Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Multiplayer Review

The main reason everyone picks up CoD every year is for the multiplayer. It has been a staple in the franchise since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which is still one of the greatest CoD’s of all time. So, when Infinity Ward decided to reboot the Modern Warfare series with this new entry, the expectation for a similar experience was immediately there. Unfortunately, it’s not even close because of weak maps that provoke spawn camping with that mounting feature that was discussed earlier extending the problem further.

There are a few good maps such as Rammaza, St. Petrograd and Hackney Yard, but the rest of them are not fun to play on mainly because they incite camping and spawn camping. The map that was most evident of this was Aniyah Palace which features a massive palace right in the middle of the map. Once a team takes over that palace, its essentially game over for the opposing team because everyone just camps there until the game is over. What feels like a huge reason for this is the new feature where you can mount your gun on practically anything which gives players more accuracy and increases player incentive to camp in one spot. The option to vote for maps is also absent from this entry, which could have made a huge difference overall for the traditional modes.

Traditional game modes are still present like Team Deathmatch, Domination and Search and Destroy along with hardcore variations, but they all suffer from the problem mentioned above because of the maps. Team Deathmatch more so suffers from the spawn camping on maps like Piccadilly and Azhir Cave. Those same maps suffer in Domination as well as the B flag is mostly in an unreachable spot because of camping and the mounting feature.

Ground War is a new mode that is essentially Conquest from the Battlefield games. It’s 32v32 on only two maps that are much bigger than traditional CoD maps and it plays identically to Conquest but doesn’t feel as great. It feels tacked on compared to the other new game modes and just a way to introduce vehicles into the mix.

That’s not to say that it’s all bad though, the new Gunfight which is a 2v2 round-based mode is the highlight of the entire multiplayer. It gets the heart pumping and is definitely a nice change from the traditional game modes, plus it also feels like Modern Warfare was made specifically for this mode. The seven maps in Gunfight are different and smaller than the maps you’ll get in the traditional modes, but they are all much better. Instead of choosing your own loadout like the traditional modes, every two rounds the gun you’re given is changed until a team wins six rounds. It could be a sniper, light-machine gun or just a pistol which adds to the intensity of the mode because you might not be good with a certain gun, but you have to make do.

Another great new mode is Realism which at first looks like hardcore mode, but instead of increasing damage, the damage remains the same as the normal modes with everything else stripped away. With no HUD, hit markers or scoreboard it feels weird at first, but listening to the characters talk in-game calling out where enemies are is pretty awesome. They do this in the traditional modes as well, but you’re not really paying attention to callouts when you can just look at the minimap and see where gunfire is. There are also night versions of a few maps in this mode that require the use of night vision goggles, but after 20+ games, they never came into rotation.

Despite all that, Modern Warfare feels great to play in any mode. The guns all feel different from each other and the customisation options for each are extensive with skins, attachments, and reticles. Gun levelling is back and there are so many attachments for each gun it’s hard to keep track of all of them, especially because of Gunfight since you’re consistently using various weapons. Each gun has five slots for attachments and you can even save and name sets of attachments similar to creating and saving a custom class. Of course, different attachments either increase or decrease aspects of the gun including damage, range, accuracy and more. You can even attach a perk to your gun like FMJ for more damage, or Burst which changes your gun from automatic to a three-round burst with more unlocking the higher the level.

Instead of the specialist classes we’ve seen in the past few entries, you can use field upgrades which aren’t nearly as annoying as the specialist classes were. Instead of having a super move of sorts, field upgrades slightly help you on the battlefield with different variations depending on your playstyle. Munitions Box gives you and your team more ammo whenever you need it, Dead Silence helps you move silently throughout the map and Deployable Cover lets you drop a wall anywhere you want with a few more to choose from. They aren’t as intrusive as the specialist abilities were and they are welcomed additions because of that.

It’s important to mention that the option of cross-play is available across Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC as long as you have an Activision account, but you can turn it off in the menu if you just want to stay with your platform of choice.

With a surprise return, Infinity Ward decided to bring back the Spec Ops mode from the previous Modern Warfare games and it’s probably the buggiest part of the entire package. Spec Ops in this rebooted Modern Warfare acts as a continuation of sorts for the main campaign with the ending cinematic of the story leading right into Spec Ops. It doesn’t have the cutscenes or characters from the campaign though since it is all co-op online and they try to make you care about what’s going on, but you never really do.

There are four missions that can be played with a party of four or online with other players and boy are these missions hard. You can be dropped into a lobby that hasn’t started yet or – the more likely scenario – dropped in a game that’s already midway through, which is a huge reason you won't care for the story that’s being told. You’ll also be dying a lot and having to restart missions constantly since these missions demand teamwork, and failing to revive teammates and communicate will result in failure. This mode would have definitely benefited from a ping system similar to Apex Legends and Borderlands 3 for people who don’t use mics. There are many glitches throughout this mode like vehicles randomly exploding when you’re driving or not being able to pick up ammo/armour which makes it harder than it should be.

There is also the PlayStation 4 exclusive Survival mode which is essentially a horde mode with waves of enemies coming at you until you die. It’s also with a party of four, but way easier than the Spec Ops missions. Playing with random people online can be boring in this mode though because of how easy it is, but it can be fun with friends who also have a PS4.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s multiplayer feels like a misstep in many ways when it comes to the traditional modes. The maps favour spawn killing and camping and because of that it can get frustrating very quickly. The core gameplay is still great and new modes like Gunfight and Realism are fantastic, but others like Spec Ops and Ground War feel like tacked on experiences.

Score: 6.5/10