Visually Reviewed rate Call of Duty: Modern Warfare an 8.5/10
Quick Summary
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has taken a huge step into the right direction with the Call of Duty franchise. The campaign mode is incredible, it’s thought-provoking, intense, and looks beautiful from start to finish. The multiplayer experience is amazing and really encapsulates the feeling of the original Modern Warfare game from back in 2007, whilst reinventing old features to give a new spin to the game. The Special Ops mode is a little disappointing with the lack of Operations available. Warzone is the stand-out mode from this game with the huge, and rightly deserved success of the battle royale mode. Overall, we love this game and highly recommend it.
Pros
- Great multiplayer experience
- Warzone is nothing less than amazing
- The campaign is intense, thought-provoking, and all-round beautiful
Cons
- Special Ops is disappointing
What is Call of Duty?
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter game franchise that started out in 2003. The Call of Duty game franchise has seen games set during world wars, modern times, futuristic times, and even in outer space. The first Call of Duty game was released back in 2003, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released in 2019 and is the 16th Call of Duty instalment.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the 16th instalment in the Call of Duty game franchise and was released on 25 October 2019. The game was released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, allowing for cross-platform play across all three platforms. This year’s Call of Duty title was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Campaign
This year’s single-player campaign mode is one of the best we’ve seen in a while. While last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 didn’t include a campaign mode, this year’s campaign really makes up for it. The missions are incredibly tense and constantly keep you on your toes. There are 14 different missions which make up about 6-8 hours of gameplay, this is the usual length of a Call of Duty campaign. The missions are as follows:
- Fog of War
- Piccadilly
- Embedded
- Proxy War
- Clean House
- Hunting Party
- The Embassy
- Highway of Death
- Hometown
- The Wolf’s Den
- Captive
- Old Comrades
- Going Dark
- Into The Furnace
This year’s campaign mode takes the traditional campaign gameplay we’re used to seeing and mixes it in with new or reinvented features and concepts. A great example of this is during ‘The Embassy’ mission where you guide someone to safety through a building of enemies, all through CCTV cameras.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Multiplayer
This year, Call of Duty took a slightly different approach when it came to its multiplayer maps. Based on the available maps, it seems Call of Duty wanted to take a more natural and realistic approach to the way maps are designed. This has resulted in less of the traditional three-lane maps, and an increase of long-range line-of-sight maps, along with significantly more places to camp and snipe from which ultimately slows down the pace of multiplayer. In addition to this, you will no longer be able to vote for which map to play next.
This year’s Call of Duty multiplayer experience started with only 10 maps at launch. However, with each new season, we’ve seen more and more maps be released, usually around three new maps each season. For the first time in Call of Duty history, some of these maps have nighttime variants where you’ll need to use night vision goggles.
Not only did Call of Duty: Modern Warfare also see the addition and improvements of many great features, it also saw some general gameplay changes. It seems with this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, there has been a shift towards a more tactical, slower-paced multiplayer experience. Some of the key gameplay changes include:
- Faster time-to-kill
- Slower pace, more places to hide, more tactical
- Less of the traditional three-lane maps
- Improved weapon customisation system
- Introduction of field upgrades
- First Call of Duty title to allow console-PC crossplay
- 100 Tier Battle Pass
One of the core improvements has been the create-a-class, also known as weapons customisation system. This new system introduced hundreds of different attachments which you can mix and match with on your guns, up to five attachments at once. Along with this improvement, you can now also change and customise your guns mid-game.
A new feature Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has brought are ‘Field Upgrades’. Field Upgrades are “an in-game equipment asset that operates on a cooldown. Once charged, they grant particular advantages when utilised correctly.” Here’s a list of all of the Field Upgrades. It’s worth noting that only two of these will be available straight away, Munitions Box and Recon Drone, as you level up, you’ll unlock the rest of the Field Upgrades.
- Munitions Box – Deploy a box of ammo for you and your teammates.
- Recon Drone – Remote-controlled drone that marks enemies.
- Dead Silence – Temporarily makes your footsteps quieter, kills refresh duration.
- Stopping Power Rounds – Reload your gun with stopping power rounds that deal extra damage.
- Trophy System – Deployable autonomous defence system that destroys up to three nearby pieces of equipment and projectiles.
- Deployable Cover – Portable, rapidly-deployable ballistic cover.
- Tactical Insertion – Marks a location as your next spawn point.
- EMP Drone – Detonate an EMP payload at a targeted location using an RC Plane, disables all electronics in the area.
- Weapon Drop – Deliver a cache of high-powered weapons to your location for your team.
This year’s Call of Duty title also introduced three new multiplayer modes: Gunfight, Cyber Attack, and Realism.
Call of Duty’s new ‘Gunfight’ mode features two teams of two facing off against each other across multiple rounds. These highly intense rounds will be taking place in a small, custom-designed map specifically for this game mode. Each round lasts a maximum of 40 seconds each and the first team to win six rounds is the winner, each player is given the same loadout.
As well as this, another new mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is ‘Cyber Attack’. Now, if you’ve played the previous Call of Duty games, there’s a chance you might already be familiar with the concept of this new mode, especially if you’ve played the Search and Rescue mode from Call of Duty: Ghosts. The quickest way to explain this mode is by saying it’s basically the Search and Destroy mode, with the ability to revive teammates. In this mode, two teams fight to retrieve an EMP device which is required to destroy the opposing team’s data centre. Players do not respawn upon death but they can be revived by their teammates.
The third and final new mode we’ve seen added to this year’s Call of Duty title is ‘Realism’. In this mode, you’ll be left without a HUD (Heads-Up Display), mini-map, and loadout information. If you couldn’t tell from the name of this game mode, it aims to provide you with as close to a realistic experience as possible. To complement this, not only has headshot damage has been significantly increased, but there are no on-screen indicators; no hit markers, point tracking, or even XP alerts.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Warzone
For a more in-depth Warzone review, see our Call of Duty: Warzone Review.
Call of Duty: Warzone is a free-to-play 150 player battle royale game. It was released on 10 March 2020, and is a part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You do not need to purchase Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to play Warzone. Call of Duty: Warzone is the second Battle Royale instalment in the Call of Duty series, the first being “Blackout” from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
At the start of the game, players parachute into the map of Verdansk. Once you land, you will need to loot gear and equipment to defend yourself and eliminate any threats. As the game progresses and enemy players are eliminated, the playable area will shrink smaller and smaller as a toxic gas closes in. The last team standing wins.
With the rapidly growing battle royale genre, it’s great to finally see a game try and push the boundaries with new, never seen before dynamics to take the battle royale experience to a whole new level.
Something that instantly sets Warzone apart from other battle royale games is the number of players each game can hold. We’re used to seeing 100 player battle royales, but this is the first time we’ve seen a battle royale hold 150 players without the performance taking any hits.
The introduction of the ‘Gulag’ is easily the best addition in Warzone. If you die in Warzone, unlike other battle royale games, you aren’t completely dead. Once you die, you’re taken to the Gulag where you’re forced to 1v1 another player. The winner is given a second chance and is redeployed back into the game.
We love Warzone and we have a ton of stuff to say about it, but because there’s so much stuff to go over, we’ve gone into more detail about this in our Call of Duty: Warzone Review.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Special Ops
Special Ops is a cooperative multiplayer mode made up of operations, missions and survival modes. The addition of this sees the replacement of the Zombies game mode which we’ve seen many times in the previous Call of Duty titles. It’s worth noting the Survival mode is exclusive to PS4 until October 1st, 2020.
Operations revolve around a strike-team of four players working closely with one another to complete the mission however they see fit. These operations serve as a continuation of the game’s campaign mode, taking place during the war against Al-Qatala.
Operations are multiplayer-only matches that include unique objectives for you and your strike-team of four to complete. Missions can be played alone or with others and are less intense than Operations, with more of a focus on testing your gun skills.
When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was first released, there were only four operations available which was quite a shame. However, on a blog post, we’re told: “as we head into future seasons, more missions will become available in this ever-evolving mode.” With this, we expect this mode to improve over time as more Operations are made available.
- Operation Headhunter – Infiltrate, expose, and eliminate the terrorist network of Almalik – AQ’s slumlord-in-chief.
- Operation Kuvalda – Assault Almalik’s base of operations and mark his weapons for an airstrike, spiking the AQ foothold in Verdansk.
- Operation Paladin – Go behind enemy lines, extract Dr. Linda Morales, and use her intel to hunt “Mr. Z” – benefactor and source of AQ’s new arsenal.
- Operation Crosswind – Infiltrate the AQ-occupied Verdansk Airport, board the hijacked 747, and recover its deadly cargo.
Special Ops is a nice, much-needed break from the Zombies mode we’re used to seeing. Special Ops provides a challenging PvE experience which requires thought, skill and a lot of teamwork. We recommend you play Special Ops with friends, if possible, instead of having random teammates who might lack in the communication department.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Pricing
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the 16th Call of Duty instalment and was released on 25 October 2019. On 10 March 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone was added as part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and progression translates across both games. You do not need to purchase Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to play Warzone. Feel free to read our Call of Duty: Warzone review, or purchase the full game below.
If you would like to purchase this game for Windows, you will need to purchase the game from Blizzard.
Quick Answers
How much does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare cost?
At release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare started at £59.99. However, since it's release on 25 October 2019, the price has continued to drop. If you're only interested in Call of Duty: Warzone, you don't need to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in order to play Call of Duty: Warfare.
Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare good?
The campaign mode is incredible, it’s thought-provoking, intense, and looks beautiful from start to finish. The multiplayer experience is amazing and really encapsulates the feeling of the original Modern Warfare game from back in 2007, whilst reinventing old features to give a new spin to the game. The Special Ops mode is a little disappointing with the lack of Operations available, but the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone is the stand-out mode from this game with the huge, and rightly deserved success of the battle royale mode.
Is Call of Duty: Warzone free?
Yes, Call of Duty: Warzone is free-to-play and you do not need to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in order to play.
Is Call of Duty: Warzone good?
Call of Duty: Warzone is an incredible take of a battle royale game. It introduces many unique features that mix up the gameplay, such as the Gulag, Buy Stations, contracts, and loadouts.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review: Conclusion
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has taken a huge step into the right direction with the Call of Duty franchise. The campaign mode is incredible, it’s thought-provoking, intense, and looks beautiful from start to finish. The multiplayer experience is amazing and really encapsulates the feeling of the original Modern Warfare game from back in 2007, whilst reinventing old features to give a new spin to the game. The Special Ops mode is a little disappointing with the lack of Operations available. Warzone is the stand-out mode from this game with the huge, and rightly deserved success of the battle royale mode.
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