Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Review, Gameplay Impressions for Multiplayer, Campaign and DMZ Modes

The beloved Call of Duty brand seeks redemption with Modern Warfare 4, once again turning to developer Infinity Ward to make things right.

Roughly one year ago, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 struggled to build upon the solid foundation while overcoming allegations of annual-release fatigue.

Infinity Ward steps back into the fray promising a return to form for the solo campaign mode, the return of DMZ and all the bells and whistles of the traditional multiplayer mode.

The task in front of MW4 now is simple: Prove last year was a one-off for the brand and that Call of Duty still deserves its place near the top.

Call of Duty remains a powerhouse. Like those before it, Modern Warfare 4 is a blockbuster with the budget to match, bringing along stunningly lifelike character models, plus lighting and particle effects and scale that push the most advanced of hardware in big ways.

At this point, design is far more important than horsepower for COD. A year removed from many of the environments feeling like Warzone map pieces, MW4 goes heavy on the globetrotting variety to great effect. Multiplayer maps, too, or slices of the DMZ map, are quite different, both in presentation and actual feel to navigate.

A year removed from adding the combat roll, MW4 takes this opportunity to open up gameplay and drive up skill gaps even more.

New in the fluidity department are some tweaks to mantling. Players can now slide right after a mantle and have finer control over the direction of the mantle, or can even ADS while doing so. Players can now tweak each slide they do, too, letting them end up on their back, feet forward.

As always, players take all sorts of weapons, perks and gear into battle. Perks are a "pick three" system again, with 18 spanning three different tiers, with the real good stuff like footprint trackers and being undetectable by targeting systems tucked into level three. Killstreaks also claim to reward objective play this time out, not just, well, kills.

Fluidity impresses in MW4 in a way that positively infects all of its game modes. This was always going to boast the excellent COD FPS gunplay, and the slightly longer-than-expected time-to-kill is a welcome surprise that plays nicely with the seamless control the game grants players over movement.

Call of Duty's erratic storytelling leaves the valley and heads for a peak with MW4.

Yes, Captain Price is back as a focal point, but the narrative here is happy to kill off poor bits of storytelling from prior entries and streamline things in a way that makes sense. It's a narrative split into two parts that eventually join and the setpieces amid the level-to-level action are some of the best in the series over the last decade.

High praise, and earned. There have been some ugly flops (MW3 comes to mind) and some solo experiences that felt slapped together at the last second across mere multiplayer maps sometimes. This is not one of those times. It takes the time to flex, too, putting players on the frontlines of a war, then letting them go James Bond-lite in behind-enemy-lines infiltrations.

It is, simply put, just nice to be back in an actual singleplayer campaign, COD style.

Multiplayer stays basic with the expected six-on-six mode and things like Gunfight. In a small twist, Ground War becomes Combat Outpost, making the 32-on-32 mode a battle for map control that sees holding points build up resources. There's also added buy rounds to the search-and-destroy-like mode to give it more of a Counter-Strike or similar feel.

Expected isn't bad, but surprises can be. At launch, respawn locations feel sloppy and prone to getting players sent back to the respawn timer in a hurry across most modes. It's surely something that will be addressed over time. There's going to be long conversations online yet again about skill-based matchmaking and how the developers go about their brand of it, so it's something to watch as players improve and climb.

DMZ, the extraction mode, brings COD back to the PvPvE genre in a big way. There are some much-needed memorable set pieces on the map, like an isolated prison, and much-needed engagement tools, like Dynamic Ops missions.

Those missions are the guiding hand to keep players moving across the map. Running into squads of other real players is usually hostile, while battles with random NPCs in the skies, on the roads or otherwise, escalate the longer a squad survives. The deeper players get, the more armor and stuff NPC enemies wear, never mind the progression of other squads of real players.

Players can also hit a forward operating base to kit out their guns and pick through some operator trait trees. Those traits can be super meaningful when the PVP starts, even if it's just bonus ammo.

Gunsmith returns with some nicely streamlined attachment features and a "Gunny" aide will auto-create builds on a weapon to a player's preferred style. It's a nice detail for those players who don't want to spend a ton of time trying to optimize a weapon themselves.

The Call of Duty grind gets connected progression as a highlight, meaning experience gained applies to multiplayer, DMZ and eventually Warzone's Season 1. This means level, weapon, battle pass and weapon camo experience gains apply to each mode. With this broadsweeping inclusion of all modes, though, comes an expected uptick in grind.

To its credit, MW4 unifies customization, putting operators, weapons, equipment and killstreaks into a single loadout. It's much smoother to manage and change up specializations on the fly based on the mode and need of the time.

The game also gives players more control over prestige. Classic prestige remains as players know it. But "regular" prestige lets progression kick back to Level 1 while letting players keep create-a-class content.

As a whole, MW4 runs well and has the strong suite of options, including accessibility stuff, for players to parse over.

In theory, it would be nice if COD didn't need another "return to form" cliché.

Smart, layered additions to player movement make this the best-feeling COD to date across all modes. The solo campaign is a stroke of classical COD the series was missing and DMZ has some serious depth worth exploring over time.

Traditional multiplayer, though, is worth a raise of the eyebrow. There's not a lot fresh there, which isn't a terrible thing, as the formula has been strong for a long time. But the annual variance usually rests on things like proper respawn points around the new maps and overall skill-based matchmaking. At launch, MW4 feels like it has some red flags there.

When the big negatives are things the game might be able to iron out post-release, though, things are pretty smooth sailing. Modern Warfare 4 is a classic Call of Duty release in a very good way and a strong foundation for the future that hopefully gets built upon properly this time.