Call of Duty XP 2016

Call of Duty XP 2016 lived up to all of the hype a two-million-dollar prize pool brings. Everything necessary was present, the biggest names, the stage, the storylines, and when the dust settled at The Forum in Inglewood, California, Team EnVy Us were crowned champions and $800,000 richer.

Major Upsets

Major upsets headlined the tournament as two of the biggest names in Call of Duty, in OpTic and FaZe, bowed out early securing 7th/8th finishes. It was a huge disappointment for the two teams favored by fans and analysts to face off in the finals, but it paved the way for an incredible finish to the event. Lesser known EU competitors, Splyce, stormed through the bracket to face a red hot Team EnVy Us in the Grand Final. Having to overcome incredible odds, Splyce proved a formidable opponent for the Boys In Blue, taking Map 1 of the first Best of 5 series. EnVy proceeded to take the next three games in a row to end the tournament and crushing the possibility of a bracket reset and second Best of 5.

The Call of Duty Theme Park

Outside of top level Call of Duty from teams around the world, immediately outside of the arena a small Call of Duty theme park was erected. Fans were drawn in all different directions with attractions like NukeTown Paintball, Zombie Laser Tag, playable versions of both Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered, as well as a giant zip line.

Nostalgia in the MW Tent

The nostalgia was palpable in the MW tent as players lined up for hours to play the now remastered classic. A bit of an adjustment period is needed to get used to old school, boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty and there may be some tweaking of the kill streaks needed to ensure fun levels peaked, but, overall, the game looked and played fantastic. The unchangeable setting for kill streaks at 3-5-7 with UAV, Airstrike, and Chopper, seems too rigid and results in an overload of Choppers as the game progresses. There was an almost constant barrage of Choppers as the game carried on, and, while it is fun to call them in, it isn’t so fun to constantly be hiding from a helicopter.

Conclusion

Overall, CODXP accomplished what it set out to do, which was hype up the world for upcoming Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and put the capstone on Black Ops 3 with a historic prize pool. The tournament was closed out by an impressive performance by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, which had the entire Forum jumping. With Kanye performing at the first CODXP, and Snoop and Wiz at the second, the third installment of CODXP is sure to have a star studded musical lineup. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another five years to find out.