Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

New year, new Call of Duty! This time around you don’t have to worry about jumping, flying around, and doing all kinds of ridiculous shit because this is modern playstyle – Modern Warfare to be exact. A fan-favorite game of the past, brought back into light this time around with a whole new storyline, a variety of different operators, tons of customization, and a slew of different game modes. This is the game that fans have been asking for. At the same time, though, many fans are upset with a few different things. I have given some time to the game since its launch on October 25, 2019, and will be sharing with you the different things to be appreciative of, while also making you aware of all the things that suck about this game.

Let’s just jump right into everything. Something positive about this game is that you have boots on the ground. You no longer have to watch people run alongside walls and jump however many feet into the air, utilizing weapons that make absolutely no sense. You now have a modern style game with modern style weapons and maps. The weapons are some old favorites from different games, while also a variation of new weapons that we all have hoped for. Honestly, the selection of weapons this time around is one of my favorites and I’m excited to see what else they bring to us, weapon wise, post-launch.

I’ve always been one who is particular with mechanics, as many people are, and you’ll notice almost instantly that Modern Warfare showcases some of the best gaming mechanics in the history of gaming. Everything feels so fluid and smooth – from the character movement to the look and feel of each weapon to gadget, all the way to the sounds of the game. Everything runs amazingly smooth. When I say the look of the game, I really mean the look. This game looks fantastic and that’s including your character look, the detail of the weapons, as well as the details of each map. I always thought Call of Duty had the mechanics and Battlefield had the graphics, but now Call of Duty has them both.

Now even though the maps look great, they don’t run great. People are accustomed to the traditional three-lane map designs. Those are great and what we’re familiar with, but that is not what you get with the map design of Modern Warfare. The maps in this game are way more complex than in previous games and actually resemble that of maps from the very first Modern Warfare game. With these new, more complex maps, you’re now forced to understand each portion of the map and adapt accordingly. If you don’t take the time to figure out every little detail of each map, then you’ll end up dying way more often than you’d like. There’s a lot of truth to this and I’m hopeful that everyone who picks this game up for the first time understands this is going to happen and you’ll need to roll with the punches. You will not pick this game up and be the best person in the lobby. You probably won’t consistently be the best in the lobby until you’ve played the map for a few days and really get an understanding of hot spots and different hiding spots and corners. Until you’ve mastered this, you’ll continue to be killed by campers and may even curse the game and run to social media to tell the world how terrible the game is. 

I should admit that I did exactly that at first. I have always held a kill/death ratio in public matches of 3.4 or higher but noticed that wasn’t going to happen initially with this game. I started off a little slow and it took about a day of consistently playing the game to start showcasing ratios above 3.0. In the beginning, I would bad mouth the game, yet in the same breath talk about how great it was too. This game really is great, and the only people saying it’s not are people that either hate first-person shooters or simply didn’t give the game more time. Once you’ve mastered the game, you’ll will appreciate it that much more. 

Now, I stated above how the sounds of the game are great – and they really are – but they do come with problems. You’ll notice that everything seems loud during gameplay, so you may want to adjust the volume settings before playing. Once you’ve gotten to the proper volume, you’ll then notice how detailed everything sounds. The guns sound better, the character comments, gestures, and expressions are great as well. This all helps make the game great. Be wary, though, because with this, the problems arise. You will notice the footsteps of not only your teammates, but the enemies are extremely loud. This will be the reasoning for the consistent campers within each map. You will see this even more heavily in game modes like Cyber Attack and Search and Destroy. As I’m writing this review, I’m aware that they will be making changes to the footsteps. I’m glad for that, but I also realize that I will be needing to focus on a completely different play style because of that. I relied a lot on my expensive headset to tell me what to do and what to look for. I knew if I was approaching solo or multiple enemies and was able to plan accordingly. You will also notice that Dead Silence, which was a well-known perk in the past, is now an ability. You’re able to choose one ability and they have charge up times. This, alongside the loud footsteps, will create problems for a lot of players in the game. I believe making Dead Silence a perk is the smartest thing to do, but I mean… I just play the game, so what do I know? 

I mentioned the game mode Cyber Attack, which is a new mode that was introduced for the first time in Modern Warfare. In this game mode, you have upwards of 6v6 and you both have a bombsite near your spawn point. Each team can either obtain the bomb in the middle of the map and plant it at the opposing team’s bomb, or they can eliminate all enemy players to win instead. The catch in this mode is you’re able to revive your teammates. Personally, this game mode reminds me of Search and Destroy, except that it gives you an opportunity to obtain more kills and also less time watching people play if you die. You will also notice another new game mode called Ground War. This is a game mode that is specific to cross play. You’ll be unable to play this mode if you’ve disabled cross play in your settings. In this mode, you’ll go up against a large number of enemies, alongside your many teammates, in a large scale battle. You’ll try to capture points scattered throughout the map, while also being able to utilize a variety of different vehicles. This game mode is flooded with campers, so I’ve recently stayed away from it. You’ll notice that tanks are also pretty difficult to eliminate and are extremely overpowered. Although I don’t enjoy it, I can understand the reasoning for why it could develop into the most popular game mode.

As I mentioned above, there is now cross play. You are now able to match up against players across Xbox One, PS4, and PC. This has been something that people haven’t just wanted for Call of Duty, but all games in general. It’s very entertaining to know you’re being matched up alongside and against people from all over the world as well as people using a different console or PC. I’m hopeful to see this in even more games to come. With the good of this does come the bad. I’m not going to sit here and bash PC players, but I’m not oblivious to this either. PC players who are also great at first-person shooters will give you problems. The fact that they have a mouse and keyboard and have mastered it will be a problem for console players. A PC player is able to have something equivalent to pinpoint accuracy and response time when in a firefight. This, alongside the fact that they also have better latency and frames per second, might result in very frustrated Xbox and PS4 players. I would like to see modes created for Xbox vs PS4 players, but I’m sure that would just cause issues with PC players. At the same time, I really don’t care and think that it would, at the very least, be a good idea for a limited time weekend mode.

The last thing I’ll talk about is the customization and future DLC for this game. The customization in the game, specifically with the guns, is great. You’ll be able to work towards unlocking different items for your gun that are sectioned off by areas like muzzle, barrel, stock, magazine, grips, and scopes/sites. On top of that, you’re also able to customize the look of your gun with tons of different camos for each gun you choose. You don’t get many operators to choose from and I personally would rather just be able to create my own character, but they do offer different skins for each one. This paves the way for free DLC down the road, where you’ll be able to obtain new operators, different skins for these operators, as well as different guns and weapon skins. You will also see consistent DLC maps throughout the next year as well. I, as well as everyone else, appreciate the approach that Infinity Ward took with the free DLC. This allows you to appreciate all the game’s content throughout your time playing, free of charge, and if you want to put that money you saved towards cosmetic items then you can. All the items you’ll purchase in the store will be cosmetic only and will not impact how you play in each game. 

Overall, the game has met my expectations so far. I’m not oblivious to the problems with the game, but I also understand that they’re fixable. It’s only been a week and we’ve had great feedback from different people working with Infinity Ward, Activision, and Call of Duty in general. They’ve done a great job interacting via forums and social media and have launched numerous updates since launch. With the leaks I’ve seen regarding the consistent flow of new and classic maps that will be making their way to the game soon, alongside the possibility of Battle Royale in Early 2020, I’m that much more excited in the months to come.