Call of Duty Vanguard is free-to-play this weekend so if you’re on the fence about the game, you can download it and jump into the multiplayer mode up until 22 November. According to Activision, during this long free access weekend, users have free reign over the entire Vanguard multiplayer mode along with all the maps, weapons and modes.
The timing for the Call of Duty Vanguard free access weekend also arrives at a good moment in the game. Activision is also releasing the new Shipment map which is the smallest map ever to release in Call of Duty to date. Users will most likely be familiar with the Shipment map which has been present in a handful of Call of Duty games in the past. Shipment is even available on COD Mobile.
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Activision says that the Call of Duty Shipment map launched back in 2007 for Call of Duty 4. The publisher gave a brief history on the map over on the COD blog saying:
It was just a square map with eight sets of containers: four that formed a cross in the center, two side-by-side sets to the north and south, and two put up against each other on the east and west. Only two of them could be entered, making it nearly impossible to avoid the airstrikes and helicopters from above.
Outside of it being a test map for developers in Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare 2, a version of Shipment did not resurface until 2014, when Call of Duty®: Ghosts brought it back as Showtime within the game’s final DLC pack. It was a radical departure from the classic, featuring a special slot machine Field Order that fit the aesthetic of a deadly game show arena.
That same decade, Sledgehammer Games released Call of Duty®: WWII and, during the Shamrock & Awe event, Shipment 1944. This was a near-identical re-creation of the original Shipment, with its setting being the only difference. Shipment 1944 was set on the beaches of Normandy, right next to the classic Headquarters where one Captain Butcher began his own legacy.
After a one-year gap, Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® brought back Shipment as part of its first-ever season of free content.
This version of Shipment once again shifted its setting — this time to the Port of London — and made several design changes, including the ability to climb on specific sets of containers.
Players could see just how different these two Shipments were if they played Call of Duty®: Mobile, where both the WWII and Modern Warfare versions of the map were playable.
As for the Call of Duty Vanguard Free Access weekend, Activision detailed the content on offer saying:
During this long weekend, all players will get full access to Vanguard’s Multiplayer. That includes the ability to try out and level up over three dozen weapons before they come to Warzone™ Pacific, a dozen Operators to unlock new gear for, action-packed playlists featuring Combat Pacing, and 17 core maps, including Champion Hill and the return of fan-favorite locale Shipment.
This Free Access period gives you a taste of what Vanguard owners get to experience before the next year stacks the deck with tons of free Multiplayer content. Owning Vanguard also gets you a gripping single-player Campaign and a universe-expanding Zombies mode, let alone 24-hours exclusive access to Warzone Pacific’s new map Caldera when it launches on December 2.
Source: Call of Duty blog
