While it is great to have a series launch a title every year, the drawback is that it quickly loses that “wow factor.” Sadly, one of those used to be Call of Duty. Despite bringing a new experience to players each year, some recent releases didn’t land as expected. Fortunately, that streak might be over, and all of it thanks to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Beyond delivering one of the series’ best campaigns, its multiplayer and DMZ modes are highly enjoyable, and more than enough to put the franchise back on track.
The End of the Line
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has three key components: Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ, and I will start with the former.
While I have followed the overarching narrative of CoD for a while, I have to admit it wasn’t what drew me into the game at first. I’ve always preferred the gunplay, the multiplayer modes, and Zombies when available. Yet I now admit the campaign mode is the best we’ve had in any recent entry, and it wraps up several plot points with a golden ribbon.
For those who need a refresher, the story kicks off after Price goes rogue and follows his path of revenge alongside familiar faces, allies, and villains alike. However, there’s another narrative that follows a group of South Korean soldiers as soon as the country is invaded by its northern neighbors.
At first glance, the campaign feels massive, not in runtime, but in scope and characters. For the latter, so many plot points run at the same time that I’m extremely surprised Infinity Ward kept everything simple and clean. This is one of the most cohesive and coherent stories in the franchise, and it wraps up everything not only in this entry but in past titles as well.
As a certain fighting game would say, everyone is here. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but the cast is stacked with both new and old characters. At first, I thought this would backfire, since having so many characters in an 8-hour campaign mode seemed like a bad idea. Yet, everyone had their time to shine or to say farewell to the series in an epic or shocking way.
Although it wasn’t the biggest selling point in earlier installments, I think the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 campaign is the game’s best mode, or at least the most polished. It delivers a stellar story from start to finish, with perfect pacing, tremendous performances from the entire cast, and plenty of fan-service moments that will leave veterans satisfied.
Back to Basics
After the campaign, you’ll likely jump into Multiplayer or DMZ, and since so many love the fast-paced action of going head-to-head with other players, I’ll start there.
Multiplayer mode in any Call of Duty has always scared me. It got to the point where some mechanics felt unnecessary or too convoluted, so I looked for another mode or played it only occasionally. Now, the studio stepped back and took a more grounded approach, with a huge payoff.
Despite the complaints, I believe Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched with plenty of maps and modes that, at least for me as a casual gamer, work extremely well.
While Kill Block has been my favorite so far, and one I hope gets more things later, every other map and mode has felt extremely enjoyable because it feels so grounded.
For starters, the TTK is a tad longer than in previous entries. I really liked having a fighting chance, even if it’s only for a couple of seconds. Some encounters felt more tactical, and not dying as soon as I spot an enemy is great.
But when it comes to spotting enemies, that’s where Modern Warfare 4 dropped the ball. Right now, spawn points are all over the place, or rather, they aren’t. Some modes spawn you next to an enemy, and if you’re lucky, you can swap your weapon before getting shot in the back.
Another thing I don’t like is how inconsistent matchmaking is. As I mentioned, I’m a casual, so I don’t expect a high K/D ratio, but I’d still like to be paired with players around my skill level, not against gamers who can headshot you without looking through their sniper scope. On the other hand, weapon progression is fantastic, and sharing it makes build-crafting much easier.
At this moment, I would say the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is some sort of mixed bag. While its pros eclipse the cons, thankfully, it still has a few rough edges that need urgent ironing. Yet, it is one of the best I’ve experienced in the series, and one that I’m actively looking to play.
The Most Addictive of the Bunch
If I liked the previous mode, my real addiction is DMZ. Given the “boom” of the extraction shooter genre in recent years, I don’t have that anxiety of jumping into a match and clenching my pearls with fear of losing my gear. And of all the extraction shooters I’ve played lately, this version of DMZ is fantastic, though it has some balance issues.
As for the good parts, the extraction loop is amazing, but what really stood out was how well it weaves in the PvE aspect. Normally, some extraction shooters leave the PvE part on the side or make it feel like there’s nothing to do but uninspiring quests.
MW4 DMZ made PvE the most addictive part of the process. After the tutorial, you can choose between free roam, dynamic ops, and story missions. The first lets you enter the map with no set objective. The second, and most lucrative one, lets you complete different missions, with rewards increasing the more dynamic ops you complete. Lastly, story missions are multi-stage quests with specific tasks, a narrative, and some challenging objectives.
Of the three modes, I’ve spent most of my time in dynamic ops, and I’ve loved every run. Even if some tasks get repetitive, I like how the rewards at the end are random, ranging from materials to equipment and a hefty sum of banked cash.
On top of that, you have chapters, sets of tasks you get at your FOB, and you have to complete them for neat rewards. I liked how they lean more toward an extended tutorial where you learn to use different items, and most of them lead to a single story mission.
And while the heart-racing aspect of DMZ is amazing, even when you face a truce-breaking player, there are several issues that really make a few consecutive lost rounds extremely frustrating.
For starters, I loathe the whole Operator rescue thing. I get it in a DMZ narrative way of sorts, but the cost of bringing operators back to life is ridiculous. Over 60k for a Damascus operator is a joke when a good Dynamic Ops payout gives around 9k. On top of that, selling some items is useless; some guns just give you 2 to 3k. In short, the mode’s economy is terrible right now.
The same applies to weapon crafting. I get that making a 5-slot weapon shouldn’t be easy, but the cost is way too high, and sometimes a normal assault rifle with no attachments can beat a weapon of that caliber.
Right now, DMZ‘s biggest issue is its economy. Sooner or later, players will drop out of this game mode, since it doesn’t feel rewarding at all. Add a lack of basic crafting materials and see-through-wall AI enemies, and you can see some noticeable cracks.
None of the above would be such huge issues if we had an actual PvE mode for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which we don’t. While I love my extraction shooters with the PvP element, there’s a goldmine here for a pure PvE mode, since the locations, missions, and POIs are flawless and packed with danger. In a way, a PvE mode would make some of the above problems feel minor.
Still, I really like the direction this DMZ is taking, and I hope Infinity Ward fixes some of the more pressing issues. This is easily the most addictive mode we have right now, and it would be a shame to lose something with so much potential over just some economy and balance problems.
A Stellar Installment
Of all the games that launch every year, Call of Duty often ends up at the bottom of my list. I put it in my backlog and only jump in for a few rounds every week. Now it’s my most-played title this month, and I don’t think I’ll put it down anytime soon.
Infinity Ward has done a fantastic job closing a chapter in the franchise’s story while also starting a brand-new era for the series. With a stellar campaign, a grounded multiplayer mode, and a highly addictive DMZ, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 easily raises the bar for the series and gives me hope for the studio’s future endeavors.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (PC Reviewed)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is, undoubtedly, one of the best installments in the series. With a strong campaign, a grounded multiplayer mode, and an addictive DMZ, Infinity Ward has done a superb job at bringing the series back on track and elevating it to new heights.
Pros
- A jaw-dropping campaign
- A back-to-basics approach for multiplayer
- Strong PvPvE loop for DMZ
Cons
- Unbalanced economy in DMZ
- Bad spawn point placement in multiplayer
