Editor’s Note: Almost every year, people are given the chance to try out the latest Call of Duty game. In this case, it’s Modern Warfare 4. Normally, we only get to play multiplayer during beta testing. But this year, a single-player campaign mission was added too, likely to show that the developers heard some of the complaints about last year’s entry. We had several GiN reviewers and columnists partake in the beta this year. The following is Michael Blaker’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta experience.
Hey all. I’m back with a look at the beta for this year’s Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 4. It’s my Modern Warfare 4 Beta Review!
Gameplay: This plays a lot like the previous Modern Warfare entries. And while it definitely takes advantage of some new stuff, like the ability to use pipes to scale up buildings or walls, it’s much the same as many other Call of Duty titles. That’s not super surprising, but it also doesn’t feature the omnimovement system from the recent Black Ops entries, which is a major downside in my opinion.
I thought omnimovement was supposed to be the big change that let the franchise evolve further, so seeing it left behind here feels odd. It may also be weird for people who spend most of their time in Warzone (the free-to-play battle royale mode) because going from sprinting and sliding in multiple directions to a more traditional movement system could feel like a step backward depending on how the transition is handled.
I didn’t enjoy Black Ops 7 enough to keep playing it past my review instead of playing Where Winds Meet, and I missed out on covering the full release of Black Ops 6. So, the fact that Modern Warfare 4 seems to be moving away from one of the bigger highlights of those entries is a weird choice to me. Then again, Infinity Ward has always felt like the oddball Call of Duty developer from what I’ve gathered.
The new Kill Block experience was not as much fun for me as I had hoped. It was available in a one-life mode during the early beta period, and those have never been my favorite. The premise is nice, especially since Kill Block is built around an adaptive map that can change between matches, but frankly, I hated the way I first experienced it. I would die in seconds because I was unfamiliar with the map, which is kind of the entire point of that setup, and then I would be locked out of playing for the rest of the round.
Maybe if Kill Block were tied to Hardpoint, Domination, or another respawn mode, I’d be more interested. I can see why the developers might hesitate to add those modes to an ever-changing map, but even basic team deathmatch would have been much better for me than what I played on that first Early Access day.
The oddest addition to this beta, though, was the campaign mission. Whether it represents a full mission or just a slice of one, I can’t say, but it was interesting to have a campaign sample included in the beta at all. The mission, called Entrenched, doesn’t require playing with other people, unlike last year’s Black Ops 7 campaign setup. I understand why they might try a co-op requirement out, but it was frustrating even on Day 1, and I shudder to think about what players trying to get through that campaign today might go through now. So, adding the chance to play a single-player campaign mission here felt like a nice way to show that they heard at least some of the loud feedback.
I did enjoy the gunplay. It was as good as always and incredibly solid. There are a few new gadgets too, like a mini drone shaped like a tiny helicopter that you can release to spot enemies, or the Trip Wire Mine to snare an enemy (or enemies if you get really lucky and they’re close enough together). But otherwise, nothing really changed all that much from Modern Warfare III.
There is also the fact that I’ll probably have to regain my entire arsenal again instead of it carrying forward into this release. I understand why that would be the case, and I know carry-forward systems have been unpopular with some players. But dang it, I worked hard for those weapon camos. I don’t particularly care to play Warzone just to use them, if I even can now given how rarely I have touched it.
Art: The art is generally good, although the draw distance definitely needs more tweaking on the larger Ground War maps because a cell tower shouldn’t look like a modern art deco piece from across the map.
Music: The music score in the campaign mission fit it really well, which is to say it helped build and maintain the tension incredibly well. The multiplayer tracks are, as always, unobtrusive and largely forgettable, which is pretty much fine because you aren’t playing Call of Duty multiplayer for the epic soundtrack.
Overall: It’s the yearly Call of Duty, and while the Modern Warfare 4 beta is fun enough, it’s not exactly new and interesting enough to snag my interest long term at the moment. Hopefully, the full release will do better. I do enjoy the ability to hop into Ground War and snipe to my heart’s content, so being able to do that again on solid maps made for that kind of play would be great.
