Call of Duty: Mobile is available now. So if you want to play a mobile Call of Duty game, complete with obnoxious free-to-play leveling up systems and awkward sliding virtual joystick touch controls, download it today for your iOS or Android device. After playing a few rounds, we’re confident in saying this #brand extension isn’t trying to be an Apple Arcade-tier game. But at least portable Nuketown looks pretty good! And the real Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is almost here.
The mobile version of Call of Duty may be a smaller take on Activision’s huge military first-person shooter series, but it’s still getting the biggest mode around. Like last year’s Call of Duty Black Ops 4, the game will include its own battle royale mode where 100 players compete to be the last one standing. Battle royale shooters like PUBG and Fortnite are huge on all platforms, including mobile, so it’s exciting, if expected, news.
Solo, duo, and squad play are all available. Players can choose between six classes. There’s a new “dog tag retrieval” revival system. And you can play in either first- or third-person. For more on Call of Duty Mobile’s battle royale mode, read Activision’s blog. And for more on Call of Duty Mobile in general, keep reading this story.
Activision may not have as much as it used to, whether it’s blockbuster franchises like Destiny or the 800 employees it unceremoniously laid off. But it still has Call of Duty, dammit. While not quite as monolithic as it used to be, the military shooter franchise is still pretty freaking huge on consoles and PC. But millions upon million of people also play games (and spend money) on their phones. Activision should know this, it spent six billion dollars on the Candy Crash creators King. So now Call of Duty: Mobile is gunning for all the money.
Developed with help from massive Chinese conglomerate Tencent, Call of Duty: Mobile is a free-to-play take on Call of Duty’s popular online multiplayer modes. It brings together elements from previous games set in the modern, non-WWII era. That includes guns from Modern Warfare as well as specific maps like the classic Nuketown from Black Ops. We’re curious to see how Call of Duty’s famously tight gun-feel works on a touch screen though.
Like the recent Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Mobile doesn’t seem to have a single-player campaign. However, its multiplayer offerings, at least right now, also seem limited to standard modes like Team Deathmatch and Frontline. So it also probably won’t have the new “Blackout” battle royale mode, which seems like a missed opportunity since Fortnite and PUBG have managed to work well on mobile.
Call of Duty: Mobile goes into beta this summer with a full launch hopefully not too long after. You can pre-register now for more updates. And pour one out for Gameloft’s Modern Combat, the Call of Duty clone that pretty much had the space all to itself on mobile for years until now.
For more on mobile gaming here’s why no matter what happens with Activision Blizzard’s upcoming Diablo Immortal we still lose, and read our thoughts on mobile gaming in general right now after playing augmented reality Angry Birds on new iPhones.