Paul’s an expert in Videogames, Star Trek, flannel shirts – in that order. For PCGamesN he covers GTA, Arc Raiders, PUBG, and more.
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We’re back, folks. It’s that time of year again when we pull our Call of Duty from the oven and see how it came out. I played through the campaign and a fair chunk of DMZ, and I’m happy to report that what I tried is surprisingly good. Moreish, even. We’ve got Price going rogue, and we’ve got a new extraction mode that doesn’t look half-baked. Those of an FPS slant are going to be eating well.
Firstly, the campaign. The Modern Warfare arm of Call of Duty has always had just that little bit more heart to its characters; yes, it’s all military gung-ho faff, but with players like Price, Ghost, Soap, et al., it felt like it had to try a little bit less to amaze. The core cast of actors in these roles compel me to care, and they’re bang on the money again in Modern Warfare 4.
Interestingly, much of what Modern Warfare 4 does well this time around comes from the new blood: the Korean/American squad that finds itself thrust into sudden conflict. It’s a more straightforward story that balances well with the deeply personal Price side of the equation.
The Korean segments are where the FPS game flexes its showpiece moments – beach assaults, trench warfare, a rather good night-vision portion. There’s an open-world section that gave me pause as I remembered the disaster that was MW3, but this is executed well, too, with a ramp-up in power and plenty of optional missions in the large area for those who want to delve deep. It’s a welcome change of pace from the emotional, rage-filled Price rampage.
Realistically, though, the main draw here is Price and his apparent heel turn. Barry Sloane does a fantastic job yet again, adding further nuance and emotional weight to the choices the character makes, and has made. His mantra of “you draw the line wherever you need it” is truly tested, and I felt every bit of it. I won’t go into story details because this is the best Call of Duty campaign in years, both in story and technical execution, and I think you should take the time to see it for yourself. Multiplayer can wait.
The MW4 campaign is paced well; it has heart, and it finds a great balance between conversation and blowing stuff up. It doesn’t overstay its welcome anywhere, moving on to fresh new ideas regularly, propelling the story forward at a fair clip. In a sea of rather disappointing campaigns tacked onto the side of multiplayer offerings, this raises the bar considerably.
The other part of the Modern Warfare 4 package I delved into was DMZ – the return of DMZ. The extraction mode has had a couple of run-outs with varying success. One was a test bed, apparently, and the other was a variation on the zombies theme. Neither was especially great. Things have changed, though, and the extraction lot have upped their game, with Arc Raiders proving to be a smash hit and Tarkov still drawing in droves.
Modern Warfare 4’s new DMZ feels like a different beast compared to years past. It’s a fully fleshed-out game mode with crafted missions, a vast, intricate space to explore (and loot), and a ton of well-thought-out extras to keep players engaged. The format is pretty much the same as something like Arc Raiders – head out into the world to collect various bits of tat, kill AI enemies, and deal with human players however you see fit.
Expanding my home base with this stuff I collected while out in the world allowed me to delve deeper, survive longer, and take on bigger challenges. I filched weapons from enemies, I scrounged to get by, then I unlocked the gunsmith and could start forcing my will on my surroundings.
DMZ has something that most other extraction shooters don’t – it has Call of Duty’s shooting. It doesn’t nail it every year, but it can be argued that CoD’s punchy firearms are best in class, and adding that level of satisfaction to the basics makes even the most mundane run a pleasure. It doesn’t quite have the social interaction of Arc Raiders, with most squads I encountered having a shoot-on-sight policy, but I’ll see how that part evolves – it’s the only thing missing for me.
I’ll update this review once I’ve had a chance to delve into the multiplayer, but if you’re looking for a rollicking campaign that happens to come with a beefy extraction shooter, you can’t go far wrong here.
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