Call of Duty Mobile fans finally got to see how the battle royale mode is going to look in the highly-anticipated game. The mode was launched on May 20 in select countries that have access to the closed beta.
The battle royale mode allows 100 players to glide onto the map called Isolated. The game has elements from some of the world’s best battle royale titles, including PUBG, Apex Legends, and the Blackout mode from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
The first thing that must be done before entering a game in Call of Duty Mobile’s battle royale mode is selecting a class. There are six classes in the beta: Ninja, Scout, Clown, Medic, Defender, and Mechanic. All of the classes come with a special ability and a passive perk. The ability can be a grappling hook, a detachable shield, or a medical station that can heal your allies. It’s essential to form a squad that has a good balance of different classes suited to your playstyle.
The flight and skydiving animation along with the gameplay experience is similar to the Blackout mode in Call of Duty Black: Ops 4. But Call of Duty Mobile’s battle royale mode differs by providing both third-person perspective (TPP) and first-person perspective (FPP).
Both of these perspectives might be provided to help the mode take on PUBG Mobile, where the vast majority of players prefer playing in third-person. In fact, before the game came out, a lot of players were commenting on Reddit and Discord about how they’ll prefer PUBG Mobile over Call of Duty’s battle royale mode due to the lack of third-person perspective in the latter.
There are separate game modes for FPP and TPP in the game. But in the TPP mode, you can swap between FPP and TPP with an option in the bottom left corner of your screen.
The game also boasts a very unique and efficient ping system that no other battle royale on mobile has. You can point in any direction with your crosshair and mark “attack,” “enemy,” “guard,” or “leave for” at any place. In PUBG Mobile, only “enemies ahead” can be marked in a particular direction.
The beta launched with the ability to customize your HUD, which is a treat for claw players. There’s also an auto-fire option in the battle royale mode. You just have to aim at a player and your gun will fire on its own. Fortnite Mobile also offers this feature. Players who don’t prefer auto fire can play using the advanced control option where you must fire with the actual button.
One of the things that really sets Call of Duty Mobile apart from other mobile games in the genre is its revival system. This is the first game on mobile that has an option to revive a dead teammate. You can do so by picking up your ally’s “dog tag” that’s left behind in the exact spot where they die. You can then use the dog tag to revive your teammate and they’ll respawn back on the map via revival flights, which take off every two minutes or so.
Just like other battle royale games, there are a variety of different vehicles you can use to get around the map quickly. One of these is the helicopter. We haven’t seen an aerial vehicle in any of the other popular mobile battle royale games.
In theory, the game does seem better than PUBG Mobile. But in the current state of the game, it can’t compete with PUBG. Call of Duty Mobile’s battle royale mode still needs to be refined. The graphics options are restricted to a few settings that prevent players from selecting an optimum resolution based on their device’s specifications. In fact, a lot of people have been complaining about the graphics not being good enough in the battle royale mode. There are a lot of bugs as well, which comes as no surprise since the game is still in early closed beta. The controls and sensitivity were also buggy and unresponsive at times.
