Modern Warfare Impressions

Modern Warfare feels like an old game. While that may sound like a bad thing, it’s actually one of the game’s most positive elements. It’s been twelve years since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was unleashed into the wild. Like everything else in the world, what was once modern in warfare is now archaic. This iteration isn’t a remake or even a sequel to the games that came before it, but more of a reimagining of what Modern Warfare would be as released in 2019. 

Call of Duty as a franchise has taken some crazy twists and turns over the past decade. We’ve gone to the future, the past, and even space – so it was only a matter of time until we landed back in the present. Though Treyarch has continued to please with their Black Ops branch of the CoD franchise, it’s been a while since Infinity Ward delivered a game that had everyone begging for more. This is why going back to the drawing board and reimagining Modern Warfare was exactly the right move to make.  

Most of us hate the term boots on the ground, but my goodness is it a welcome return. Gone are the wall runs and futuristic bull shit that made the game more about luck than skill. In their place are the core elements that made the game so great in the very beginning. With a series that was rooted in World War Two, it’s exciting anytime we see them go back and make it all about the guns and the skill of the gamer. 

So, let’s dive into the game and the features available in this iteration. 

Call of Duty 2019 includes a campaign again after Black Ops 4 ditched one in order to focus more on their Battle Royale mode, Blackout. And… what a welcome return it is. Series favorite’s like Captain Price return to lead us on a much more personal feeling campaign than we’ve seen in recent years aside from maybe World War 2. American and British forces are teaming up with rebels in a fictional country to take down the Russian invaders that trying to take over their country. Fire fights are much more chaotic and, while there are some fairly big outdoor battles, most of campaign is much more intimate and set in buildings and other closed in areas. The scene that we previewed at E3 where the British soldiers are infiltrating a house with night vision is the best example of this. We’re a long way from Infinite Warfare and it feels great.  

The danger feels real and the weapon variety is vast yet realistic. It’s a much more simplified Call of Duty than we’ve seen in a long time, but don’t mistake simplistic for bad. It has a pseudo open world feel to it because there are no real way points leading you from point A to point B. The simplistic nature of the game will keep you from guessing what to do and where to go for long, but it makes it feel a lot more real than a lot of action games cluttered with those type of things on the screen. There is a hint like option that will tell you your current objective if you need that in a pinch. 

Clocking in at around five hours or so, the campaign is a welcome return even if it doesn’t quite much up with some of the best in the series. However, for a series clocking in at around twenty titles now, that’s not a knock on the game at all. There have been some incredible campaigns in the past and, like many of the others, there are morally questionable decisions that you’ll make and plenty of imagery to make you uncomfortable.  

The multiplayer is also a nice return to form. Let’s get this out of the way. While I feel that Black Ops 4 is an incredible game, the perks were at an all-time level of insanity. I hated having a good round only to be foiled by the stupid sniper chopper and other aerial attacks that you had literally no way of defending. Things like that take the fun out of an otherwise great game. Though perks will always be a part of the game, this time around they were much more pleasant. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of things to worry about, perks like air strikes are still here, but your score is much more based on your skill level rather than how many times a stupid helicopter took you out. Call of Duty will always have players that live and breathe the game and they’ll always be at the top, but at least in Modern Warfare you’ll feel like you have a fighting chance.  

The game shipped with a few different modes with many more to follow in what is supposed to be free DLC. There is no season pass this year so everyone should be able to enjoy all the content by buying the core game. 

At launch you can choose between Quick Play, NVG, Ground War, Gun Fight, Kill Confirmed, Free for All and Private Match. Some popular modes such as Hardpoint are oddly absent at launch. 

Some standouts are Ground War (which will have you in the middle of an all-out war complete with vehicles) and Gun Fight (a multi-round 2v2 game where a team wins a round by eliminating both players on the other team).  

Overall, Modern Warfare feels like a simplification of the tried and true formula we’ve seen grow out of control for quite some time. It’s not quite as barebones as one of their prior efforts, Ghosts, but with no zombies and a lot of the modes missing day one it will be interesting to see what the game becomes as time goes on. There is a co-op game mode that makes up, in part, for Zombies being absent, but it’s far less interesting than what Zombies has been the last few releases.  

It’s exciting to see the franchise move in this direction just in time for Black Ops 5 to blow up the formula and have us wall jumping to the moon and back all over again. Enjoy having your boots on the ground while you can.