There is also a surprisingly genuine emotional through-line to the story, however, carried by freedom fighter and the story’s protagonist, Farah Karim. The game zig-zags dramatically across the line between thoughtful storytelling and gratuitous shock value but rarely stops long enough on anything to really discuss what is happening in any meaningful way. Get ready to see suicide bombers, public executions, chemical warfare, child soldiers and various grim methods of torture – including a playable section where you are waterboarded. Only available with the Legacy and Digital Deluxe editions of Infinite Warfare.Infinity Ward goes to some incredibly dark places with Modern Warfare’s storytelling. It’s hard not to love something that simultaneously feels so nostalgic, but unlike other sources of nostalgia, actually holds up today. Though, there are highlights, with Downpour being a particular favorite – though I can’t help but feel nostalgia is influencing my feelings here more than in the campaign.Įverything in the multiplayer is just as you remembered, though – guns ring off familiar sound effects that you’re used to, those alleys for sniping are just as prime as ever, and that spot where you always throw the grenade at the start of the match still has a good chance of killing someone. A good selection is here, with another six coming next month, but they just don’t feel as organic as they once did. You might have fond memories of them, but layouts feel… Mediocre, more often than not. Modern Warfare Remastered's Maps have aged a bit, mind. It takes multiplayer shooting back to its roots – no weird specials or super weapons, no nukes, no absurd air support – just guns and grenades. Small tweaks made since Call of Duty 4 have become standard, and going back to the originator and seeing where everything started is a wild blast. For one, only pistols and handguns can be equipped as secondary weapons. Class creation is obviously here as in the original, but in case you’ve forgotten, things are more barebones than they have been for a long time.
Obvious? Perhaps, but there’s rhyme to my reason. Modern Warfare Remastered's multiplayer feels like a straight-and-simple multiplayer game, with killstreaks and guns. Which brings us to the multiplayer, and throughout my time with it the word that keeps coming to mind is “pure”. It’s hard to overstate how tight and clean the entire campaign feels – sure, “shocks” like the nuke going off or the missiles being launched lose their shock value, but the story being told here is easier to follow and more interesting than anything from any other shooter I’ve played through in a while – and the physics on the broken bridge at the end of the campaign really made me feel like the whole thing was going to crumble beneath my feet in a way that I’ve never experienced before – it just felt and looked too real. It has excellent pacing, unlike Infinite Warfare’s long stretches of boring dialogue, Modern Warfare keeps chatter to a minimum, unless they’re discussing the mission at hand. No superfluous extras – aside from gathering the laptops with enemy intel – just the mission at hand, and the moment to moment gameplay. This, in comparison to many modern shooters, just feels so tight. The story all ties together so neatly, and each mission is clear on why you’re doing it, where you’re going, what the end goal is. Everything in Modern Warfare’s campaign is succinct to the point, and more coherent than I remember.Ĭaptain Price is having issues Ultranationalist extremists, with one Zakhaev being the prime perpetrator, while American troops move in to stabilize a region thrown into chaos after one of Zakhaev’s pawns kills a politician on live TV. So graphically Modern Warfare Remastered looks every bit as new as other AAA titles released this year, but where does the gameplay stand? Well actually, the moment-to-moment gameplay in the campaign felt like an unusual breath of fresh air, rather than a dose of nostalgia. Explosions look like they burn hotter than ever, and the subtle reflections found in places like puddles and the lens on your scope make the world feel very real, almost tangible.
More than all of that, though, it’s the small effects that make a big difference. Geometry has been updated where it matters, and backdrops and skyboxes look incredible. Textures are overhauled across the board, and faces of characters look more human than ever. To start with, the presentation is beautiful. The detailed grassland of Ghillies In The Mist looks distinctly barren by today’s standards, as does the rest of the game, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is here to bridge the gap between one of the most memorable games of the last decade and modern graphics – but does it de justice, and does the game hold up? It’s fair to say that if you look at the gameplay of Call of Duty 4 today, it’s not quite what you remember.