Call of Duty returns to its roots with a fast-paced and fluid shooter experience, albeit one that sometimes feels derivative.
It’s no secret that in recent years, Call of Duty has gone off the rails. Players have been on strange detours to the future in Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare, seen the idea of a campaign dropped entirely with Black Ops 4, and witnessed a belated attempt to return to an original setting in WWII. New games came out year-by-year, and each time, the gaming community collectively shrugged and moved on. After all, there’s always something new and exciting in the world of gaming, and it doesn’t make much sense to stay focused on a franchise that could only generously be described as competent but lost.
We don’t talk about Ghosts.
Your favourite Call of Duty game is usually the one you grew up playing, and for a lot of people, including me, that game is Modern Warfare. So when its developers announced their decision to return to the last thing that actually worked, I was hyped but sceptical. It seemed as though this reboot was only being made simply because some executives had expectations to meet in order to keep their bonus pay and nothing else they tried was sticking to the wall.
My initial impressions of this reboot have changed. Some of the change comes from the information that’s been released over time: about how it has, rightly or wrongly, actively sought and courted controversy in order to deliver an unflinching portrayal of warfare in the modern era. But ultimately some of that change does come from my experience playing the game’s public beta last weekend.
In purely technical terms, this is unsurprisingly the most advanced entry in the franchise. There’s a remarkable commitment to quality on display. The game’s environments no longer look drab and lifeless, with the more muted colour palette of previous games being entirely replaced by sharp edges and crisp colour. I was particularly impressed by the game’s new particle effects; grenade explosions send up clouds of dust, gun barrels smoke while firing, and body shots create split-second blood spray in the style of a Hollywood action movie.
It also has all the hallmarks of good sound design: an important element for shooters in particular and one that sometimes unfortunately goes overlooked. The gunfire is satisfying and intense. The consistency and accuracy of the left-right sound mix helps the player gain valuable environmental awareness. As a shooter experience, Modern Warfare feels more tactical than previous entries, and encourages a more methodical, thoughtful approach to combat that involves anticipating where enemies come from via footfall and even subtle brushes against surfaces.
You can still see what I call “classic Call of Duty” underneath, but Modern Warfare has a new style that subtly changes what came before. It takes some getting used to. Melee kills, for example, are something that have remained unchanged over the years, but it says a lot that Modern Warfare sets out to rework something so many fans regard as fundamental to the series gameplay. A gun bash has replaced the knife melee, and it takes two hits to bring someone down. Surprisingly, it works much better than it sounds on paper and makes you think differently about previous games. A one hit kill with a knife now seems overpowered, and perhaps more importantly, you quickly understand the reason behind this change. It gives close combat urgency and stakes; pulling off the two hits is immensely satisfying, but you can also shoot someone and then bash them as an efficient way to finish the job.
The maps have improved verticality over the maps of previous entries, but in some ways, it’s hard to tell what they’re really like. As with any game, the player has to get used to them, which wasn’t easy to do given the limited time the beta was available. On the whole, I have mixed feelings about the newly introduced strategic elements of the game. People made something out of the fact that Modern Warfare now has doors you can open and shut. There’s no denying that this gives maps a dynamic quality, but since they have both real and fake doors, this can cause some momentary confusion. I’m also unimpressed with the game’s killstreaks so far. While the deployable shield, which can be placed anywhere, is both reliable and useful in a pinch, others don’t have utility. The recon drone for example doesn’t benefit the player in any noticeable way, and takes forever to recharge. Similarly, the new vehicles don’t feel necessary. Their inclusion tends to make the game feel like Battlefield, particularly in the game’s Ground War mode, which plays a lot like Battlefield’s Conquest. It can’t help but feel derivative.
Quality of life improvements are a big must-have, and from what I’ve seen of the beta, Modern Warfare has made quite a few. The UI is simple and easy to parse, while the matchmaking process is surprisingly streamlined for a beta test. Other changes are a bit more basic, but no less valuable. The largest of these is in-game class customisation; I’ve unlocked perks and gun attachments mid-game and slapped them on without leaving the match. The game’s Gunsmith customisation also allows you to make weapons feel like they belong to you by letting you customise your gun’s barrel, sights and stocks among other things, which is always welcome. I did however wind up missing the gun-specific challenges of Modern Warfare 2 which allowed the player to unlock attachments. Being able to unlock everything for your favourite gun just by using it consistently is a little too convenient. There’s no challenge there.
This beta is remarkably well-designed and makes for an excellent first impression. It promises the fast-paced action that this franchise has always been known for, and delivers. But perhaps most importantly, even as a beta, it’s a memorable experience. As I’ve mentioned before, that’s something the franchise has really struggled with in recent years. Of course, quite a lot can still change between now and the game’s release, and naturally we haven’t had much of a look at the campaign, but for now, we’re set to see a welcome return to form for Call of Duty come the 25th of October.
Comments