I spent the final full weekend earlier than Christmas doing two issues: Baking roughly a bajillion cookies with my child and girlfriend, and relentlessly enjoying Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s brand-new Cargo map with my squad. (Shoutout HOPO crew!) It couldn’t have come at a greater time, as a result of its sheer superb madness papers over my deepest grievances with the ultra-popular shooter.
COD vets will likely be intimately accustomed to Cargo, a close-quarters map that has shipped in a number of iterations of the sport. Whereas the opposite, bigger 6-vs.-6 maps in MW2 characteristic a mix of close-, mid-, and long-range battles, the boxed-in Cargo map forces fixed in-your-face motion. You typically respawn already in enemy sights. Heck, you may even respawn within the midst of a hail of gunfire or explosions, getting mowed down earlier than you actually have a likelihood to get your gun up.
However right here’s the factor: These horrible respawns work on Cargo. I wanted the breath of contemporary air after scuffling with COD:MW2’s atrocious respawn system on all the opposite maps.
Head over to the MW2 subreddit—or just play the sport for a number of matches—and also you’ll witness infinite complaints about this model’s horrible respawn system. Activision Blizzard clearly switched to a respawn system that favors proximity to your teammates over secure entry. In consequence, you’ll typically wind up spawning to an enemy mowing down a teammate straight in entrance of you, then you definately instantly after. It’s particularly dangerous if the sport’s just-as-terrible matchmaking characteristic pairs you up towards a squad of bunny-hopping esports wannabes decked-out in CDL skins who’re capable of lock your workforce down in your respawn space.
The respawns are straight infuriating on the bigger maps—Activision deeply wants to contemplate remodeling the mechanic, as a result of it’s trash—however in Cargo, all you are able to do is giggle and hop again into it. Grinding the Cargo 24/7 playlist over the weekend helped take the sting out of the all-too-occasionally wonky spawns you encounter in bigger maps. It’s introduced pleasure to Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 2 at a time after I was beginning to really feel burnt out.
The particular manner Activision launched Cargo final week helped alleviate a few of my different complaints, too.
Activision Blizzard
Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 2’s matchmaking system feels overly punishing in its quest to maintain all gamers round a 1:1 kill:demise ratio. Woe unto you when you have a number of good video games, since you’ll be solid into hell with these sweaty CDL wannabes for a number of rounds and get completely stomped. It’s one other huge criticism on MW2 boards—however Cargo is so totally nuts that you just don’t really feel its results in any way. When everyone seems to be spawning in with enemies in sight, everybody dies on a regular basis, no matter ability stage. It’s a hoot.
Launching Cargo on a double XP weekend additionally helped me with part of the sport I particularly dislike—weapons attachments. I often stick with shotguns and lightweight machine weapons in sport. I don’t care about attempting to stage up each weapon in each class. However in MW2, a number of the stat-boosting attachments on your weapons solely unlock if you happen to stage up solely differing kinds of weapons. It sucks. I don’t need to stage up assault rifles simply to get a snazzy laser for my one-hit-kill Lockwood shottie setup. I simply need to grasp with my homies and eviscerate of us with my shotgun. Moderately than power myself to play with weapons I don’t like, I’ve merely sighed and accepted I received’t have the attachments I’d prefer to have.
Enter Cargo.
Every weapon in COD:MW2 options a number of attachment slots with a number of unlockable objects for every slot—however leveling up your specific chosen weapons alone received’t unlock all of them.
Brad Chacos/IDG
Once more, COD vets are used to grinding gun camos on Cargo—however it was spectacular for lastly unlocking these lacking attachments too. Cargo is so gloriously wild that any gun is enjoyable on it. So I tuned my class to maximise expertise positive factors through decoy grenades and scorestreaks over kill streaks, loaded up choose weapons that supplied the particular attachments I wished (and beforehand thought I’d by no means get), and went completely ham. Since Thursday I’ve maxed out all my shotguns, all my LMGs, a pair sniper rifles, a number of starter assault rifles that unlocked extra LMGs at larger ranges, after which these LMGs, hoovering up infinite superb attachments within the course of.
Cargo is so small that decoy grenades provide you with XP when your teammates kill enemies principally wherever on the map. With scorestreaks lively and double XP, I used to be getting wherever from 4 to eight ranges on my major gun per match. I may take a contemporary gun and max it out over lunch. Sure, please.
After all, whereas Cargo’s chaotic existence papers over MW2’s most egregious flaws, it doesn’t truly repair any of them, and also you’ll really feel the ache throughout common matchmaking. (Cargo additionally drives dwelling how deeply damaged Riot Shields are whenever you use the Overkill perk to maintain one defending your again.) There’s nonetheless quite a lot of work to be executed. However all that mentioned, enjoying Cargo 24/7 throughout double XP weekend was an absolute blast—the very best time I’ve had in Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 2 since its opening weekend.
A particular Christmas Cargo map opens on December 21 and lasts via January 4. Deliver on the Christmas noobs—I’m feeling reinvigorated and my laser-like Lockwood 300 is hungry.
Activision Blizzard