I am pleased to report that Sledgehammer Games’ tweaks to Call of Duty’s “Prop Hunt” mode have made the game of silly hide-n-seek even better in Call of Duty: WWII than it was in Modern Warfare Remastered.
The fan-favorite mode arrived at the start of the Resistance community event on January 23. For a limited time, players can enjoy the hilarity of alternately disguising themselves as, and seeking out, ridiculous prop items on the map.
One team has thirty seconds to hide on the map as props—ammo crates, furniture, bikes, trees—and the other team must seek them out. The seeking team will win the round if all the props are killed, while the hiding team must have one surviving prop on the map when the time expires to obtain the win.
As fun as the premise sounds, and as hilarious as it could be in Modern Warfare Remastered, there were issues. Because there was no overtime implemented, too many matches ended in a draw. While it’s still fairly commonplace for both teams to win equal number of rounds in a match in WWII, Sledgehammer Games’ version determines a clear winner based off which team had the most kills or fastest time.
Also like the previous version, you don’t get to choose which prop you spawn as, and some props can be large and awkward to hide in the environment. But WWII balances this out by rewarding players with extra experience points for surviving as large or medium-sized props. The bonus points make the challenge of hiding as a large truck or woodpile a little more enticing.
My only complaint is that the size bonus doesn’t always label props properly: I’ve spawned as medium-sized props that netted the large prop bonus of 100 points, and then as larger props that were only worth the medium-sized 50 bonus points. While Sledgehammer could still do some tweaking here, it’s nice to earn some extra points for successfully disguising yourself as a giant wagon wheel or supply truck.
Decoys are a new feature added to the WWII formula. Each prop player will get the option to drop three decoys of their prop each round. So if you spawn in as a tree, you can drop identical decoy trees anywhere you’re able to place your prop. This adds an interesting twist to the mode, either helping or hurting your chance of survival. A decoy might allow you more time to escape, on the one hand. But seekers will earn points for shooting the decoys—and then they’ll be looking for more of those specific props, since they now know what the real you looks like.
Another nice addition: green highlight around teammate props. Now you’ll know if the ammo crate next to you is a friendly or just part of the map décor.
And the seeking team can now entertain themselves with a mini-game while waiting for the props to hide. When the screen goes dark and the 30-second countdown starts, seekers can race each other by rapidly tapping a button to make their PSN name or Gamertag climb up to the top of the screen. A gamertag race might sound kind of dumb, but my friends and I are all pretty competitive, and I spam the button like a maniac to go for a win.
Overall, these smart changes provide an even better Prop Hunt experience. The game mode is only available in WWII until January 29, so try it out soon.