesn't suffer from these problems. Its simple maps are quick to memorize but offer enough complexity to give you ways to flank, hold, and mix up competitors. It really is a breath of fresh air to have maps designed for gunfights first and foremost.

And like the presentation and map design, XDefiant is doing everything it can to please the arcade shooter community by giving us red dots, map voting, and SBMM-free casual playlists...

Up to this point, this game just feels good to play. It's not without its faults though.

The gameplay in XDefiant is nothing remarkable — and that's a great thing.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of big budgets, A-list voice acting, powerful storytelling, and "innovation" in the gaming space. The industry has been struggling to get the basics right for forever and that's led to a fun deficit.

I think you'll agree, in 2023, just producing a competent arcade shooter is a revolutionary act.

And that's what XDefiant feels like.

The biggest hurdle to XDefiant's success is going to be its lack of identity.

They left behind the Tom Clancy name, but the Heroes come from Ubisoft titles like Far Cry, Splinter Cell, and Watch Dogs. It's an IP mish-mash — like Super Smash Bros. — but without the character recognition.

Unique lore would have done this game wonders, but that's not what we're going to get and that might lead to players abandoning it.

Here's hoping Ubisoft has some very strong roadmaps in the future that can carve out a unique brand for this game.

We arcade shooter fans need this game to succeed.

See you on the battlefield and as always, stay cool, gentlemen.

Go check us out on:

🔵Twitter: @giantnerdco

🌐 Website: www.giantnerd.co

📧 Email: ben@giantnerd.co

#gameplay #gaming #fps #fpsgames #newgameplay #gamer #firstpersonshooter #gamingvideos #gamingcommunity #videogames #gamingclips #ubisoft #ubisoftgames #arenashooter #tomclancy #ghostrecon #thedivision2 #thedivision #splintercell #farcry6 #watchdogs #watchdogs2 #twitch #twitchclips #twitchtv #farcry #xdefiant #xdefiantgameplay #xdefiantbeta

The Call of Duty Season 3 Roadmap is out and here's what I have to say... We've been here a million times before. Haven't these hype phases worn off for you? It's all the same marketing push — the bumping music... the quick cuts... the rugged vibes... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C04Oj2yEynY But where has that led us every single time? Nowhere. Do me a favor, put all the dumb content aside. Of course, they're going to advertise skins and guns and maps... but we all know content isn’t the problem right now — at least with Warzone players. There is a strong argument that content can do a lot to shore up the dwindling player base. For real, Modern Warfare has become the neglected step-child in the Call of Duty family. But if we're being honest, the problem is systemic. It's not the lack of maps that has the player base collapsing. It's not the lack of guns and skins that has streamers taking CoD out of their rotations. It's not the lack of new operators that has the CoD community on Twitter more negative than ever. It's Call of Duty developers being allergic to fun. Modern Warfare isn't fun. Warzone isn't fun. But we all know how to bring it back. Take a look at the Season 3 Roadmap. We know that the solution to all of Call of Duty's woes right now lies in the mechanics — not content, but the way the games play on a fundamental level. The Roadmaps have become useless to the CoD community. That's not where our issues are going to be addressed. Do you guys feel like Redeploy Drones, Deployable Buy Stations, or UAV Towers tweak the movement in Warzone 2.0? The moment-to-moment movement is still chalked. Will tempered plate carriers slow the TTK in any significant way? We're all still getting laser-beamed. How about on the Modern Warfare side? No mention of any equipment or perks that move the needle in the direction the game needs. I'll say it again, Content can't save these games. When a game sucks to play, it sucks to play. Here's the hopium, though. The CoD developer cabal doesn't broadcast what we want to see changed in Season 3 in their Roadmaps — that stuff gets dished out in the patch notes. And just like we saw changes made to the plating system in Season 2… … I think we're going to see movement changes in Season 3. There are rumors of one-shot snipers and tweaks to the dolphin dive and it makes complete sense. https://twitter.com/ModernWarzone/status/1644393499045789722 Now is the time for these developers to pull out all the stops to save these dying games. If they don't, the player base isn't getting any larger. And we know they're desperate because they had to bring out the old, "Recruit a Friend" scheme to try and pump the numbers. https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1644037758715940865 Conclusion I'm not hyped about this Season — or any other season going forward. I'm just waiting for the patch notes. See you April 12th and as always, stay cool, gentlemen. Go check us out on: 🔵Twitter: @giantnerdco 🌐 Website: www.giantnerd.co 📧 Email: ben@giantnerd.co #warzone #warzone2 #warzoneclips #warzonegameplay #warzone2gameplay #warzonehighlights #warzone2funny #callofdutywarzone2 #codwarzone #callofdutywarzone #callofduty #callofdutymobile #codmobile #fps #fpsgames #newgameplay #gamer #mw2 #modernwarfare2 #modernwarfare #firstpersonshooter #gamingvideos #gamingcommunity #videogames #gamingclips #gamingchannel