Mikes Rant – Why I Love & Hate the Call of Duty MW Beta

It has been a very long time since I last played a Call of Duty game. In fact, I think it was possibly around 10 years ago with the release of Modern Warfare 2. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great game! Made better still by the fact that at the time I used to play it with around half a dozen friends to whom we shared both our triumphs and defeats.

Anyone who played that game on the PC, however, will know that while it was a great game it had a colossally huge problem. Namely, that thanks(!) to the utilization of the Valve anti-cheat system (VAC), as the sole means of cheating prevention, players with aimbots ran rampant. Quite frankly, it ruined the game!

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that around 6 months after MW2 came out we all began to largely drift our separate ways. Of course, girlfriends, wives, children, university and all that jazz played a factor too. The main key factor, however, is that since then, I’ve never touched a Call of Duty since. That is, at least, until now!

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

This weekend has seen the open beta launch for Call of Duty Modern Warfare and, I must admit, it somehow managed to grab my attention after a nearly 10-year hiatus from the franchise. I mean, if nothing else, it was free!

Having now moved on to new friends I play games with I was keen to see whether I would find it enjoyable and, god help me, I did. Albeit, it did take them more than a little (persistent) cajoling to weaken my resistance.

There was only 3 of us, but it was great to hear the banter, the casual (but friendly) abuse towards each other, and the overall level of comradery found amongst a bunch of gamers who aren’t very good, but are willing to try! Things definitely hit a peak when another player decided to give me some abuse for killing him with a mounted gun. Hearing my friends immediately leap to my defense with some (mostly) good-humored p*ss-taking made me feel warm inside.

This, for me, was the best part of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta. It reminded me just how much fun these games can be when you play them with other people!

The Love/Hate Relationship Returns!

Is the game any good though? Well, yes and no. It’s certainly one of the most impressive first-person shooters I have encountered for a while. It does, however, still have some pretty big flaws. Spawn areas are weird (it will literally (and regularly) dump you in the firing line of your enemy) and, as a PC user, I can’t help but feel that this has been primarily designed with consoles as the priority and PCs as an ‘added bonus’.

With the cross-play support, however, it was at least pretty impressive to be able to seamlessly play with my friends (both of whom did so on their PS4s). If it wasn’t for their participation, however, I’d have probably quickly given up on this. I know it’s a beta, but it’s a long way from being perfect!

While I fully expect to see some notable improvements in the game when it finally hits an official release, the biggest thing I take away from the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta is that it’s great to be playing these type of games with a bunch of friends again! If you too, therefore, have been taking an extended hiatus from this franchise, it might be worth seeing if you too can round up some people to play with. The open beta isn’t (quite) over yet! Well, at least not while I am writing this!

Put simply, the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta can both bring people together, and blow them apart!

For more information on the game, you can check out the official website via the link here!

More Mikes Rant

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Disclaimer – ‘Mikes Rant’ is an opinion piece and may not reflect the feelings or attitudes of eTeknix. So don’t come moaning to us if he’s corner camping you with a noob tube.