28 PCWorld APRIL 2020NEWS
Call of Duty’s free Warzone spinoff
is the newest (and maybe last)
magnificent battle royale
A tense one-on-one respawn mechanic and excellent level design make for the best battle
royale since Apex Legends. Now all it needs is a solo mode. BY HAYDEN DINGMANW
hen Call of Duty: Black
Ops 4 (go.pcworld.com/
bop4) launched in 2018, I
thought its “Blackout”
mode would become the third big battle
royale game. Splitting the difference between
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite,
between hardcore and cartoony, Blackout felt
like a more refined take on those already
well-trod ideas, with snappy gunplay and astreamlined interface.
Problem was, you had to buy Black Ops 4
to play it—and then Apex Legends released a
few months later, for free, and took all the
wind out of Blackout’s sails (and sales).
Activision’s back for round two though,
and this time it’s being smarter about it.
Warzone (go.pcworld.com/wrzn), released
on March 10, is the next evolution of Call of
Duty’s battle royale—but this time it’sIMAGE: HAYDEN DINGMAN