Several things seperate the Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises, though one thing that is important for both is their game modes. For Battlefield, Conquest serves as its most memorable form of gameplay, appearing in far more entries than other beloved modes like Rush. Call of Duty has its own iconic game modes like Domination and Search and Destroy, alongside several other popular offerings like Hardpoint and Kill Confirmed. Intriguingly, it seems like Overwatch 2 will be taking notes from both games with its upcoming PvP mode.
While the response to Push has been mixed to say the least, with many feeling that it needs more maps to play on, it is nice to know that the divisiveness has not discouraged Blizzard from trying new things. With Overwatch 2 being a live service title, adding exciting new game modes to play is going to be integral to keeping players hooked. Fortunately, the new Flashpoint game mode in Season 6 will provide just that, and fans of either Call of Duty or Battlefield could find something to like about it. Based on what has been revealed thus far, Flashpoint sounds like a mixture of Battlefield’s biggest mode and a niche mode from Call of Duty’s past.
Overwatch 2’s Flashpoint Seems to Have a Few Similarities to Conquest and War
Conquest in Battlefield is a simple concept. Players load into an enormous map with a handful of neutral flags - usually five - to capture. They will then aim to hold the majority of flags long enough to win a match, and they are able to reclaim captured flags from the enemy team by holding down a zone for long enough. However, this is a difficult task, as each captured flag acts as a new spawn point for whichever team has control of it, meaning that teams can quickly get back into the fight to contest whatever zones they hold.
As for War, it was featured in Call of Duty 3 and Treyarch’s Black Ops predecessor Call of Duty: World at War, and it sounds particularly close to what Flashpoint will be like. When the game begins, only the central point is active, with both sides battling to control it. Once it is captured, the opposing team is pushed back to the next point, with the attackers needing to continue pushing them back to secure three points in a row and claim victory.
Though details are limited when it comes to Flashpoint, it certainly sounds like players will be battling over zones in the exact same way as Call of Duty’s War. Specifically, they will be aiming to capture three zones “before their opponents do,” suggesting that each zone will be active for both sides and that all players will be rushing to the next point after one has been conquered. Blizzard has said that players will need to plan ahead to succeed, as unlike game modes such as Call of Duty’s Headquarters where there is time before the next location drops, “the next one is already waiting” as soon as a point is captured.
The big connection to Conquest is that Flashpoint is set to feature the two largest maps in Overwatch history. Gigantic Conquest maps like Caspian Border are a staple of Battlefield, and it seems like that is an area where Overwatch 2 has been influenced by the military shooter. While it is unclear if players will be able to spawn on captured Flashpoints, it does seem like a possibility if the maps are as huge as Blizzard has been teasing. Focusing fully on large maps for Flashpoint would make it a bit different from War, as some War maps were very small and only gave Call of Duty fans three points to fight for.
Considering that players are victorious in Flashpoint when they capture and hold three points at the same time, five total points seems likely, with one in the center and two pushing toward either spawn. Structurally, this sounds exactly like Call of Duty’s War, with the map size and possible use of five objective points adding a bit of Battlefield’s Conquest into the mix. While players will not know all the rules for sure until Blizzard fully pulls back the curtain on this mode, for now this feels like an apt comparison.
The one thing to keep in mind is Overwatch 2’s match size. Overwatch 2 is a team-focused hero shooter with five players on each side, while Battlefield features dozens of gamers to fill out a massive play space. Though Blizzard is touting that Flashpoint’s maps are huge, hopefully it has not gotten too out of hand in terms of their size. After all, one big issue with Push is how long it can take to get back from spawn, something that could be a problem in Flashpoint. Hopefully, Conquest’s flag spawns are borrowed as well as its map size, with everything else feeling more comparable to Call of Duty’s War mode.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Xbox
