Let the edgy middle schooler within San Jose State gamers’ hearts rejoice; “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” is finally back.
It has taken eight years for the fourth installment of the Modern Warfare title to be released, leaving fans of the classic “Call of Duty” filled with high hopes that the game will return to its realistically grounded roots.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” is a reboot of the 2007 hit title “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” and the reimagined game does well for the goal the Infinity Ward set for itself: to please loyal fans.
If you were not a fan of “Call of Duty” in the past then this game will not do enough to pull you into the franchise, but if you are a die-hard fan of the titles, you are in luck.
The campaign for the game runs about seven hours without demanding too much from the player.
The format remains the same as “Call of Duty” games of the past, with a standard point-and-shoot approach from level to level.
Long ranged sniper, close quarters and pitch black missions give the game a varied feel in levels which can be nice, but it does not fool anyone from what game
they are playing.
Aside from the setup of levels, the storyline for the campaign gives lifelong fans a taste of nostalgia, while also taking risks in the narrative.
Lifelong fans celebrated the return of Captain Price from “Call of Duty 4” as he works alongside you in coalition with the United States and the fictional country Urzikstan forces to take out a chemical weapon threat in the Middle East.
The story is intriguing enough to hold a player’s attention, but every “Call of Duty” fan knows the multiplayer for these games is where the money is.
The game itself did not fully feel like “Call of Duty,” but rather a mixture of “Call of Duty 4”, “Battlefield 3” and “Medal of Honor.”
The characters feel heavier and move a bit slower than a lot of first-person shooters, but once you start to climb up the progression ladder for levels, the real fun begins.
Multiplayer is packed with individual weapon progression on top of overall player levels. This allows an attachment between the player and the gun you level up with the most.
I found myself becoming comfortable with a handful of guns and sticking to them, getting the weapons level to rise up without the firearm ever feeling stale.
The game pushes its multiplayer a bit, enabling 20-versus-20 matches in a franchise that has stuck to small scale battles aside from the ground war gamemode.
The new large scale battles feel forced into the game and the maps become void of players with a lot of empty space that leaves players wandering and looking for action.
Despite the larger maps struggling to entertain there are new game modes that work well.
My personal favorite was “cyber attack”, which is a spin-off of the one-life favorite gamemode “search and destroy” that has dominated the game series for years.
Instead of a bomb you carry an electromagnetic pulse and if you are killed, there is a chance for teammates to revive you, giving the game a mix-up from what search and destroy had to offer.
The multiplayer will not have you setting up major strategies like a first-person shooter such as “Overwatch” will, but it is mindless fun that “Call of Duty” has always been.
In the end, “Modern Warfare” is a welcome return to “Call of Duty’s” roots.
Any and every “Call of Duty” fan needs to get ready for long frustrated nights yelling at their TVs, just like the old times.
