The third season of Call of Duty: Vanguard is off to an atypical start. Titled “Classified Arms,” it’s an unexpected crossover between Call of Duty and the Godzilla vs. Kong film franchise. The update heavily favors Call of Duty: Warzone, as a majority of the new content can only be experienced in the series battle royale spinoff title. However, Call of Duty: Vanguard’s multiplayer did receive a new small-scale map titled Mayhem. It’s got a very similar feel to the notorious launch map Das Haus, but one clever Redditor pointed out that it’s also hugely important to the Godzilla franchise.
In a post submitted to r/CODVanguard, u/Heavyduty35 extols the intricacies of Sledgehammer's new multiplayer offering, elucidating that it’s intended as an homage to the very first Godzilla film. Not only is Mayhem set in the midst of a scaled-down city built on a soundstage, but it also takes place in November 1954 in Tokyo, Japan, the month in which the movie debuted in its native territory. That’s technically nine years after the conclusion of the conflict in which Call of Duty: Vanguard is set, but it’s not as if the series has ever rigidly adhered to any kind of authenticity.
That said, this is definitely a great way to work the Godzilla vs. Kong property into Call of Duty: Vanguard without completely shattering player immersion. Mayhem comes across as an excellent re-imagining of the pioneering days of Japanese filmmaking, and, in the heat of a firefight, it could easily trick players into believing that they themselves are hundred-foot-tall kaiju. Of course, players who want to further that fantasy could pick up the King Kong and Mechagodzilla operator skins, goofy as they are.
The Call of Duty series has actually referenced more than a few popular movies in the past. In 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, players could purchase multiplayer operators based on 80s action icons John Rambo and John McClane. Additionally, prior games included Eater eggs to recognizable films such as It and Enemy At The Gates. Plus, rumors of a Call of Duty movie have been swirling since 2015, though such a cinematic endeavor doesn’t seem likely to materialize any time soon.
Players who aren’t particularly interested in the new Godzilla vs. Kong crossover may have to wait a few weeks for the next map, Sphere, to go live. Additionally, there was essentially no new zombies content available during the debut of Season 3, but Treyarch, the development team in charge of Call of Duty: Vanguard’s zombies component, has stated that round-based zombies content will finally be making its way to the 2021 Call of Duty outing in the near future.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.