DISCLAIMER:

This version of the game is from the limited closed beta test. The game is still very much in its early state, and following the fact, please do take everything I mention below with a grain of salt.

CRITICAL NOTE:

On a simple note, the game is on par with the console competition while achieving everything you know a AAA company could.

But the main issue that’s been prevalent so far in such major AAA transitions into mobile, is none other than the interaction of gameplay – the controls themselves.

I don’t think there is a cookie cutter solution that fits into every game for mobile controls. You either make a game that adapts to the mobile controls, or just remove the control method itself – starting by removing the touch feedback to obtain tactile feedback (by adding physical controllers).

But seemingly if there is a will, there always seems to be a way as well (even if you don’t seem to like the way).

And due to the recent resurgence of such uncomfortable yet successful games in the market, COD Mobile doesn’t seem to shy away from adapting from the same.

Now if you think about it, when COD actually became successful on consoles, people were also pretty-much trying to figure out the dual-sticks while engaging with the frantic action the game presented (similar to what’s happening with the mobile industry at the moment).

The game is as uncomfortable as it’s competition. But there are times where I feel they could’ve adopted for context sensitive inputs, instead of providing additional button support for each and every interaction.

They chose to overload agency while it actually hampers the complexity in relation to its competition. But only time will tell if it’s a successful model, or yet another failure…

BOOT START:

A straight forward start, and they don’t seem to be extensively spying on my life, but only my player archetype for balancing purposes. I hope this continues as the game progresses towards its eventual release.

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GAMEPLAY LOOP:

Filled with attention grabbing animations and unique color grading, the tutorial quickly and efficiently teaches everything basic about the gameplay controls so that the player can kick-off and explore by themselves.

META LOOP:

To the point, precise, and well explained.

They also don’t seem to spare anything from their console counterparts to make the meta on-par with other mobile titles out there (because mobile games, though they fall short in the gameplay loop section, they are very strong in their meta loops to engage and improve their retention).

Though I wonder, it could also be the case that I’ve played many other COD games that I’m able to understand all these showcased so efficiently.

There are few interactions (like the weapon being showcased twice) which they could be iterated upon to improve the time the player can take to get back into the gameplay.

PROGRESSION LOOP:

Either you play the battle royale mode, or the multiplayer mode – you will always end up with up similar progressional rewards which will act as tools to engage the player to develop a sense of progression.

NOTE: I’ve only showcased a portion of the rewards possible, but the game sure does engage both on cosmetic and gameplay rewards by a progression level scale.

BATTLE ROYALE:

In scale of complexity, COD Mobile is filled with more interactions to manage and perform in relative to the competition.

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BATTLE PASS:

A fairly standard practice – but it is extensive on how many layers it currently has, and how it encompasses them all into a cohesive direction.

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ADDITIONAL META TUTORIALS:

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GAME SCREENSHOTS:

Few more gameplay screenshots to provide more context for the explained above:

MULTIPLAYER:

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FEATURES:

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OPTIONS:

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CONCLUSION:

Overall, even though this is a closed beta test, they seem to be well rounded with all the gameplay features required for a full release. And in some cases, they even went above and beyond to make sure both the console and mobile versions are similar to each other.

In future, I hope to look at how the game evolves and tackles the competition in the mobile industry space, which hopefully, disrupts the atmosphere enough so that the other big AAA players will also look into the space for exploration and growth!