Unfortunately this evolution is only
half-realized in multiplayer. Here the
relics of 2007 clash with fresh ideas.
Modern Warfare aspires to be
grounded and tactical while also
giving you the power to pilot your
own heavy gunship,
and it doesn’t work.
It’s easy to forget
about that complaint in
the heat of a match,
because Modern
Warfare’s action is
exceptional. Weapons
explode with
concussive energy and
rattle with recoil until the magazine
is spent. Reload animations bask in
the moment with motion-captured
flare that celebrates a kill and snaps
back into place for the next fight.
Facing the lethal end of Modern
Warfare’s weapons is often petrifying.
Bullet impacts are loud, disorienting
thuds. Near-miss bullets slice through
oxygen with the deafening echoes of
a military sim. The classic hit marker
‘thwoops’ are now blunt strikes thatform a supersonic flurry of blows,
closing on the intoxicating coin flip
‘ding’ that says I’ve won the firefight.
But despite an aesthetic turn
toward reality, Team Deathmatch and
other core modes remain cyclical
meat grinders of
kill-die-respawn-kill
where the only skill
check is the first to
click on a head. Oh,
and whoever scores the
first killstreak.
I hate killstreaks. In
my years away from
the series, I haven’t
missed getting carpet bombed by a
$90 million jet while minding my
own business. Killstreaks hand more
power to players already topping the
scoreboard, turning the rest of us into
ants under a magnifying glass. And
when the roles reverse, the pride of a
long killstreak is devalued. I got 30
kills, yay, but really I got 20. The rest
are empty ant kills.
The superiority of killstreaks also
cheapens Modern Warfare’s newField Upgrades—small-scale tools like
a recon drone or ammo cache that
add a bit of strategy to a standard
loadout. Field Upgrades allow for tiny
moments of real teamwork, a feat for
CoD’s typically selfish playstyle.
Gunfight, Modern Warfare’s new
2v2 round-based elimination mode, is
my bastion away from that chaos.
Gunfight ditches killstreaks and
ratchets up intensity with 40-second
rounds and no health regeneration.
Every round is a burst of improvised
strategy as both teams adapt to
randomized identical loadouts. It’s
simple and amazing.REBOOTS ON THE GROUND
Within the campaign, Infinity Ward
has scaled back on thrill rides. It
shoots for the variety of distinctive
missions that Call of Duty 4 set trends
with, avoiding on-rails murder fests
in favor of missions about cautious
infiltration where walking is the
default move speed.
One stressful section has Garrick
guiding a civilian through an
enemy-littered office by cycling
through security cameras. Going
Dark is a lone wolf stealth mission
with nonlinear objectives. The stealth
mechanics are light, but just deep
enough to avoid gimmick territory.
It’s undoubtedly my favorite CoD
campaign, but a familiar structure
holds it back. I want the eight-hour,
fully fleshed-out version of Going
Dark more than fleeting vignettes.
Modern Warfare sets the bar high
for first-person gun feel. Gunfight is a
standout mode that proves to me Call
of Duty can slow down and the sky
won’t fall. Modern Warfare is a
promising platform for new ideas, but
the sentiment will carry little weight
if Activision shoves it aside and we’re
talking about Black Ops 5 in 2020.NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A big-budget reboot of
an extremely influential
single-player and
multiplayer FPS
EXPECT TO PAY
$40
DEVELOPER
Infinity Ward
PUBLISHER
Activision
REVIEWED ON
RTX 2080, Intel
I9-7900X, 32GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
Up to 64 players
LINK
callofduty.com/
modernwarfare80
Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare evolves the
series for the better,
but it could have been
so much more.VERDICTThe warfare is
once again
modern and
Captain price is
your squad dadT
his latest sequel/reboot has sold itself as a return to the
setting that “started it all”. It’s a snappy marketing line, and
it’s not entirely misleading. The warfare is once again
modern and Captain Price is your squad dad. Yet it’s Modern
Warfare’s moments of unfamiliarity that impress me—rebuilt
weapon handling, new modes, and characters that aren’t the cookie-cutter
operatives we’ve seen in the last decade.PRICE HIKE
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE is a new high bar for the
series, despite parts of it feeling dated. By Morgan Park
KILLSTREAKS, RANKED BY ANNOYANCE
Which killstreaks make me want to rip my hair out the most?PRECISION
AIRSTRIKE
FIVE KILLS
This one lets you
designate a straight
line to be peppered
with bombs and
machine-gun fire. It
tips matches.CHOPPER
GUNNER
TEN KILLS
Fly around the map
shooting a minigun
and missiles at
anyone unlucky
enough to be
outside.UAV
THREE KILLS
Secretly the most
destructive tool in
the game. If you’re
ever wondering if
the enemy has a
UAV in the air, just
assume they do.CLUSTER STRIKE
FIVE KILLS
A cluster of missiles
that target an area.
It’s not too difficult
to avoid, but its low
kill cost means it
happens way too
often.PERSONAL
RADAR
THREE KILLS
A radar drone that
pings enemies on
the map. It’s so easy
to earn that I’m
always spotted by
something.5 4 3 2 1REVIEW