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Activision has a lot riding on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Last year’s entry, Black Ops 7, was poorly received by critics and players, and third-party tracking data suggested the game significantly underperformed compared to other entries in the series.
Early reviews suggest Infinity Ward has regained its momentum with MW4, which currently holds a generally favourable Metacritic score of 84 and has been praised as a return to form.
IGN‘s Simon Cardy noted that Infinity Ward has “handled this challenge well” in his review-in-progress for the game’s story campaign, resulting in “a genuinely exciting string of missions that are great when they focus on what is new, rather than getting bogged down in the past.”
Game Informer‘s Michael Murphy, who rated it 8.5/10, agreed: “MW4 arrives at a crossroads for the series, thanks in large part to the inconsistent quality of recent entries. With a shaky predecessor, Infinity Ward had a lot to repair and conclude, especially with 4 set to bookend the rebooted Modern Warfare series.”
MW4 is also the first CoD to launch on a Nintendo console since 2013, and Nintendo Life‘s Gavin Lane said the title does not disappoint in his 9/10 review, calling it “impressive”.
“On Switch 2, you’re getting the entire package, presented well, with crossplay and cross-progression,” he said, noting that although the campaign runs at 30fps on Nintendo’s console (multiplayer aims for 60fps), MW4 “feels smooth in the hands.”
“Some fizzy hair and occasionally fuzzy presentation aside, I came away feeling I’d had the full-fat CoD experience. Digital Legends, who handled this version, have made the right compromises to deploy on handheld.”
Story campaign
MW4’s campaign follows on after its 2023 predecessor, this time centred around a fictitious invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
The Guardian‘s Keith Stuart describes MW4’s story as “a bombastic, thrilling airport novel of a game, crammed with classic CoD set pieces, including but not limited to parkour over Manhattan rooftops, a car chase in Paris and a shootout in a train yard that somehow feels like a cross between Frogger and Time Crisis.”
“Throughout the six-hour campaign, bullets fly and buildings collapse, friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and a breathless story of geopolitical skullduggery emerges,” Stuart wrote in his 4/5 review.
IGN’s Cardy also enjoyed the game’s narrative trajectory. He said that while “the general direction of the story may not surprise you, there are some engaging character moments that the past couple of Modern Warfare instalments have desperately lacked.”
The story follows Captain Price, who is on the run after the events of MW3. Cardy said his chapters “play like a Bond movie, packed full of parkour escapes, car chases, and stealthy infiltrations.”
Nintendo Life’s Lane agreed with the set-piece sentiment, adding that the game “cherry-picks and CoD-ifies scenarios from Hollywood blockbusters with panache. Visceral, compelling, satisfying; all the positive yet vague adjectives apply to this romping thriller.”
“Funnelled relentlessly between calamitous missions, there’s no room to step off the narrative path or catch your breath, but it’s a hell of a ride.”
Cardy found that while Price’s chapters were fun, these ended up being the “weaker half” of the game for him. “Infinity Ward clearly wants Price to be the strongest emotional bond to the player and for his personal vendettas to feel like our own, but, in truth, many more of the missions are dedicated to the Korean conflict. Incidentally, this is also where I found a lot more of the engaging storytelling to be found.”
Game Informer’s Murphy noted that “the majority of MW4’s attempt at wrapping up the overarching plot of the rebooted series works, but it rushes through some character arcs and story beats in uneven fashion.”
Gameplay
Most critics were impressed by the open-world segment, which The Guardian’s Stuart described as a “nice break from corridor shooting” that “somehow doesn’t stall the game’s momentum.”
IGN’s Cardy also enjoyed this section, which he described as an “evolution of Black Ops 6’s Phantom Pain-inspired open zone mission.” He noted that MW4’s take on the open-world formula “elegantly folded into the campaign, making each of its chosen mechanics make narrative sense while also being very fun to play through.” These mechanics include foraging, rebuilding outposts, and crafting new equipment.
Cardy criticised the campaign for its “unforgiving stealth segments or asking you to engage in its imprecise counter-based melee system.” He also noted that the “first-person thumping can be disorientating at the best of times, and it’s not done particularly well here.”
“This is made even more frustrating by the fact that it often rears its head during some of the story’s key moments, meaning having to retry these brawls lessens the impact of what should feel like emotional hammer blows.”
However, Cardy did commend the gunplay, which he found was “refined [and] packing the sort of punch we’ve come to expect from Infinity Ward, but still shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
“Movement is slick, being able to transition from a sprint into a slide, before mounting onto a pillar and peeking around the corner to pop a head peeking out of cover […] Enemy variety may be limited, but a few heavily armoured brutes caused me quite a bit of trouble when trying to stay out of the blast of their shotguns in some tight underground tunnels. Nothing a few stolen explosive shells of my own couldn’t eventually sort out, though.”
Multiplayer modes
As for MW4’s multiplayer modes, Game Informer’s Murphy said, “CoD’s bread and butter still delivers,” and praised the variety that kept “things fresh on the battlefield.”
“While it doesn’t have the fluidity of Black Ops’ newer entries, the customisation and design of weapons and maps make it worth digging into.
From small, intimate shooting galleries like Mumbai and Nautical to wide free-for-alls such as Coal and Reactor U92, the variety in maps helps to keep the excitement alive, even if it may become repetitive over time.
The multiplayer in MW4 has been described as a refinement of the fast-paced and intense experience found in Black Ops 7. Returning modes like Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed continue to provide competitive fun, while new modes like Combat Outpost and Hijack seamlessly fit into the existing lineup.
Players in MW4 are still highly agile, able to move swiftly and engage in combat with a sense of realism. The addition of Kill Block mode, which features randomly selected landscapes and weapons, adds an element of unpredictability to the gameplay.
Critics have highlighted different modes in the game, with some preferring more intimate modes like Frontline, while others found larger modes like Ground War: Combat Outpost to be repetitive.
The introduction of the new extraction shooter mode, DMZ, has been well-received by critics, who praise its tension and excitement. The mode has been compared to established games like Arc Raiders and Escape from Tarkov, with critics noting its potential to attract and retain players.
Overall, critics agree that MW4 is a return to form for the series, with engaging multiplayer options and detailed gameplay. While the campaign may be short, the multiplayer and DMZ modes offer compelling military-FPS experiences that showcase Infinity Ward’s ability to deliver exciting gameplay.
“MW4 marks a strong resurgence in quality, serving as a fitting conclusion to the revitalized subseries.”