Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile review – locked and loaded
review information
Platforms reviewed: iOS, Android
Available at: iOS, Android
Release date: 21 March 2024
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, The latest installment of the long-running first-person shooter (FPS) series, is the real deal. It offers a fully multiplayer experience that's very close to the latest console and PC releases on your phone. Enhanced by impressive visuals and full multi-platform cross-progression, this is the perfect way to advance your weapons and combat call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 When you are away from home.
Even if you're not a dedicated fan, there's still a lot to appreciate here, including a huge arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and characters taken from across the series. Brand new 78-player mobile royale mode, which condenses Call of Duty: Warzone The experience, in an easily digestible mobile-friendly format, is another highlight, delivering all the thrill of a full battle royale in less than ten minutes.
With a solid selection of excellent returning maps and fan-favorite multiplayer modes, it's a refreshingly eclectic offering for a free-to-play mobile game. While it easily ranks among the best iPhone games and best Android games at the moment, the demanding hardware requirements, which practically require a recent high-end phone or tablet to run the game smoothly, are potentially A large number of players are about to be stopped. Enjoying the best experience without any expensive upgrades.
perfect picture
One of the most immediately impressive aspects of warzone mobile It's the visuals that I found remarkably comparable modern warfare 3 On PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series, That doesn't mean there aren't some obvious cuts in terms of overall render distance, shadow quality, texture resolution, and model detail, but it's easy to overlook these when everything is running on a tiny screen in the palm of your hand. Even at the modest Medium quality preset, everything looks pleasantly crisp and clean on my iPhone 13 mini's 5.42-inch display.
When bumping up to the higher presets on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus's larger 6.6-inch display, the results look even better. warzone mobile Many of the assets appear to be borrowed directly from recent console games, so, apart from a few minor omissions, you're getting the same large arsenal of highly detailed weapons modern warfare 3All complete with powerful sound effects and intricate animations.
The handling of each weapon also feels almost indistinguishable from their console counterparts, making it easy to pick up and play if you're already familiar with touch-screen FPS controls or are ready to add a compatible controller. All your unlocks and purchases from that main game automatically carry over to the mobile game, which is a huge bonus.
The selection of maps at launch has also been completely expanded modern war sub-series, which includes the long-awaited revival of Verdansk – a fan-favorite battle royale arena from the first incarnation warzone, If you're a returning player, each of these looks exactly as you remember them and there's something magical about seeing such complex environments running seamlessly on a mobile phone.
Unfortunately, your viewing experience is going to vary dramatically depending on the specifications of your device. Testing the game on a range of iOS and Android hardware, I found that the best results were always achieved on the more recent, more expensive phones or tablets. It's not as playable on models from a few years ago, like the iPhone 11, but you're constantly fighting an uphill battle against unstable frame rates and rapidly rising temperatures of your phone. Even the excellent visuals are spoiled by the low graphical presets, which, while understandable, is a huge shame.
Even on the most powerful hardware, playing more than a few matches of Warzone Mobile drains your battery life quickly. During the train journey of over thirty-five minutes, I noticed that my phone had gone from almost full charge to half charged. High battery consumption is not at all unusual when playing modern mobile games, but it should definitely be avoided if you're going to be away from a plug socket for long periods of time.
Your audio performance will also largely depend on your choice of accessories. Unless you're playing in a completely quiet environment, there's a good chance that key audio signals will be hard to discern through your phone speakers. When you connect some wireless headphones or any of the best gaming earbuds, the sound quality is excellent with great levels of depth. Even when the action begins, enemy footsteps are clearly heard and small details like the click of your weapon whenever you change firing modes come across well.
head to head
warzone mobile Currently offers three different battle royale modes: Battle Royale, Mobile Royale, and Rebirth Resurgence. Follows the same general format as the Battle Royale mode warzone, although the total number of players per match increased from 100 to 120. As a team of up to four players, you drop into an open world and fight out for survival. A range of vehicles are on hand to help you quickly traverse the large map, while weapons and armor can be purchased from automated purchase stations inside buildings, by opening unlockable boxes, or using cash.
You get cash from looting or completing contracts – bite-sized challenges that range from hunting a specific target player to securing freshly dropped supply boxes – while a circle of poison gas slowly expands the size of the map. The draw stops until the last team standing wins. , It's a tried and tested formula, although the matches are played a little differently warzone mobile Thanks to the constraints of the mobile format. I'm very experienced with competitive mobile FPS titles, but I still found long-range confrontations to be quite difficult due to the inherently vague nature of the touch controls.
best bit
There's nothing like the feeling of success that comes with your first big win in Mobile Royale, after successfully fighting off enemy attacking squads.
This can be fixed with a controller, but I still found that the best strategy is often to sneak in close before engaging. It's a new style of play that takes some getting used to, especially in Verdansk – a massive city with rooftops with long sight lines that are otherwise perfect for taking distant shots.
These controls are more suitable for warzone mobile The exclusive Mobile Royale mode, which squeezes up to 78 players into a comparatively smaller part of the map and dramatically increases the spawn rate of powerful weapons and ammo. In battle royale you can often go minutes without glancing at an enemy player, but the average game of mobile royale is filled with almost constant close combat. A full match usually only lasts less than ten minutes, which is ideal if you're looking for something you can enjoy on public transport or during a break at work.
Rebirth Resurgence is equally strong, thanks to its smaller map and the fact that 36 players respawn constantly – a combination that leads to complete chaos. I also enjoyed the suite of main multiplayer modes, including Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, and Domination. They use an intense 6v6 format and take place exclusively on smaller maps like Shipment and Scrapyard. modern warfare 2, The pacing is just right and allows the fast gunplay and fast movement to shine. However at this time there are only five maps in total for these modes, namely modern warfare 3With Rust already confirmed for future updates, this is a very promising start.
That's a huge amount of content in a download that's currently under 8GB and, as a free-to-play game, there's practically no reason not to recommend giving it a try if you have enough storage space. There is no reason. High system requirements are a shame, but it's almost a necessity in a mobile game that looks and sounds good.
simple use
warzone mobile Offers a range of accessibility options. This includes the ability to enable an auto pickup function that automatically equips nearby loot, a fully customizable touch-screen control layout, automatic ranged or melee attacks, a key around enemies or allies Option to enable outlines, and more.
The game is also compatible with a good selection of peripherals like the Xbox Wireless Controller or a dedicated mobile controller like the Backbone One.
Should I play Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile?
Play it if…
Don't play it if…
How we tested Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
I spent more than ten hours warzone mobile Across a range of devices including the iPhone 13 Mini, Samsung S23 Plus, iPad Mini and iPad Pro. I played using both touch controls and compatible controllers like the Xbox Wireless Controller and the Backbone One. In addition to the native audio of each phone or tablet, I tried the game with wireless headphones, including wired gaming earbuds like the Beats Studio Buds Plus and the SteelSeries Tusk Gaming headset.
During my time with the game, I tried out all the available modes and maps at least a few times to make sure I tested everything the game currently has to offer. almost daily modern warfare 3 Player, I was able to directly compare the game to its PC and console counterpart.
