Where do you draw the line?
When the original Modern Warfare released some 12 years ago, it turned the fairly successful Call of Duty franchise into one of the biggest the industry would ever see. While the series has remained extremely strong since, it’s no secret that the franchise has seen a dip in sales year after year. While the quality of the game could be a contributing factor, its setting, or that of its multiplayer component, there is no denying that Modern Warfare was the brand most associated with Call of Duty. This is likely the reason for Activision revisiting the name, releasing the latest entry as simply, Modern Warfare.
Taking the name back and placing you within the confines of a whole new narrative, Modern Warfare feels familiar in many ways, but with a whole new engine, the franchise has never looked better. The series once against takes up relevant topics that are part of the current political climate and while it attempts to border on the edge of pushing deeper into its controversial themes, it, unfortunately, plays it relatively safe. That said, the story, its characters, especially that of Farah Karim, are some of the best that franchise has ever seen. Even a character like Price, who returns from the original release is back with more character development than he had had prior. While its campaign is relatively short, on the 5-6 hour side, it’s far more memorable and impactful than most of the recent entries.
Modern Warfare follows American and British forces as they work alongside rebels from the fictional country of Urikstan, attempting to take down the Russian forces who have invaded their country. You’ll swap from a series of protagonists both in the present day, as well as a gripping and immersive flashback sequence, detailing the events that took place during the initial invasion. What’s different here, at least for me, when compared to the previous Call of Duty games, is that Infinity Ward took the time to give these characters personality and depth and thanks to the highly detailed character models during the cutscenes, believable emotion. While there are a few celebrity roles featured in the campaign, they rarely if at all take over the scene and distract you from the moment.
Told across 14 chapters, you will take part in night raids, where you’ll slowly work your way through a pitch-black house, dodging bullets through thin doors, trying to identify threats from civilians, to an intense foot race to capture one of the leaders of a terrorist cell. There is some standard Call of Duty moments here alongside all the typical “Stay Frosty” dialogue, but then you’ll have unique situations such as when you’re directing a woman through a terrorist occupied office via the CCTV camera’s that makes for one of the most intense segments in the game. The mission variety is rather impressive and it is all baked into the moral choices each character will make to serve the greater good.
The choice of doing the right thing no matter the cost is the driving force behind much of the plot. When one of the main protagonists is frustrated due to the rules of engagement, which by following it allowed for some tragic events to transpire, he’s given a chance to join up with Captain Price and look to find justice regardless of how bloody his hands will get along the way. I mentioned before that one of the more impressive characters is Farah Karim, the leader of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, and one of the most compelling characters in the entire franchise. You spend a great deal of time not just interacting with her, or the few missions you’ll play as her, but diving into the complicated path that has shaped her present. For as much as you’re face to face with Captain Price or mowing down tons of enemy forces as the other two protagonists, Farah is by large the main character in this story, and it’s all the better for it.
Clocking in at around 5-6 hours, it’s easy enough to push through the campaign in a single sitting. There are countless other events and character moments that are some of the series best, but much of that is best to be experienced on your own and not spoiled via a review. If you’ve been disappointed by recent entries and their largely throw away campaigns, Modern Warfare is the best the franchise has seen in some time, especially after Black Ops 4 not including a campaign last year. While the campaign is top-notch, it’s hard to say if a 5-6 hour campaign alone is worth the purchase, especially if you don’t look to play any of the additional modes.
Modern Warfare also sees a noticeable change to its multiplayer component as well. While it’s not a complete reinvention of the formula, there are still some fairly notable changes in how PVP feels that will either have you onboard or simply logging back into something else. The biggest change comes in the level design leaving the typical three-lane structure behind, for the most part, in favor of larger, more complex maps that make the experience more defensive and slower than the series has recently seen. This makes you check your corners more often, and play more strategic, but it also allows for more instances of campers and this has a huge impact on the typical run and gun gameplay Call of Duty is typically known for. I’ve seen many Call of Duty fans either enjoy this new approach or hate it, so it really comes down to the individual on how you’ll take to this year’s changes. Each Call of Duty has been largely decisive, so it’s hard to know exactly if it’s your cup of tea or heading in the direction you’ve wanted the series to go in for some time.
Now, with that said, I’ve had discussions with players that either like this new approach or are not exactly sure what to think of it yet. Some enjoy this new methodical approach with being more careful about how you go about the maps, to the moments of being killed for the 5th time because the same guy is in a position where he can freely snipe your team in peace, or that the other team has surrounded your spawn location. I’ve encountered my fair share of campers as well, but that said, I’ve also plunked down and set my scope up to take advantage of certain paths, gunning them down through a second-story window with my claymore acting as back up. Some maps, such as Piccadilly, offers up such a location where this tactic is abused to no end. Again, I’ve used such locations myself several times, so it would be largely hypocritical of myself to really have massive issues with it. While I am fully aware that camping and sniping locations have been present in Call of Duty games since the dawn of time, their presence feels far more apparent this year than ever before.
The way the spawns work is also a problem here too as I’ve spawned right in the middle of shootouts, being killed instantly, to having our spawn zone camped to the point where you simply don’t have a chance to even retaliate. Previous Call of Duty games have had a history with horrendous spawning locations before, so hopefully, something is patched soon to make it easier to get back into the game.
Multiplayer has a few modes that are available to take part in; Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search and Destroy, Headquarters, Cyber Attack, and Kill Confirmed. Each of these modes can be added into a rotation, adjusted with filters to leave some out, or in the case of Kill Confirmed, at least for the time being, you can just select that as a single option in its own menu. Cyber Attack, a new mode to multiplayer this year, has teams looking to plant an EMP at an enemy base. With Search and Destroy and this new mode, I’ve found that many times the round became more about just killing the other team than the objective itself. I think out of the 20 some times I’ve played Cyber Attack, the objective was met maybe once or twice. Domination is where sniping and camping truly come out to play as you attempt to capture three static points on the map. A map, like Piccadilly, for example, has a second story room that has eyes on essentially 2 points, making it a key factor in controlling the map. In fact, other maps have a similar location that can make for map dominance should you take advantage of these sniping and camping locations. If Domination was patched to place the bases down randomly, instead of preset locations, then tactics and strategy would prevail as opposed to always playing down the same paths and camping locations.
Through the core multiplayer experience, you’ll have only 10 maps across these available modes. (I’ll note here that this review was finished before the new free maps hit the server.) While there is a total of 23 maps across everything Modern Warfare has to offer, the rotation of maps can feel incredibly minimal when you’re back in the same map two or three times in a row, especially since map voting has been removed during player lobbies. That said, the available maps at launch are decent to sometimes great with a variety of large open environments packed full of numerous buildings and areas for taking cover. Azhir Cave is probably my favorite of the bunch just due to the design and cave system making for some intense shootouts and sniping locations. Other maps, such as Gun Runner, Akrlov Peak, Rammaza, Euphrates Bridge, and St. Petrograd are quite fun as they just have nice fluid designs with several rooms and locations that make for some engaging confrontations for map dominance. There are a few maps I’m not totally sold on as Hackney Yard often has several areas on the map that are just not used in any real way and you’ll often find everyone in a central location. Aniyah Palace is probably my least favorite map as it feels oddly designed, far too open, and doesn’t have the same flow as some of the better maps.
While more designed around its 2v2 gunfight mode, there is also a small collection of very tiny maps that play to the mode’s strengths of you and one other player looking to take out the other pair pitted against you. When adding more players to these maps, it becomes sheer chaos due to their much smaller size. On the other end of the spectrum; however, is Ground War, Call of Duty’s take on Battlefield by offering a large wide-open map that allows for 24 vs 24 battles. You’ll have a series of vehicles to use, the ability to spawn on fellow players, and your loadouts and killstreaks are all present as well. Unfortunately, at least for myself, what I want from Call of Duty isn’t here and the mode just didn’t keep my interest as it is just a bigger version of Domination at its core.
Lastly, are a few modes that look to remove many of the UI elements for a more realistic method of multiplayer. Night mode allows you to take on the other teams in pitch-black darkness, relying on the use of your night vision goggles to see not just enemy players, but the laser line from their scopes, giving away their position. Hardcore mode, which is oddly hidden unless you know where to look (Quick Play Filter, then Press X on Xbox), allows for Hardcore variations of each of the standard multiplayer modes. Hardcore has limited hud options, low health, and friendly fire is enabled, making it incredibly more tense as you’ll have to ensure you’re not just killing everything that moves. There is also Realism mode that mimics much of what Hardcore offers, but I only was able to try it once before the mode just up and disappeared during the last update.
The last mode available to all players is Spec Ops, a co-op mode that continues where the campaign leaves off is where you and three other players will perform a series of objectives that can become incredibly hard as the opposition increases and surrounds you on every side. While there are ways to keep a single player away to ensure infinite respawns, the mode is largely broken as a glitch that prevents you from using your munitions boxes or earning back ammo has prevented me and several friends from completing a single mission. Every time I would die, I would have no ammo, and the various pick-up items such as a shielded turret or grenade boxes were unable to be used. I’ve been checking Reddit and many other players are experiencing this as well. Spec Ops is enjoyable when it works, working together with other players to take down vast forces is something I wanted from this year’s efforts. But every single time I log in to try this mode, this glitch has prevented me and my friends from pushing forward. The only time I was about to complete it, the server kicked me out as the mission was about to end. I would love to praise this mode and talk more about it, but sadly, my experience has been buggy, broken, and disappointing. While this is a current issue around the game, I’ve sure that the issues will be addressed in a future update.
Leveling your solider is your typical Call of Duty affair as you’ll unlock new perks and killstreaks as you increase your rank. You can also level your weapons alongside you, unlocking new equipment to attach to them. Weapons can have five attachments added to them, as seen above, so picking and choosing your equipment will detail how effective your gun is in combat. Also, when another player kills you, you can try out their loadout for a single life, regardless if you’ve unlocked anything they are using. It’s an interesting way to get a feel for what other players run with. There are also various challenges you can do to earn more XP, but they are here as missions, which have to be activated in order for you to earn any progress on them. These missions can also only be activated one at a time, making this feel more like padding to keep you playing for longer than anything else. You can pick three killstreaks from a variety of options, including an auto-controlled mini-tank that while a bit awkward to control, is very satisfying to get kills with.
The guns of Call of Duty will always be the most sought after element to the series and this year has seen some vast improvements to not just how they sound, but how they feel to fire. Recoil and the overall feel is greatly improved over previous years and can really make a difference when you find that perfect gun. You can also mount up against cover to get in a sly shot, popping up or around corners without exposing too much of yourself to returned fire. Aiming down sights is also considerably slower than previous years, but that is to compliment the more slower-paced combat.
The new engine used for this year’s game allows for vastly more detailed environments and characters than the series has seen before. This is especially noticeable during the campaign through its cutscenes with absolutely stunning facial animation and highly detailed character models. There are a few levels that stand out more due to their lighting, but frankly, everything Call of Duty attempts to do this year is elevated beyond what we’ve come to expect with a yearly franchise. That said, I’ve had some minor pop-up during the campaign, and many of my multiplayer matches begin with various black textures covering hands and faces until the match starts, and even a few seconds into them.
Activision could have easily cooked up a low effort Call of Duty to capitalize on the Modern Warfare name, something I still feel they did with Black Ops 4 last year, but Modern Warfare is probably the best the series has seen in years. The campaign is short but sweet, offering a very well-told story with compelling characters, and a multiplayer that I’ve actually wanted to sink time into. While I can understand the divisiveness of people’s opinions on the changes given to the multiplayer’s feel to play more defensively, I also cannot deny that I’ve had a better time with this year’s offerings than the previous few years. Modern Warfare is a return to form for the series and given that future maps will be free, mainly due to the upcoming battle pass method of free and paid cosmetic unlocks, it’ll keep the cross-play community playing together longer and makes me more excited to jump back in to slowly increase my awful KDR.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was purchased by the reviewer and played on an Xbox One X.
All screenshots were taken on an Xbox One X.