Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Review - A Solid Care Package

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is back, and developer Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have rebooted the franchise, updating the initial concept with this generation’s tech advancements. With a proper single-player campaign mode, 4-player co-op missions, and the staple multiplayer mode; Modern Warfare is set to be a must-have first-person shooter game this holiday season. Is it worth a purchase, or is it little more than a weekend rental at a friends’ place? After consuming 20+ hours of the game’s final product as well as 3 weeks’ worth of beta-testing before the game’s launch, I’d endorse this as a strong option if you’re looking to play a new online shooter, whether through console or PC.

Shock And Awe

Buckle up, because once you start up Modern Warfare’s campaign, you’re in for a ride… for better or worse. There’s over 14 missions, ranging from intense firefight-focused scenarios to slow but intense stealth levels. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Campaign brings a short and thrilling ride that updates the “modern” in its title to 2019, a year where wars aren’t won in a trenched-out battlefield or vast open spaces, where soldiers don’t wear a uniform and your own city or village is fair game to collateral damage. 

There’s three playable characters in Infinity Ward’s reboot - Sgt. Kyle Garrick is an enlisted with SAS and later joins Captain Price, CIA operative “Alex” is stationed at a fictional country called Urzikstan, and Farah Karim, an Urzik rebel leader, and rest assured, all three have their fair share of playtime through the campaign while Captain Price (actor Barry Sloane) plays your reliable boss/buddy.

Although my campaign time was short (finished in under 6 hours), the story - which cycles through three character perspectives - didn’t have any dull moments. Every mission brought a sense of excitement and urgency, even when stealth and story progression were the main focus of a scenario. In fact, I liked the slower portions more, as the tense moments can be draining. Replaying “Clean House” in realism mode (HUD off) plays out like a horror game. Farah has a flashback that opens with her village being bombarded while Russian soldiers carry out a slaughter. With Farah’s father, you’ll need to sneak up on enemy soldiers while searching for your sibling. At one point, you’re in a mini-game of hide n seek against one soldier who’s trying to kill you and the rest of your family in your own house, and you’re pressed to use your surroundings to defend yourself.

Modern Warfare’s Campaign as a whole is satisfying. It made me care about Price, Garrick, Alex, and Farah, even though most times, what they’re doing can be seen as wrong. “We get dirty and the world stays clean. That's the mission,” to quote our mutton-chop-sporting friend. And that’s the central throughline strewn thematically through the Campaign. I questioned what I was doing a few times during the plot’s difficult moments. Infinity Ward wants the player to. But that feeling only lasts for a few beats, as you’re whisked down another segment of the campaigns’ on-the-rails experience. If there is any complaint I have regarding the Campaign, it’s that I found its last mission and ending the weakest, due to plot points defining logic and an abrupt ending. Nevertheless, it ends with an exciting teaser for the future of the series.

Multiplayer

The other half of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s experience lies in its time-tested Multiplayer modes, and let’s face it, what defines Call of Duty if not that fast-paced, twitchy, and mind-numbing online multiplayer? The original Modern Warfare titles always had a special place in my heart, since it was my go-to online shooter if I ever needed a quick after-work gaming fix. 

This time, Infinity Ward went back to basics. If you’re expecting jump packs, stealth camos, and other futuristic gizmos, well, you’re not gonna find anything here. Welcome back the M4 Carbines and the MP-5 sub-machine guns, welcome back our favorite perks, and the kill-streaks that made the mode a franchise staple. Boy, does it feel like coming home. 

Even with the familiarity of this year’s multiplayer offering, Modern Warfare did manage to add a few nifty features and game modes to its otherwise tried-and-tested formula. The biggest feature is also a first in its franchise - the inclusion of cross-play for all its multiplayer modes. 

You can now frag with and against players who play Modern Warfare on their PC, Playstation 4, or XBox One. This might bring up a few problems and raise some eyebrows, especially among those who believe PC players have an advantage against console players. I’ve been playing on the PS4 during beta and on the PC during my time reviewing the game, and have found no skill gap issues thus far with regards to one’s platform choice. The game’s matchmaking system carefully pairs players based on skill, no matter what rig or console you use. The game also features full-on mouse and keyboard support on the PS4 and XBox One consoles to provide console players that added advantage. Crossplay so far is a welcome addition to Call of Duty, and hopefully other online shooters will follow this example in the future.

Since we’re back to Modern Warfare, player movement has regressed back to... well, mortal levels of control. For those of us pampered by Infinity Warfare’s and Black Ops 4’s jetpacks and wall-running, you won’t see them here, but Infinity Ward added a few new moves and mechanics that make Modern Warfare a bit fresh. Players can now press crouch while sprinting to perform a slide that can help you dodge a bit and maneuver for cover during firefights. There’s also a mount button, which you can use to peek while mounting your gun on a surface (ex. a wall or an obstacle). Also introduced in Modern Warfare is the Gunsmith, a new feature for customizing your firearms when making loadouts in Create-A-Class. Aside from numerous weapon attachments and perks you can stick in your weapon, you can also customize your weapon’s look via skins, decals, and charms. Other than that, you are left to rely on your wits and aim when it comes to surviving Modern Warfare’s multiple game modes.

Modern Warfare offers the usual helping of standard game modes found in Call of Duty multiplayer. Expect the usual Free-For-All, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search & Destroy, and Headquarters game modes to make an appearance as well. While Multiplayer also rotates a few game modifiers or full-on game modes such as the classic Kill Confirmed, a few new ones are introduced in Modern Warfare. First is Cyber Attack, a modified version of Search & Destroy where two teams fight and retrieve an EMP device, then use it to destroy the opposing team’s objective. Players don’t respawn in this game mode, but can revive their teammates, which added a layer of strategy to Search and Destroy’s game mechanics. 

Another is Ground War, which is basically just “Battlefield” mode. In this 64-player mode, 2 large teams fight to take control of several capture points spread across the map. Players can use vehicles such as tanks, fighter jets, and ATVs. I played a few games of Ground War and I find it too hectic. However, it isn’t as focused and fast-paced as the other multiplayer game modes; making it perfect if you just want to casually sit back and play Call of Duty without trying to worry about your KD ratio or your will to win a round.

Modern Warfare also introduces Night Maps in their game mode rotations, where you play on select maps with minimal light sources, and the only way to see clearly is to either activate light switches found in certain rooms, or wear night vision goggles. Similar to the game’s campaign missions that use NVGs, games played on Night Maps are intense. The goggles narrow your vision a bit, and actually disable the use of optics. Holding the aim button will let you use your attached laser sights. You can still use your guns’ optics, but you need to deactivate your NVG. 

The last mode introduced in Modern Warfare is my new favorite: Gunfight. The rules of Gunfight is simple. It’s a 2v2 mode where players get randomized loadouts and duke it out in small maps. The first team to win 6 rounds wins the game. Gunfight rounds are fast, and most of the time, your victory solely depends on teamwork and how good you are with the chosen loadout.

At the time of my review, Modern Warfare’s multiplayer mode starts off healthy. I did run into problems regarding some of the game’s mechanics during its first week, such as footsteps being too loud, callouts being heard by both teams, and some overpowered weapons, but the devs managed to fix these right away via a quick update.

Spec Ops

Modern Warfare’s other multiplayer mode is Spec Ops. In this mode, a total of four players can team up and carry on special co-op-exclusive missions that are tied into the campaign’s story. Loadouts created in Multiplayer are carried over in Spec Ops, but they also add a class system that gives you nifty tools and abilities that help your team during the mission. Each of the four available missions in Spec Ops are long, multi-segment scenarios that might take more or less 30-45 minutes to finish, drastically different from the short (but excellent) Spec Ops missions found in the older Modern Warfare titles. I tried a few missions with random players to see how fun they are, and unfortunately, it feels pretty half-baked. Some missions have maps that are too large for four lone players to roam around. AI and enemy placement also feel like an afterthought, with the game being very carefree in spawning Juggernauts every now and then. There were a few moments that I actually enjoyed, such as executing an assault inside a flying plane reminiscent to Call of Duty 4’s Mile High Club mission. But these little nuggets of joy are overshadowed by just how mediocre the other objectives are in these glorified shooting galleries. If you feel that the Spec Ops missions take too much of your time to finish, and you just want straight-up co-op horde mode, Modern Warfare fortunately has that in the form of “Classic Spec Ops”

Final Briefing

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare brought the complete package, as it hits most if not all the right points, making it an excellent first-person military shooter. The campaign is an engaging on-the-rails spectacle, though some may raise eyebrows at Infinity Ward’s handling of certain subject matter. Multiplayer is solid and more accessible to all, thanks to Cross-play and a few changes to the mechanics. The core Modern Warfare gameplay has only grown better and more balanced with age. Spec Ops has potential, but isn’t there yet as a promising co-op challenge mode. We can only hope that the co-op gets a few new maps and tweaks to the mechanics to make it more enjoyable. Modern Warfare is back, and whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m excited to see what Infinity Ward will do to follow-up this reboot.

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Score: 8/10

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Highlights

• (+) Solid Campaign mode that combines vicious firefights with intense stealth levels.

• (+) Still features a solid multiplayer package

• (+) Sublime gun customization

• (-) Some maps and questionable mechanics in multiplayer need a few tweaks

• (-) Spec Ops missions feel half-baked 

What I’ve Played

Platform: PC

• Finished Campaign mode on Hardened difficulty in under 6 hours

• Replayed a few Campaign missions on Realism difficulty

• 16+ hours of MW multiplayer goodness

• Played a few Spec Ops missions

• Number of times my character yelled “CONTACT” towards my would-be-victim as I sneak behind him/her (before the latest update): 22

[This review is based on a PC review code provided by Activision.]

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