Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Returns to Form?

Today was a landmark day for Call of Duty and Activision. After many years of sub-par Call of Duty games, Infinity Ward is back in the driver’s seat on this upcoming title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. In Call of Duty, a lot of people like the single-player campaign. The real selling point is the multiplayer. Activision and Infinity Ward showed off the big reveal for the multiplayer earlier today.

Coming out of the gates strong, they showed off a new trailer for the game set to the backdrop of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. The trailer was a nice look at the game and how it 100 percent will differ in just looks from the past games. This isn’t Black Ops or WW2 anymore. Infinity Ward has long been the favorite developer of Call of Duty fans and they definitely stepped up with this trailer. Starting off the stream, the two Infinity Ward developers, Joe Cecot and Geoffrey Smith, didn’t wait too long to start talking about the new developments in the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare shows off it’s realistic new look in this Jungle setting

New Updates to the Old Formula

Map design and guns are the backbone of Call of Duty multiplayer games. In the past few games, Call of Duty has definitely shown itself to play to the trends in gaming. Arena shooters such as: Fortnite, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike have changed the landscape of shooter games. Call of Duty followed suit with many maps with a three-lane design. This definitely got boring quickly with just how many they are.

The maps themselves are going to vary in sizes from small, close-quarters design all the way to huge sprawling battlefields. This is a welcome change because it seems like most Call of Duty maps from previous games are in the middle of the two. This leads to design that gets old quickly, where every map just feels like a re-skin on the same formula.

No More Season Pass

Past games and the trends in video games have led to more downloadable content to pump life into a game that might not have as many players as when it launched. Call of Duty has routinely had a “season pass” for the game that allowed you to get this content immediately when it gets released. Obviously this costs additional money, which adds to the price of the game. This game changes that. No season pass, and all the content in the game released after launch will be free for players to download. This has to be a big win for players because they’ll be able to get all the content for just the price of the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare shows off the return of the annihilator kill-streak from previous games.

“Pick 10” Gone for Good

If you’ve ever played a Call of Duty game before, you’ve seen how when you make a load-out that you can only have 10 slots for perks, attachments, special items, or support items. This time around, Infinity Ward wanted to simplify that by just allowing players to have perks, items, and support items on any class. The limitation comes in the new Gunsmith menu. Here, players will pick their gun. As they progress with using it, they can unlock over 30 attachments to use. Guns are going to have perks also. The catch is that each gun has 5 slots for attachments, so the combinations are endless for each gun you’re going to use.

Game Modes for All

Moving on, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is going to have more options for each player’s different skill level and play style. The classic Call of Duty formula is 6v6 maps. This time around, you’ll have that mode but also: 2v2 Gunfights, 10v10, 20v20, a 64 player mode, and a new version of Ground War that’s 50v50 for those larger maps they were talking about before.  

Realism mode is the newest game type that they showed off a big part of for the stream. Hardcore mode was a game type that stripped away all the gauges, heads up display, and any graphics on screen. It’s just you and the battlefield. Realism mode is the next iteration of this where you have no mini-map or displays for you. This combined with the night-only maps allows for a more realistic depiction in the multiplayer mode that hasn’t ever been seen in a Call of Duty game before.

Open Beta Date Set

Finally, Call of Duty fans can get their hands on the open multiplayer beta starting on September 25th. I for one, cannot wait for this. As a life-long Call of Duty fan, this looks to be a return to form for the series that has needed a shot in the arm. Past Call of Duty games have been trying too hard to be shooters that it isn’t. This game isn’t Overwatch and it’s hero-based gameplay. It’s not Halo or Quake and based around arena combat. It’s it’s own breed of multiplayer game. Activision’s shooter is shaping up to be one hell of a game come October 25th.