Warzone 2\u2019s DMZ mode is the best Call of Duty game in years ActivisionWarzone 2\u2019s DMZ mode is the best CoD game in years, and fills the void of a co-op campaign \u2013 at least for now. Warzone 2 is great, building off of its predecessor in unexpected (and sometimes controversial) ways \u2013 we\u2019re looking at you, 2v2 Gulag \u2013 but it\u2019s actually the DMZ mode that\u2019s hooked me. The Escape from Tarkov-inspired \u201cextraction royale\u201d mode is only technically in beta, but it\u2019s become my favorite way to unwind with friends after a long day of work. I enjoyed my time with Escape from Tarkov, but Call of Duty\u2019s alternative is snappier, more forgiving, and still full of just the right amount of tension. Warzone 2 DMZ is simple, until it\u2019s not The core of DMZ is simple. Players start out on a predetermined part of Warzone 2\u2019s Al Mazrah map, and work to scavenge for supplies that can be sold for cash, or weapons that can be used in the field. Extract, and the loot is yours. Perish, and all is lost (literally). There are additional considerations, too. A safe will be full of loot but will attract attention while you\u2019re opening it, while a Stronghold offers close-quarters combat with additional opportunities for XP and items. Complicating things further are faction missions, which range from destroying vehicles to clearing the aforementioned Strongholds, or simply visiting the sprawling map\u2019s POIs. It\u2019s these objectives that have me coming back for more, chipping away at them in a way a single round of Warzone\u2019s core battle royale mode could never facilitate. It\u2019s liberating to be able to explore the map at my own pace, and while other players are always happy to ruin the fun, it\u2019s just as satisfying to snag a few kills on a successful extraction. The option of jumping in, looting for 20 minutes only to die in a single gunfight, or completing a bite-sized objective for a chunk of XP and then extracting early doors means DMZ has comfortably leapfrogged Warzone 2.0 in my rotation. Al Mazrah is a great place to socialize Playing with friends also allows for emergent gameplay opportunities that feel like the closest we\u2019ll get to a true co-op Call of Duty campaign. My friend and I have played through our own array war stories since Warzone 2 DMZ launched. There are tales of holding off waves of enemies for a last-ditch extraction, saving each other from sniper fire, and the moment we got on the extraction helicopter before being unceremoniously killed by another squad because we let our guard down. Some stories of success, and some stories of failure, but always a feeling of completely unscripted chaos \u2013 the antithesis of Call of Duty\u2019s traditionally linear campaigns. Take it with you The cherry on top of this delicious, explosion-filled cake is that extracting with a weapon doesn\u2019t just unlock it for the next run \u2014 it adds it to your Modern Warfare 2 arsenal, too. It adds an extra wrinkle to the crossover between the two games and means that hard-fought extraction where you gained an assault rifle that shreds enemies feels all the sweeter when you can take it straight into MW2 multiplayer. Call of Duty\u2019s first raid can also be unlocked via extracting with $30,000 in cash \u2014 another smart way to bring the two games closer together, but DMZ\u2019s nature as a beta is certainly apparent. In my time playing, I\u2019ve seen enemies vanish occasionally, vehicles despawn every now and again, and found a great weapon that a glitch stopped me from picking up and extracting with. Nothing is game-breaking, though, and these instances are rare and far enough apart that I\u2019m not left frustrated, but it is something to be aware of. I can\u2019t wait to see how Warzone 2 DMZ grows in 2023, with a new building coming to the mode in Season 1 Reloaded. If you\u2019re playing over the holiday season, I\u2019ll see you in Al Mazrah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Warzone 2\u2019s DMZ mode is the best Call of Duty game in years ActivisionWarzone 2\u2019s DMZ mode is the best CoD game in years, and fills the void of a co-op campaign \u2013 at least for now. Warzone 2 is great, building off of its predecessor in unexpected (and sometimes controversial) ways \u2013 we\u2019re looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}