Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is finally here, and there is a lot to unpack. With a full campaign that supports offline play, the series' signature multiplayer mode, and the latest version of DMZ, the game is packed full of content. Of course, with it offering three very different experiences, some players may be interested in learning more about their preferred game mode. So, for our review, we are going to be doing something a bit different—breaking it into three distinct reviews before coming together for a final Modern Warfare 4 review, beginning with none other than the campaign itself.
Courtesy of Activision, we were provided access to Modern Warfare 4 ahead of release and have since been exploring every aspect of the title. Joining me for this venture is Jacob, who has been silently supporting and helping us here at Netto's Game Room since our relaunch. While the campaign review has been completely covered by me alone, we'll see his input in the multiplayer reviews.
With that being said, here's what I thought of the campaign—which something that honestly took me by surprise.
The Modern Warfare 4 Campaign
The campaign in Modern Warfare 4 is easily one of the biggest highlights of the title, offering what could possibly be one of the best in franchise history. While Activision and Infinity Ward chose to include a sneak peek in the game's Open Beta, it didn't fully prepare players for what was to come. Rather than being your "standard shooter campaign" like many might have come to expect, Modern Warfare 4 doubles down on the "Modern" aspect of its namesake and throws players into a series of missions that offer a unique experience all the way through. By the end, the adrenaline rush will slowly settle, but don't be too surprised if you find yourself wanting to hop back in for another go.
The Climax of Modern Warfare:
The Core Basics:
As a first-person shooter, the game in fact contains all of the "basic" features one would expect, but also has some changes from recent years. The biggest difference is now the fact that the campaign is once again a completely offline story, and does not require an internet connection to jump in and have fun. Moving past that, however, the style itself is a bit different, with a much heavier focus on armor plates, and surprisingly even melee combat and platforming. This helps the game stand out a bit more from others in the genre, but it isn't what truly makes this entry shine.
Putting aside these aspects for the moment, everything else about the standard gameplay is what one would expect. It plays from a first-person point of view, characters are typically given a main weapon to use in each mission alongside a sidearm, and you can find new gear to help you as you go along. Enemy checkpoints will force you behind cover while you pick them off one by one, while other moments will have you constantly charging ahead as you dispatch anything that crosses your path. Squad members are there to provide cover fire and fight alongside you, but a lot of the time you'll be approaching things as if you are a one-man army. Of course, lethal and tactical equipment can support you as well, but they are extremely limited and best saved for when the situation demands it.
With the health system that heavily relies on armor plating, both your character and the enemies you face can die quite easily. Enemies without armor can take a bullet to the gut and stop their return fire to react to the pain before succumbing to their injury. Such reactions are much more realistic and are a nice touch to see, but you are just as vulnerable—except with regenerating health, of course. Those who do have armor plating, however, will take quite a bit more to take down, but thankfully not to the point where they feel like bullet sponges. Yes, there are a few "boss enemies" encountered during the campaign, but these are special cases and are typically not that big of an issue. Of course, playing on the harder difficulty settings will be a different story, but that's to be expected.
As for you, armor plating is your key to survival as well, with armor plates being spread out throughout the missions. Just as in previous titles, a second health bar displays how many plates you currently have equipped, and once they break, you'll need to take a minute to slip on additional ones. Though you can survive some gunfire after you're exposed, it doesn't take much to drop you, making even the easier difficulty options feel a bit more like the Veteran difficulty in past games—though not quite the same, considering you can remedy this by actually making use of the armor mechanic as intended.
On the more melee-focused side of things, the game includes a block and counter system, with the ability to throw fast punches of your own to take down targets. Blocking a hit will obviously lessen your damage, but blocking with perfect timing will result in a counterattack of your own. This is when you can use the newly created window to unleash a flurry of attacks and use a special Takedown move to deal a devastating blow. There are multiple moments in the game with forced melee encounters like this, but you're free to punch your way through other fights as well if needed.
As previously mentioned, Modern Warfare 4 also contains platforming mechanics. Although you cannot run and jump off walls like in the previous year's Black Ops 7, characters can grab onto ledges, railings, pipes, and more to climb up to higher areas, or even shimmy across otherwise uncrossable gaps. The campaign makes use of this feature in multiple ways, and sometimes even combines climbing with other ranges of movement, including running and sliding. Don't be too surprised when you need to run through a section as fast as possible, slide under the gap below a fence, and then launch yourself off a roof to climb up onto a higher plane. There are full parkour moments here, and that's just one example of the variety this campaign has to offer.
An Ever Changing Campaign:
Without going into too many details, the campaign in Modern Warfare 4 is constantly changing, and rarely has you doing the exact same thing twice—at least not without adding an additional twist to things.
The game starts simply, with our main characters exploring the city streets in South Korea and even visiting a convenience store, before we are quickly thrown into the main action. From there, we have unique environments spread throughout the entire experience, which take us everywhere from nightclubs to even small villages in North Korea. During this time, the game will have you doing everything from engaging in gunfire in the city streets as you have to protect civilians, to going on stealth missions, to getting into a "bar fight," to even racing through the city streets as both a driver and passenger tasked with taking out your aggressors.
While some of this might sound typical, there are plenty of twists and unique gimmicks thrown in to help things feel unique and stand out from other campaigns that came before. Yes, we've had missions where you plant IEDs to take out vehicles on the road, but how often do you stand in the back of a van as you throw them out of the back door? Or have to actually detonate them with perfect timing as a car passes over them in the distance? That's just one of the many smaller examples of what is in store.
It is thanks to this ever-evolving gameplay style and high-octane missions in general that Modern Warfare 4 feels more like an action movie that you yourself are in direct control of. Yes, there are slower moments, but even these can be heart-pumping as you sneak around in the dark. But these "standard" missions are not the only thing the campaign has to offer.
A Mission that is a Far Cry From Call of Duty:
At some point in the campaign, something a little out of the ordinary happens—we get an entirely different game mode planted within the story.
When arriving at this moment, players are given the option to skip it and simply keep the story moving with standard missions; however, those who choose to play it all the way through will discover a massive open environment where your own tactical skills are the only limit. Here, we are greeted with multiple enemy bases, dozens of weapons and pieces of equipment to make use of, supplies to locate and obtain, secrets to discover, and even full puzzles that must be solved to gain better rewards. It is a mission that takes the standard Call of Duty gameplay and mixes it with aspects found in the title's DMZ mode, while also being something all its own. With so many enemy bases to capture and countless ways to tackle each objective, this mission alone offers nearly endless replayability and will be the highlight of the campaign for some.
The good news is, this mission does contain its own save file, so players can return to it later if they wish to keep moving forward instead of investing all of their time into it.
Should you play the campaign?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 delivers a must-play campaign for longtime fans and a thrilling, action-packed ride for anyone who appreciates the genre. With a strong cast of characters, an intriguing story, and missions that rarely repeat themselves without adding a fresh spin, it is a campaign that simply never becomes stale. Even its quieter moments, which provide a brief break from the non-stop action, somehow stand out as some of the most memorable parts of the story, leaving a lasting impression once you see their outcomes.
While series veterans will naturally cling to past favorites, this entry is an undeniable blast and a massive leap forward for the franchise. It is something truly special.
CAMPAIGN VERDICT: Essential
Multiplayer and DMZ Reviews Coming Soon
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
Review Copy was Provided
Available On: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
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