CoD players flame Vanguard’s graphics: ‘It looks like Nintendo DS’

The Call of Duty community has had mixed reactions to Vanguard’s Alpha, with the loudest roasting the game’s console graphics. Likened to the Nintendo DS, among more colorful language, the community is… less than delighted.

Call of Duty and PlayStation have a deal in place which means PS players get access to more stuff, and earlier stuff, than their PC and Xbox counterparts. Such is the case with the 2021 Vanguard Alpha, which is exclusive to PS4 and PS5.

Unfortunately, while Alphas are usually expected to look less polished than their final product, the return to PlayStation graphics has left streamers and fans heated.

One clip in particular has gotten the ire of players, with people reacting and claiming the graphics look like they’re from a Nintendo DS or the year 2000. Above all else, many just seems uninspired by their first look.

As you can see in the clip, the graphics aren’t particularly impressive. This can be attributed to this being an Alpha as well as the perils of Twitter compression, but also to the PlayStation exclusivity.

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That latter point has been explicitly questioned by popular CoD content creators like JGOD, who called it “insane” for the first look at CoD 2021 to be a look at limited console visuals.

Concerned over the impression people are getting from gameplay, JGOD reinforces that the game actually a graphical improvement over its predecessors: “It looks better graphically than MW2019 and Warzone, but you would never know from what is being posted.”

Bemoaning the inability to play and share the game in 1440p or 120 FOV, JGOD was sure to comfort people in the replies that yes, this game looks “better than CoD has ever looked graphically.”

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While many players aren’t bothered by the Alpha’s presentation, seeing it as what it is — a test of bugs and gameplay, a loud group still isn’t pleased. The overarching theme seems to be: a game on 2013’s PS4 shouldn’t look like it’s from 2004’s Nintendo DS.