Long rumored and highly anticipated, Call of Duty: Warzone has finally arrived for players to jump into Call of Duty's latest outing in the battle royale genre. Fans have known for a while it was coming, considering the absolute swath of information that was leaked prior to the mode's official announcement. With the mode now available for free, separate from Modern Warfare, millions of players are hopping in to the latest battle royale craze.

Now that players have had some time with Call of Duty: Warzone since last week's release, it's clear Infinity Ward is trying something different for battle royale this time around. Many elements from past Call of Duty games, as well as other inspirations, make Warzone vastly different from Blackout and other games/modes in the genre. Here's why Call of Duty: Warzone is different, and how that compares to other powerhouse battle royales in the genre.

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Mid-Game Contracts

call of duty warzone contract recon

One of the greatest differences that separates Warzone from games like Fortnite or Apex Legends is the inclusion of mid-game objectives called Contracts. Contracts are several optional objectives available throughout Verdansk that squads can take on in addition to the main goal of surviving to the end. Similar to a bounty system, Contract objectives reward players for completing short-term missions during a session, gifting large amounts of cash to be spent on new weapons, armor, etc.

There are three types of Contracts available in Warzone to be completed: Scavenger, Bounty, and Recon. Scavenger tasks players with seeking out several supply caches randomly spread throughout the map. Bounty puts a price on the head of a random player for the squad to eliminate during a match. Recon adds a Domination-like flag on the map for squads to take over and secure. Bounty is likely the hardest of the three, followed shortly behind Bounty and Recon respectively.

Contracts craft a strange dynamic in Warzone because it turns attention away from the core objective battle royales are known for: survive until the end. Other than Plunder, a separate game mode about scoring more money than other squads, Warzone's Contracts still make gameplay very unique. Even if the end goal for Warzone still remains with that same win condition, Warzone diverts itself away from battle royales' constant "kill or be killed" focus in smart ways. These side-objectives feel rewarding in their context and can make or break teams going for the final win at the end.

Cash and Buy Stations

Warzone fight cash overaly

These rewards usually equate to cash, loot, and killstreaks. Purchasing weapons, upgrades, revives, and whatnot isn't particularly unique to the battle royale genre, but with the inclusion of the usual Call of Duty multiplayer flair in Warzone, there's a lot more variety to be had in the gameplay when accounting for killstreaks and other trump cards. Players can purchase killstreaks, armor, equipment, and even request custom loadouts, a controversial feature among top players/streamers like Ninja.

Weapons and equipment in previous battle royales were alway constrained to searching, rather than ordering pre-customized loadouts. In Warzone this is still the case initially, but since cash isn't too rare to find, one of the first purchases from Buy Stations is typically a player's custom loadout. Any weapon loadout previously used in multiplayer or previously customized can be purchased and delivered to the player during a match as long as they've got the cash.

That's not even counting the fact that players can also purchase several different killstreak upgrades in Warzone, standard fare from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's base game multiplayer modes. Sure, other battle royale games have vehicles, jump pads, special abilities, etc., but killstreaks (which have now been converted into purchasable items instead) are deadly area-of-effect support items that cover a lot more ground compared to things like Banagalore's ultimate in Apex Legends. Many figured that any Call of Duty battle royale would incorporate killstreak abilities in some way, adding to the hectic nature of Warzone.

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Respawning Is Pricey or Competitive

warzone gulag claymore trick

Perhaps the biggest change with Warzone compared to other battle royale games is the fundamentally different respawn mechanics. In other battle royale games, respawns typically involve picking up a teammate's token of some kind, and then bringing it back to a specified revive point. In Warzone, respawning is an innovative and challenging mini-game in and of itself.

Players who have "died" are brought to the Gulag, a 1v1 competitive arena that gives downed allies one more chance to return to the main fight. With randomly selected weapons like in Modern Warfare's Gunfight mode, one player and one opponent go head-to-head to see who can defeat the enemy and "earn their right to freedom" and respawn. The alternative is if a player's living teammates have secured enough cash, they can also purchase their dead ally's revival instead. Dead players are immediately dropped back into the fight at a higher cash cost.

For a battle royale, Warzone's respawning mechanic is highly innovative and hasn't been done in such a unique way previously. Warzone's respawn system finds an engaging way to mitigate the sort-of hopelessness players can feel when their teammate(s) are eliminated. Apex Legends laid the groundwork for respawning in battle royale, something that was previously unavailable for the original pioneers of the genre. Now Warzone has taken that chance a step further, showing players there's always one more chance to win.

The Next Big Thing

It's no surprise that Warzone's massive popularity is only getting bigger. Call of Duty's latest foray into battle royales proves that not only are they taking the ever-popular game type more seriously, but are even proving that there's still room to grow and innovate within the genre. Adding in side-objectives incentivizes more player interaction and properly rewards squads as a result. Using rewards like cash to purchase upgrades and killstreak ordinance adds a layer of variety to Warzone that other battle royale modes/games simply don't have. And the competitive respawn mechanics as absolutely unique to Warzone and is hugely innovative for the genre.

Fans of Warzone should be excited for the game's continued success and what it may mean for the future support of this new battle royale.

Call of Duty: Warzone is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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