Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's first Beta test was this weekend, and I spent a large chunk of time once again checking it out. Although this isn't the full release, many may already be wondering how it compares to Black Ops 7.
Well, similar to the article I wrote last year comparing 7 comparing to Black Ops 6, I figured I'd tackle the subject once again but for Modern Warfare 4. That being said, these initial impressions are based off of the Beta, however we plan to revise this article as the game develops, and after the full title releases on October 23rd, 2026.
So with that being said, how is Modern Warfare 4, and is it better than Black Ops 7?
Modern Warfare 4 Compared to Black Ops 7
Jumping into Modern Warfare 4, there is a very different feel compared to the previous two years, which were actually back-to-back Black Ops releases. While Black Ops 7 felt like an expansion to 6, Modern Warfare 4 returns to the Modern Warfare sub-series and goes for a much more "grounded" style. While Black Ops 6 and 7 focused on omnimovement, which allowed you to sprint and move in any direction at higher speeds, Modern Warfare 4 returns to the classic style of only being able to run forward. Of course, sliding and diving are still here, and they remain a great way to avoid death as some players still seem to have a hard time contesting this type of movement, but the general movement has been slowed down. The ability to jump off walls and fly through the air has also been removed, but surprisingly, the game is still a bit more platform-heavy. Being able to grab onto pipes, shimmy across ledges, and parkour your way to higher areas was a nice surprise, but it too is a slower process and leaves you completely exposed. In the Beta, there are not a lot of opportunities to make use of this; however, there is a Mobility Course for those wanting to test their skills.
Besides the changes to movement, the game is graphically a step up, being that it is actually the first "current-generation" exclusive Call of Duty title, though the maps selected for the Beta do not fully show off the game's visual style. The included campaign mission actually does a better job of this, as each section of it felt distinct, whereas the multiplayer maps didn't really stand out outside of the unique level name display that is integrated into the environment before fading away. I personally really like this little touch, but hopefully, the additional maps in the full release are at least a little more interesting. While some might not have liked the art style in Black Ops 7, there's no denying that maps like Homestead really stood out, and it would be nice if Modern Warfare 4 could do the same—though that isn't the case in the Beta.
In addition to the in-game graphics, the menus and general UI have also been revamped. Gun customization allows you to inspect your weapons and select attachment parts using the classic Call of Duty style, but there's also a generic quick menu you can use to make things a little simpler. Outside of having two styles of menus, there isn't much different here compared to what we saw in Black Ops 7. Black Ops' "walking" lobby screen has also been replaced with soldiers in a helicopter, and the general class customization menus have been redesigned. In some ways, it is cleaner and more reminiscent of past Call of Duty titles, but it is a little jarring after spending two years getting used to the Black Ops style. Although, unlike Black Ops, each custom class allows you to set a different operator to use, and you can customize killstreaks between them as well. You can easily copy your loadout between classes with the push of a button, but being able to fully customize your classes to be a bit more specific is a nice touch.
Speaking of killstreaks: while a lot of the basics are here (UAV, care package, etc.), others have been completely altered, and some are brand new and might not function in the way you would expect. It is a bit jarring when you pull out a drone, and the next thing you know, it is flying at high speeds as you have literal seconds to avoid objects and find a target. It is also surprising when a version of the Deadeye drone has a height limit that is not far past the highest point players can reach themselves. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, but there is definitely going to be a learning curve, and the same can be said for the tactical and lethal equipment as well. Though many classics return, they too feel slightly off and will take quite a bit of adjusting before you've mastered them again. As someone who earned the gold mastery badge with every piece of equipment, gun, and scorestreak in Black Ops 7, those hundreds of hours of practice did me no favors here—I was beginning from square one once again.
When it comes to the general feel of Modern Warfare 4, it is actually in a weird spot. On one hand, it attempts to be much more grounded, as previously discussed, but in some ways, it is still a lot like Black Ops. The gunplay is more or less the same, though the weapons themselves are obviously going to handle differently. Sometimes it feels as if enemies die far too quickly, but with some weapon builds, it felt like it wasn't fast enough. Attachments on weapons also have a major impact now, with basically every attachment coming with a drawback that makes you think twice about using it. While some drawbacks are minor, others make guns feel unusable when equipped, so an uncustomized gun might sometimes outperform one with full attachments. There is certainly some fine-tuning still to be done, which is to be expected, but one major change made to the scoring system comes from the return of the classic K/D. While dealing damage to an enemy and gaining an assist will still count toward your elimination count, it is now tracked separately from your outright kills, which are displayed on the match leaderboards. This is sure to make longtime fans happy, while keeping the general elimination total caters to those who have gotten used to the newer style. In a way, it is the best of both worlds.
Along with these differences, there are countless smaller changes throughout the entire game. Rather than seeing giant badges for feats in battle, such as double kills and headshots, the game has returned to smaller icons and less in-your-face text to denote these XP bonuses. I mentioned killstreaks before, but they are in fact actual killstreaks again, rather than scorestreaks. These are just a handful of examples, but together they help Modern Warfare 4 feel a bit more like "classic" Call of Duty, marking a clear departure from what Black Ops previously offered.
But this is only the beginning.
The Map Design
The map design in Modern Warfare 4 is going to be another deciding factor for many, and with the Beta so far, things are not looking that great. While the gameplay itself is solid, with plenty of changes that will make fans happy for sure, most of the maps included in our first look are not very promising.
Transit 213 is going to be the love-it-or-hate-it map here, and can be summed up by calling it a square with some buses lying around—basically Black Ops 6's Racket, except with killstreaks still enabled. It is extremely small, and while newcomers are going to get slaughtered almost instantly, once you get used to it, it becomes pretty mindless. It will be a great way to get your kills up and grind camos, but that doesn't make it fun. In game modes like Hardpoint, there's even a point where the capture location spawns wedged behind a wall and a bus, and it simply feels weird. Attackers can just throw frags back there and call it a day, while defenders can camp the only two ways in to take out anyone who attempts to capture with their guns in hand instead. It might not be the worst map Call of Duty has ever seen, but it got pretty old fast, especially with how often it got selected in the Beta. For many, however? This will in fact be their favorite, especially with how many kills you can build up.
The other maps—Rooftops, Silkworm, and Cachette—are a bit larger maps, but they are also a bit chaotic and random in their design.
Rooftops has a few smaller shortcut passages to take, one requiring you to jump down into a lower area before climbing back up, but the map in general doesn't come together that well. Spawns are awkward, and despite being "larger" compared to Transit 213, it is still actually a pretty small map. There are plenty of camping spots, but also countless ways to get flanked, and dying once will typically set you up for another quick death due to its spawns. It isn't a horrible map, but the usual flow just isn't there.
Silkworm is possibly the best map in the entire Beta, dropping you onto the streets of Japan. With main paths to take, multiple buildings to enter, and shortcuts allowing you to jump between the main map lanes, it feels a lot more like a classic Call of Duty map. Its larger size compared to the others is refreshing as well, though it isn't a "large map." It is also packed full of detail, with advertising parodies of popular series and tons of pop culture references everywhere. It feels as if you truly are in Japan, and that goes a long way. We previously saw a similar map in Black Ops 7, but Silkworm is built with Modern Warfare 4's tactical gameplay in mind and works very well. This is what we need more of in the final release.
Cachette is the worst map included in the Beta. It is a compact map set in the city streets with random buildings to enter, and it is complete chaos. Spawns are all over the place, the map itself is camper heaven, and it generally just isn't a fun time unless you embrace the camper lifestyle. Thanks to the fast time-to-kill, this map quickly becomes a bloodbath when actively moving, but when everyone sets up to camp, it slows to a crawl. It is possibly the nicest-looking map in the Beta, however; it just really doesn't feel like a 6v6 map at all.
It is thanks to these maps that Modern Warfare 4 feels like a step back in some ways, despite featuring more refined gameplay. It is an absolute blast when everything comes together or Silkworm pops up in the rotation, but you usually are not that lucky.
Kill Block
To be completely honest, Kill Block is not for me, and that is only due to Gunfight being its core mode. In this mode either teams of 10 or teams of 3 face off in a one life round based mode, where the last team standing scores a single point. It is a slower paced mode that relies on teamwork and tactics, and that isn't something you really get out of most of the randoms I was matched up with. The Kill Block itself is interesting however, as it is a map that completely reconfigures itself every match. It has been stated that there are over 500 possible combinations, so even if players do find themselves in the exact same version a second time, they are unlikely to remember it.
That being said, it really is an interesting concept, but it will not be incorporated into other modes until sometime after launch according to the official announcement.Again, Gunfight mode isn't one I particularly enjoy, but with a group of friends who can work together, it can be a blast. I look forward to seeing more out of it once the game officially releases.
The General Game Modes
Outside of Kill Block, the main game modes are here, along with a new one that I really like!
Team Deathmatch is still based on kills, obviously; Domination is all about controlling three points on the map; and Hardpoint contains a single point that spawns in different locations. Kill Confirmed is back and requires players to pick up the dog tags of fallen enemies or allies to score points, and the dog tags themselves are smaller and float closer to the ground. A couple of years ago, Black Ops 6 struggled with larger dog tags that blocked your view, but it was eventually fixed, and since then that fix has been carried forward to newer releases. Search and Destroy is here as well, where one team attempts to destroy targets while another defends, with rounds ending if an entire team is wiped out. All of these standard modes are the same old classics many of us have come to know and love, and they are completely fine here—if you put aside the general map design. However, it is the new mode that is truly interesting: a unique mix-up of Kill Order (a mode where one player is dubbed an HVT and becomes the main target) and Kill Confirmed.
The new mode is called Inflation, and the goal is to be in possession of as much cash as possible by the time the match ends. Every player begins with a set amount, and once they are killed, it is dropped on the ground for others to claim. Of course, if that player is taken out, they too will drop their money, creating a never-ending cycle. Players with large amounts of cash will be labeled the HVT and displayed on the map for the opposing team. The goal here is to protect those with large amounts of money on hand while also going after these bigger targets to increase your own stockpile. As rounds go on, the amount of cash you spawn in with increases, and by the end, there will be well over one million to be claimed. Similar to Kill Confirmed, players cannot simply stand back and shoot from a distance; it requires physically running into the heart of the battle to grab your spoils. However, sometimes it really is better to just hang back and let someone else grab your rewards—even if that means giving points to the enemy team simply because you can't risk losing your own current stock. Overall, it is a hectic mode that rewards players for being aggressive, but going on the defensive is also key, and matches can flip at the drop of a hat. One slip-up is all it takes for a losing team to pull ahead, and sometimes that can happen just seconds before the match timer hits zero.
The Campaign
The final aspect of the Beta was in fact a full campaign mission, and honestly, this might be the most promising part of Modern Warfare 4 that we've seen. It takes the solid gameplay and throws it into a classic Call of Duty story mode, which mixes cover-based shooting with high-octane action set pieces. The mission on display here was a great mix of both; however, there is one weird decision that might not be for everyone—the armor system.
This time around, standard infantry, including yourself, have armor plating, and at times they feel a lot more like bullet sponges. This is more apparent on higher difficulties, where players will need to spray quite a few bullets into someone until the "armor plate hitting" sound goes away and you can finally take down the enemy. Again, this applies to you as well, and you drop rather quickly the moment your armor has been busted. Thankfully, additional plates can be found across the entire battlefield, but once you lose them, you really need to be careful. While the mechanic didn't seem too bad in the Beta, I personally would have preferred the classic style, as the armor system seems to do little more than increase enemy health bars to make encounters last longer. Meanwhile, it forces you to play extra safe, as having no armor basically means you're not going to survive if you get hit. Of course, the idea is to not get shot, but there are moments where it will be unavoidable, and not having armor during those moments is going to be a problem.
Putting aside the new health system, the campaign mission has a great mixture of different ideas that all come together nicely. The introduction has you navigating trenches where you can get flanked, but it eventually leads to vehicular combat with some impressive destruction along the way, ending with you breaking into a power plant to stop a meltdown. While the earlier sections of the mission are "standard combat encounters," the interior of the plant contains an underwater maze to navigate and a platforming section that makes use of the game's movement mechanics as the world around you explodes. It really gives you a small taste of the different situations that will arise in the full campaign, changing up the formula enough to prevent things from getting stale. Of course, this is only one mission, and it is impossible to tell at this time if the whole campaign will maintain this quality, but it is promising. Those who do not care about multiplayer and only play the series for its story might be in for a real treat this year.
Modern Warfare 4 Overall
In the end, I'm left a little conflicted on Modern Warfare 4.
When it comes to the general gameplay and feel of the game, it is for sure a step in the right direction. While I am one of those who also enjoyed Black Ops 7's multiplayer, so it is a title I plan to return to even after this game's full release, I do appreciate the more classic tactical approach on display here. While I do feel the time-to-kill is still a bit too high, everything else about the core mechanics feels great. Yes, the new killstreaks and equipment will have a learning curve, and I feel the negative effects of attachments on weapons are a bit higher than you'd typically expect, but the gameplay itself is still a lot of fun. Obviously, things will be tweaked before full release, and the developers will be taking feedback from the Beta into account, but as it stands now, it already has the potential to be great. However, there are also areas that hold it back.
The maps featured in the Beta, mixed with the fast time-to-kill, turn most of the matches into slaughterhouses where campers are rewarded and skilled players will walk away with high kill counts. With the exception of Silkworm, I found myself not really wanting to play on any of them. I can see myself using Transit 213 for easy camo grinding in the full release, but unlike some of the other "camo grind" maps in the past, I actually don't care for it as a map itself. Now, for others, I can see it being their favorite, and the fact that everyone instantly voted for it in the Beta is a good indication of how it'll go in the full release, but it just wasn't for me—even though it's where I was able to achieve higher killstreaks. The others do not fair much better, with sometimes seemingly random map design, which feels a lot more like user created maps from other popular shooters, and not professionally crafted ones. Ultimately, these maps are the biggest problem with Modern Warfare 4 as it stands, so one can only hope the full release will be better.
For those interested in Kill Block and the new campaign, both seem to do a pretty good job at what they've set out to do. Kill Block is currently a purely single-life tactical mode with an ever-changing environment, and it can be a lot of fun if playing with a squad that knows what they are doing. But being stuck with complete randoms who want to charge in as if it were Team Deathmatch? It isn't going to go very well. As for the campaign, again, the mission featured here offered quite the variety during its short runtime, and not once did I feel as if it were dragging on. The armor-focused health system makes enemies a bit more like bullet sponges, but I never spent too much time fighting each one—not like in Black Ops 7 where RPG-like mechanics were introduced, though that also wasn't a proper campaign. By the end of Modern Warfare 4's mission, I was left hopeful for the full release, and the action-packed teaser only helped further reinforce my feelings on the matter.
With that being said, the question still remains: is Modern Warfare 4 better than Black Ops 7? Well... it is going to completely come down to your own personal preference.
The thing about Modern Warfare 4 is, it doesn't truly replace Black Ops 7. These are different sub-series, and the games themselves do play and feel quite a bit different from each other. Some of the Black Ops style has been carried over into Modern Warfare, however, so it doesn't feel as drastically different as some might hope, but the more grounded gameplay will definitely appeal more to those who didn't like the full omnimovement featured in Black Ops 6 and 7. Again, the main issue here still comes from the map design, but a proper campaign (which doesn't require an internet connection either, mind you) and Kill Block might be enough on their own to make it worth it for some players. But at this time, it is impossible to tell how the game will develop, which will ultimately determine which is the "better game." Even then, Black Ops 7 is a title that features three very unique multiplayer-focused modes, with standard multiplayer, End Game, and Zombies all on display—and Dead Ops in addition to that—so players will have a very different experience with it. Modern Warfare 4 is the next Call of Duty, but it is also a different sub-series with its own set of fans. Truthfully, comparing the two is like comparing red apples to green apples, where neither is necessarily better than the other, but each person will still have their favorite.
Anyone who didn't enjoy Black Ops 6 or 7 might want to consider looking into Modern Warfare 4 instead, but there's no denying the maps hold it back at this time, so we'll just have to wait to see how the full game develops to fully judge it. On the plus side this is the first Call of Duty to return to a Nintendo console in a very long time, so it'll allow a whole, possibly new, player base to finally join in on the fun. Even with its issues this could become some player's new favorite, and will most likely be looked back upon fondly purely because of the nostalgia.
Available On: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
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