“Call of Duty Modern Warfare” will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, Oct. 25. The game is developed by Infinity Ward, a subsidiary of Activision. They are known for the “Modern Warfare” series that was on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC with some occasionally arriving on Nintendo Systems. They are also known for the failure that was “Call of Duty Infinite Warfare,” released in 2016. The game was heavily criticized for being too much like “Halo” and “Destiny” for its sci-fi theme, but “Call of Duty Modern Warfare” takes the series back to its roots, with boots on the ground combat which the series is known for.
While the beta was only for multiplayer modes, players received a taste of the gameplay mechanics, visuals, and some of the multiplayer modes available.
The game has amazing visual detail. It looks like Infinity Ward took their time and built it from the ground up, unlike the previous “Call of Duty Black Ops 4,” made by Treyarch, that was basically an addition to “Black Ops 3.” The game also greets players with a menu that consists of quick play, 2v2 gunfight, night vision mode (the gunfight and night vision were interchanged periodically along with other modes) and cyber-attack.
The quick play throws the player into whatever match needs more players, regardless of the mode. While the player can do random play, users can also filter what modes they want to be put in, such as the classic team deathmatch where players compete as a team to try to get the most kills and least deaths to better their kill to death ratio. There’s also domination, where players take over capture points, that is very similar to capture the flag. The last and most popular mode for quick play is headquarters, where one takes over the enemy’s headquarters to disable the players on the other team from respawning, helping one’s overall kill to death ratio.
The gunfight mode is a 2 vs 2 mode and is the weakest mode for those who prefer team play. This is an unpopular opinion as it is also one of the most acclaimed modes added to the game.
The cyber-attack mode is confusing as users must destroy the opposing team’s “data center,” but also defend themselves. This mode is Infinity Ward’s attempt to keep a futuristic element in the game.
The gameplay is smooth and realistic. Users can modify their guns to adjust recoil, and the guns do not feel like one is spraying bullets all over the place. Instead, it feels like users are inside the war using a weapon. Infinity Ward also disabled jetpack and boost use, and made the game feels realistic and how one imagines an actual war to be. There are no lags or framerate drops in the game. Users can also personalize the controls.
The progression is excellent and is based on the amount of points you score, kills, deaths and overall kill to death ratio. In two days, I progressed to level 20, unlocking weapon attachments, additional customizations and killstreak options. As well as overall progression, players can level up weapons by how many kills they make with the weapon. Leveling up weapons unlocks more attachments and makes the weapon more accurate.
An additional feature is cross-platform play, meaning one can play with friends regardless of platform — Xbox can play with PS4 and PC players, and vice versa. This is a surprise, due to Sony’s negative stance on the feature being enabled on other games, meaning they can’t moderate interactions between players on other platforms. But due to industry pressure, they have slowly enabled different developers to patch the feature in, starting with Epic Game’s “Fortnite” in September 2018.
“Call of Duty Modern Warfare” received some criticism for not releasing on Nintendo Switch. This may be due to technical limitations of the system and Switch owners cited graphically intense games such as “Wolfenstein 2” and “Doom” being able to run on the system with graphical compromises. Will this platform be added to the list post launch? Only time will tell.
Overall, the game impresses with stunning visuals, intense and realistic gameplay, and a plethora of modes, with more coming at the official launch. The beta proves why “Modern Warfare” is a successful reboot of the “Call of Duty” series.