Black Ops Royale Is The Shake-Up That CoD: Warzone Needs

One of my biggest criticisms of Black Ops 7's initial integration into Warzone was that nothing about the update screamed futuristic Black Ops style or gameplay. Black Ops 7 only added its weapon pool and some of its gadgets to Warzone, but the battle royale's maps weren't pushed into Black Ops 7's futuristic setting and players didn't get the advanced wall-jump omnimovement introduced in Black Ops 7. It felt like Call of Duty was uninspired or playing it too safe, making for one of the weaker integrations we've seen with Warzone.

Now, several months after launch, Black Ops Royale looks and feels like the Black Ops 7 integration that Warzone should've initially received. This new mode is heavily inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale that was introduced in 2018 alongside Black Ops 4. Black Ops Royale utilizes the grappling gun and wingsuit mechanics originally featured in Blackout and reintroduced in Black Ops 7's campaign and Endgame. The mode also integrates Call of Duty's latest wall-jump omnimovement, and all of these additions make for more fluid and interesting movement and player engagements on Warzone's new map.

A new Blackout-inspired map

Technically, Avalon is a "new" map for Warzone, but it's one you had plenty of time to get familiar with if you played Black Ops 7's Endgame mode. Warzone's version of the map is not an exact replica, and the devs aren't just retrofitting the map for Black Ops Royale, as it was designed in part to support it. The battle royale version drains some of the water to provide more land for players to traverse and reduce how much swimming is needed to get from island to island.