Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is generally considered to be one of the more controversial releases in the franchise's history. While Black Ops 4 had a great Zombies mode, some unique multiplayer twists, and some of the best gunplay the series had seen to that point, it also lacked any form of single-player campaign and came right at a time when the same old formula was starting to feel very stale. But there was one very experimental mode that made Black Ops 4 worth the price of admission alone for many fans, and it's a mode that could still inspire Call of Duty: Warzone 2.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode was the very first battle royale in the franchise, and for a first attempt, it got a lot right. Releasing just a year after Fortnite, and a few months before Apex Legends, Call of Duty's Blackout mode dropped at the perfect time, capturing the success of the battle royale genre at its peak, and putting the Call of Duty seal of quality on it. But while Blackout certainly laid a lot of the foundations for Call of Duty: Warzone 2, there's still one big area that its successor could learn from.
The Next Call of Duty: Warzone Map Should Take Inspiration From Blackout
Over the last few years, Call of Duty: Warzone has had several maps, each one being suitably grand and impressive, just as fans would expect from a Call of Duty battle royale. Warzone's first map, Verdansk, is still heralded as one of the greatest battle royale maps of all time, delivering an incredible variety of locations and points of interest, giving the game some great replayability.
Warzone's Caldera map isn't quite as fondly remembered, though it still provided fans with plenty of visual and practical variety. And finally, Call of Duty: Warzone 2's Al Mazrah is generally considered to be a solid successor, taking the foundations laid by Verdansk, and improving on them with more intricate building layouts and even more varied locations dotted around the map.
While each Call of Duty: Warzone map has had its own distinct identity, they all share one common element, and that's references to past Call of Duty games. Each Warzone map has dedicated at least one or two points of interest to a classic Call of Duty multiplayer map. Verdansk referenced Broadcast with its TV Station POI, Caldera referenced Makin, Shipment, and Nacht der Untoten, and Al Mazrah references several classic Modern Warfare maps, from Rust and Highrise to Dome and Quarry.
But these classic map inclusions go far beyond just the average Easter egg or reference. Each Warzone map has integrated these maps with a great deal of care, ensuring that they fit the environment they're located in and that the surrounding buildings and scenery match up seamlessly. These POIs also usually build on to their original iterations quite a bit, adding new interior buildings and external spaces. But while these classic map POIs have been pretty great across the board, they could still learn from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode.
Though Black Ops 4's Blackout mode was primitive in many ways, it nailed its map design from the get-go, acting as a celebration of the entire history of the Black Ops series. On top of POIs based around previous Black Ops multiplayer maps, Blackout also added several unique mechanics ripped out of Black Ops' best moments, such as the addition of zombies appearing in a cemetery, and equippable Wonder Weapons.
One Warzone 2 map could celebrate the Modern Warfare series, adding plenty of classic locations as POIs, and adding unique features like Advanced Warfare's exosuits or Modern Warfare 2's snowmobiles, and when it came time to celebrate Black Ops again, the map could add zombies back in, along with a Tranzit-like bus system.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.