As the pandemic took its course, shutting down countries, staggering economies, and imposing a global feeling of fear allowed for millions of gamers worldwide to have the time to grind their favorite video games again.

This year the developers of the biggest FPS in the world, Call of Duty, took a different route on getting gamers back on. They released their battle royale game mode called Warzone free to play, across all platforms. Within a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of people downloaded the game. It became so popular that it was turned into a meme and used on meme pages all across Instagram.

This game mode has the same principle as Fortnite; however, minus the building and comic-like appearance. Warzone is set in a fictional city in Eastern Ukraine called Verdansk. Players first spend around one minute in the pre-game lobby, before being deployed by a massive military dropship. The servers hold up to 150 people each, which is actually quite an impressive feat. The play area is also very large and boasts its own train station, airport, and military base.

This mode also features its own money system where, from looting houses and chests, players can make money. They can then spend this money in the buy station, where they can purchase a load-out drop, airstrikes, armor plates, self-revive, etc. You can also buy fallen allies from here, a feature not many battle royales have.

Warzone also has vehicles that players can use for transport, distractions, or even as a weapon. The mode has cargo trucks, SUVs, off-roads, and ATVs. Helicopters also used to be a thing; however, they were just removed in the latest update.

However, the most notable thing from this game mode has to be its redemption system when a player is killed. Instead of having to leave the game or have one of your teammates pay the hefty price of your revive, you are sent to the gulag. The gulag is basically a Russian prison where you and another fallen player battle it out in a one vs. one, where the winner is sent back into the game.

In my opinion, these are the features that make this battle royale so different from all the other ones. The fact that the game features a buy station allows players to execute different offensive and defensive plays using things they bought. With the play area being so big, it also allows for various drop points and all types of engagements.

The only problem I have with this game is how large it is, in terms of download size. Warzone by itself is around 80-100 gigabytes, depending on what platform. Now let me put this in perspective, many fully completed games are around 50-60 gigabytes, which basically means Warzone is like its own game. For me to just download the game, I had to delete two games off my PlayStation, because I didn’t have enough storage.

Overall, the game mode is a ton of fun, considering the fact that it came as a free expansion to the full game. Playing with friends, or even with some random people online adds to the fun and competitive nature of the game. I recommend this game to anyone who is bored during quarantine and wants to experience a new battle royal.