Graphically also does not look exceptional, despite what DF PR statement says lol.
Considering the trailer was realtime footage running at 60fps, it's one of the best looking games currently existing. The lighting, animation, particle effects and such are all absolutely incredible. It's a significant leap over Call of Duty Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: WWII which were themselves exceptionally good looking games.
It looks good, but for a trailer, it does't really sell me buying what amounts to fancier graphics on a game from twelve years ago.
When did you last play the original Modern Warfare? 2007 CoD was essentially a series of set pieces with waves of enemies that triggered as you advanced. Sometimes you'd have infinitely respawning enemies until you moved to the next checkpoint. Call of Duty hasn't really been like that for a few years now. Modern Warfare 1 was defined by a sort of "poke your head out, get shot, hide behind something until you health regenerates" formula.
Infinite Warfare's Specialist difficulty had non-regenerating health and limb damage. Call of Duty: WWII got rid of regenerating health altogether. Modern Warfare won't have regenerating health, infinitely respawning enemies, corridor level design, or any of that stuff as far as I can tell.
This new game is not Modern Warfare 1. It's a completely different kettle of fish. It has the characters from Modern Warfare 1, but the setting is completely different. The structure of the game is different. The gameplay is different. They seem to be taking a leaf from Battlefield Hardline's book insomuch that the game design is less overtly scripted. You have freedom in how you approach situations on a level beyond what previous Call of Duty games offered. We will find out more at E3, but this appears to be a significant revamp. Something akin to AC: Origins. (Edit: Or, you know, whatever Far Cry 6 is going to be. See, CoD 4 redefined the linear cinematic FPS in much the same way Far Cry 3 redefined the open world game. The sequels to those games mostly orbited CoD/Far Cry 3. They made improvements, they introduced bold new ideas, but they still orbited their origin point. With Modern Warfare, they seem to be making an effort to significantly distance the singleplayer at least from its predecessors. They are emphasizing how the game is no longer about Michael Bay-esque action antics and is more serious and grounded and gritty.) We shall of course see how that plays out, though.
Modern Infinity Ward campaigns are headed by senior former Naughty Dog developers. That's arguably why you see a fair bit of overlap between The Last of Us 2 and Modern Warfare in terms of shock factor content. TLOU2 really played up its shocking violence in its trailers. Infinity Ward took a very conservative approach with the trailers, with the press being shown a few missions from the game, but IW are basically waddling around smugly wheezing, "You though the dead kids and child-rape-loving Russians we just showed you were bad? You ain't seen nothing yet. Our game is soooooooo dark. And sooooooo mature."
Modern Warfare seems to be aiming to be the most controversial AAA videogame to date. To depict war in such a grimdark way that it will make the likes of Spec Ops: The Line seem passe. Black Ops got dark at times. But not this dark. You just watched child soldiers in Black Ops. You didn't play as a child soldier. All that stuff Metal Gear Solid V was too chicken to do, Modern Warfare seems to be embracing. That's what their paid influencers are all, "OMG it makes No Russian look like a Pixar film!" Of course they could chicken out in pursuit of safer ratings. Sledgehammer made minor edits to WWII, for example, to tone down implied rape. But I suspect Infinity Ward and Activision are going to relish in the controversy instead of backing down because they can play the "Nobody takes war as seriously as we do" card. This game will sell dozens of millions of copies. It could be the best selling Call of Duty ever made if they play their cards right.
If it has new gameplay and maybe is somehow a little bit strategic and tactical without endless waves up to each trigger I could like it.
You might find this interesting.
For the past decade Call of Duty games have pitted players against sprawling battlefields with dozens of enemies to pick off from afar. The Townhouse mission – which takes place in a single building containing roughly ten enemies – is a drastic step change. Where most first-person games exaggerate the scale of their hallways and doors in order to make navigation easier, the whole of this mission is made in 1:1 scale – every room, doorway, and staircase is claustrophobic, especially when one enemy panics and starts firing through the bathroom wall with a Kalashnikov, instantly killing a teammate and reminding you that bullet penetration goes both ways.
The Townhouse mission is a masterclass in building tension, with each room adding a grizzly new layer to the soundscape, and the constant need to assess every threat creating an agonising delay between seeing an enemy and pulling the trigger.
A few new gameplay mechanics are also on show, such as leaning around doorways by pinning your weapon to the side of the doorframe and slowly peering. You can also reload without leaving your aim-down-sights view and perform tactical reloads similar to those in hardcore mil-sims, but neither of the missions we saw were particularly combat-intensive, so we can’t yet say how different the gunplay will be.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the most ambitious COD to date
