Call of Duty: Modern Warfare drops on October 25, and many old and new fans are pre-ordering the franchise’s chance at redemption. It features new graphics, modern weapons, and an amazing soundtrack. This Call of Duty is the first in a long time to go back to it’s modern roots, which seems to be all fans wanted.
Previously in the Call of Duty series, the games seemed to take one giant leap into space and futuristic warfare, spanning far, far away from it’s more modern roots. It has been three years since Call of Duty was all about the style of boots-on-the-ground in the game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered”. In that game, the companies Raven, who developed the game, and Activision, who published the game, remastered an old favorite from 2007 with some new graphics and a more advanced multiplayer.
As a fan of the series, I can say with certainty that this is what I, as well as many other fans, wanted all this time. I think this is because our generation can, in a way, relate to the more modern style of game, rather than being launched headfirst into space, or being sent back to trench warfare in the two great wars. So, Raven decided that it would listen to the fans’ uproar, and started production on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
As soon as the trailer dropped, fans were excited to see which direction the game would take the series. Most were pre-ordering the game as soon as it was available, but some were skeptical about the sudden change in tone from it’s most negatively received game, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, to this so-called masterpiece.
The beta (early access availability) for Call of Duty was visually astounding, with new game modes, rank up rewards, and intense gunfights to keep the player’s adrenaline pumping as each match was won or lost. The beta was multiplayer only with many game modes to choose from, such as Gunfight, which was a two versus two battle to the death, or cyber attack, which was a hardcore, no respawning, objective based game mode. The simplest of these modes was team deathmatch, where two teams go at each other until one team reaches 75 total kills. 75 sounds like a lot, but when you have a small map to play on, it makes those small gunfights that much more rewarding to win.
Two of the biggest changes in the series is the new game mode ground war, and cross platform gameplay. Ground war features a 32 vs 32 style of domination, which was to hold certain points across the map for the longest to win. This is such a big step for Call of Duty because the mode features vehicles. Call of Duty has not put a modern drivable vehicle or helicopter in their games since the tanks in Call of Duty: World at War. The vehicles in the new Call of Duty include helicopters, tanks, APC’s (Armored Personnel Carriers) and even a mannable AC-130 gunship.
The second biggest change in the franchise is cross platform play. Cross platform means that people who play the game on Xbox can play with people on either PC or on Playstation. This is so revolutionary because there has not been a single Call of Duty game to successfully do this, let alone attempt to program it.
As trailers for the game keep dropping, the hype for the game’s release just continues to climb. The trailer for the story mode has been released, and looks better than ever. It gives the player an inside look on a few missions in the middle east, showing a spec ops raid, a heated conversation at an allied base, and an interrogation scene, all of which bring back memories of past games in the franchise.
One of the major selling points of the new Call of Duty is one of the more prominent lead characters, Captain John Price. When Price appeared in the trailer for the game, people knew that this was going to be a giant leap forward for the franchise’s quality. Captain Price has been a lead character in three games in the series: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Raven has even gone behind the scenes to showcase the new voice actor for the main character, Barry Sloan, whose voice is the perfect fit for the war torn veteren of the franchise.
After playing the beta and watching all of the trailers, I think that this Call of Duty is what the fans of the series wanted all along, instead of covering past or future wars. The beta showed me all the information I needed to be able to tell that this game is going to lead the franchise into a brighter, better future for the series. It certainly gives most of the fans what they have been asking for for a while.
