Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

For many gamers the Call of Duty franchise peaked with Modern Warfare 4, with each subsequent entry failing to live up to the original classic that changed the first-person shooter genre forever. 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare isn’t a sequel to the classic released years ago. Instead, developer Infinity Ward call it a re-imagining of the Modern Warfare series. With the reset of the storyline, the developer hopes to create a relevant and realistic world that matches up with real-world events in 2019. But will this be enough for the flailing series? A kick up its bottom and getting it back to the top where they feel they belong?

The biggest return for many gamers is that of a single-player campaign, with the return of familiar characters from the series. With the previous COD dropping the single-player campaign, many feel this is a step in the right direction. The campaign will feature missions in a number of European cities as well as the Middle east. In addition to playing the game as special forces soldiers armed in high-combat, players will also take on the roll of “rebel freedom fighters” who use improvised weapons and rely on guerrilla tactics to defeat their enemies. One particular mission shows the origin story of Farah, a rebel freedom fighter whose town was bombed and invaded by Russian military forces when she was a child. It’s an exciting mission filled with a surprising amount of emotion compared to the super-soldier bald badass marine missions from previous games.

Of course, the biggest reason most people buy COD games is the multiplayer and the biggest news to come out of the latest Modern Warfare game is that it’s full Crossplay support across all platforms. Now PlayStation, Xbox and PC gamers can go toe-to-toe with each other for the first time in the franchise’s history. It’s truly a game-changer as friends across all platforms can now play together and this opens up the player base immensely. Spec Ops mode also makes a welcome return, featuring 4-player co-op missions, each with its own unique challenges and storylines. There is also a new multiplayer mode called Gunfight that pits two teams of two with randomized loadouts against one another on very small maps. Every 40 seconds the rules change which allows for a fun and unpredictable game mode constantly keeping you on your toes. A new weapon customization option called Gunsmithing now allows each player to customize their primary and secondary weapon with the precise type and style of firepower one requires for any type of online game mode, which allows so much more customization options for the players, making sure you are fully spec’d out for whatever scenario you find yourself in. 

With a brand new graphics engine, the new Modern Warfare looks immensely good across all platforms and allows for large playing fields very similar to their biggest rival, the Battlefield series. The animations are top-notch and the speed and ferocity is spot on for the COD series. If you’re a former fan of the Call of Duty series, then this might just be the perfect time to return to the famous shooter series.