J4MES OX4D

I didn't actually feel this as bad as I did with Black Ops 4 for some reason. I think that may have been slightly masked with the quick TTK whereas it was more noticeable with BO4 and it's bullet-spongy battles. At least the beta this time will be the same as the final version unlike last years cheapsake bait and switch by Activision.

They will probably be selling weapons direct in droves this time to cover losses from that aspect. People have proved they are happy to spend 50% of the value of a game on a useless melee weapon previously to I'm guessing they will have an in-game store with stacks of weapons and attachments. The Gunsmith alone will probably be an absolute goldmine for personalisation. I can see them flogging 'rare' optics for a tenner a piece. We see the gunsmith as a cool new feature but they probably see it as more easy money.

Oxford 4-0 West Ham See Man Utd, that’s how you do it😎

Can't wait for TLOU2 and glad it's not too far away. Nothing else worth talking about but that game is pretty much the final major exclusive for the PS4 I think.

It's no real surprise. They were hardly going to turn their backs on a system that makes over $1bn every 6 months. This format has been going on since Advanced Warfare back in 2014 and it will continue until widespread regional legislation puts a stop to it. It's always been a question of how and not whether Activision will ruin a game.

Spec Ops missions will be available to all though with only survival confirmed as being exclusive for a year. Still sucks that people have to pay the same price for less content. Sony and Microsoft need to make a pact agreement for next gen stating they will not sign any timed or content exclusives for multi-platform titles. In-house exclusives should be what sell consoles as well as system/company preferences. It's not fair to punish gamers because of a corporate decision. If you have no enticing products to get people to buy your console, then tough shit. COD exclusivity has been a waste of time this gen anyway.

Survival Mode is pretty shit but that’s a bloody shocking practice having exclusive modes. Nobody will give a fuck when it comes next year. That’ll probably see a chunk not buying the game now. The question is what’s next...

Wow, this documentary has nearly hit 10m views! Fallout 76 has put itself back in the news again today with collectible helmets that cost $150 being recalled due to dangerous levels of mould. Worth every penny to the morons that bought that cheap collectible shite😎 A Fallout 76 helmet sold at GameStop has been recalled because of mold WWW.POLYGON.COM The Nuka Cola-themed helmet was sold at GameStop, not included with collector’s edition

It's a bit of a mess really. Seems like IW thought they'd just make a bigger map, add more players, add more flags and it would work like normal matches albeit bigger. The map is too small for 32v32 let alone 50v50. 16v16 or even 20v20 would be more appropriate. Matches are a clusterfuck and with no squad system that conquest has, there's no real strategy you can adopt apart from capture what you can when you can, or just camp kill in the hope the rest of your team tries to capture. Battlefield has gone to shit but Conquest has always been crafted very well with appropriately-sized maps and a gameplay system that keeps players focused and matches flowing thanks to squads and the leader system. You rarely see people camping for the sake of it in conquest because it's counterproductive to the team and doesn't achieve many kills. GW will probably be used for players looking to build easy killstreaks and having a fuckload of targets to use them on. It could be fun now and then but I think more will swerve it to avoid the inevitable frustrations.

You don't usually see the words 'Scotland' and 'World Cup' in the same sentence these days😎

With the beta coming to a close, I think Modern Warfare is a promising game that takes some serious adjusting to. Whilst it does bring back a lot of old headaches from around a decade ago, it also does a lot of things very well that we haven't seen this gen. The PC version I found to be very impressive and quite satisfying to play which almost felt like COD 4 at times. The PS4 version was decent enough but felt somewhat dated on my ageing first gen system and had some horrendous post-processing effects which thankfully could be disabled on PC. I felt I adapted to the maps in the end and whilst matches seem faster than they initially appeared, I do think a couple are OTT design-wise although matches seem to flow pretty well even if they do appear very big. I never felt lost or starved for action. Guns feel good and the gunsmith is a neat implementation and could make class customisation very detailed. Killstreaks seem fun once again but UAV spam seemed rife. The interface could be better and I hope kill confirmed will return also. Crossplay is an excellent feature to have. I do fully understand why people don't like this game though. I have had a few matches where I was just not having fun whatsoever and frustrations were aplenty. The spawns need work and there were other things like bullet effects going through thick walls which looked trash. Annoying campers and terrible teammates were a stark reminder that the experience isn't always going to be enjoyable and with other small irritations, you have to ask yourself if you're willing to go through all that in the hope of having some enjoyment. On balance, I will probably get the game but it is way too early to gauge its potential long term appeal and overall quality. The campaign and special ops I am also interested in and it'll be nice to see what other maps are on offer. Here is my final match of the beta going 27-10 on Grazna Raid Domination which was great fun:-

West Ham 2-0 Man Utd😁 Oxford are playing West Ham on Wednesday so we'll show Man U how it should be done😎

Terminal, Afghan and Highrise I would love to see again.

Some ultrawide PC gameplay I got earlier. I'm also using the classic Modern Warfare hitmarker sounds

Man City were lucky winning 8-0 today. Could've easily been 8-9 had Watford not been so shite.

PC open beta is active and I've played a few games just now. If you link you COD account with your PS4/Xbox and Battlenet, you can continue with your stats which is good. PC version so far seems solid - 120fps maxed out smooth as butter, looks incredible and it feels amazing with a mouse and keyboard. Dark areas don't seem as prominent either so I'm wondering if its like that on console because the rendering is slower and it's a good way to cover shit up. Great ultrawide support for me too😎

Played a few of Ground War matches - 4 out of 5 crashed and the performance was sub 40fps most of the time. Easily one of the worst experiences I have had in a MP game. The map is woefully designed and the action is just a clusterfuck of a mess. 16v16 may be tolerable to some extent but 32v32 is a horrible experience so I dread to think what 50v50 will be like. This doesn't come close to emulating Conquest on Battlefield. That franchise may have gone to shit but DICE know how to develop a map on that game and how to get action flowing without it becoming a mess. Feels like Infinity Ward have just made a larger map, planted a few capture points and hope for the best. There's people crouch walking and camping in their own spawn and most of the time you can just plant yourself on a darkened wall and tear people apart. So that's NVG mode, 2v2 and Ground War I wont be participating in by the look of things. Just hope the 6v6 options aren't too thin on the ground.

32v32 Ground War now available

I like the realism but the light transitioning as well as all the other post-processing effects are very OTT and impact the gameplay negatively for me. Some aspects they just need to tone down as they are too cinematic. A lot of devs make mistakes in this department i.e POV lens flares. If they want to go all out and implement things like transitioning adjustments then they at least have to ensure the light sourcing is correct and in a lot of rooms, this isn't the case so it just feels more cinematic than realistic.

One thing I would like to see improved is the outdoor to indoor transitioning - so many times I've gone into a building and then been killed by somebody I can't see due to the darkness. The game has this weird, almost real life effect where it takes a second or two for your character to adjust to the change of light. Trouble is, it's a nightmare especially on the likes of HQ. I'd rather there were no brightness changes and when you go inside from outside, the lighting remains consistent.

Phew! I was worried there. Just hope the fix works.

That’s kinda dumb as it defeats the entire purpose of the very thing they are trying to prevent. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have no idea how to fix this but don’t want to harm preorder sales. It also gives input-riggers an additional window of opportunity to develop against any plugging. Very weird indeed. *EDIT I’ve just checked and it is a bug. Players can switch their input in-game during the beta but they are NOT supposed to be allowed before and during a match to do this as it makes input-based matchmaking completely redundant. That means users on PC with a gamepad could get into a controller lobby, unplug on the loading screen and then tear with the mouse/keyboard against everyone else with a pad. Console users that have a M+K setup can do the same. Don’t think think the beta exists to test essential features with them disabled. The community were expecting reassurances right off the bat that input-rigging would not exist when crossplay was enabled.

I tried a few games tonight and one thing I noticed was when a match loads; you seem to go straight to the countdown rather than the truck/helicopter drop off animation. Not sure if this is by intent as I haven’t read any patch notes but I prefer it this way over the OTT starts.