This may be the year where I pick up another Call of Duty title.
I’m not ashamed to admit it, too; I absolutely loved the Modern Warfare series, as it featured an amazing story in addition to the incredibly fluid gunplay. It pushed the series to a level of success on par with DICE’s Battlefield series, while featuring a better and more amazing storyline – well, except for Bad Company, but then I’d say they’re equally good.
While I’m not too inspired by what the series has turned into – a soulless, blatant cash-grab designed to make money off of players, only to be abandoned the following year for another title, repeat ad nauseum – the latest trailer for Infinity Ward’s next shot at the franchise did interest me. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may sound like it was named for the brand's popularity to reach the most number of players possible, but at least it showed enough of the things that made the series good in its official reveal trailer. Watch it below.
The tone is certainly darker, grittier and intended to be more mature. In a monologue, the rebooted Captain Price explains that war isn’t black and white, and that their jobs as operators are to tangle within that gray area. While not as heavy-handed as this trailer implies, the previous Modern Warfare titles were shown to be somewhat realistic in terms of their depiction of war. In fact, I’d say that despite some very Hollywood-esque levels of writing and storytelling, the first two Modern Warfare titles were amazing examples of a first-person shooter story done right.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a reboot of the series, although it introduces several returning characters, such as the iconic Captain Price. While I’m doubtful if ‘Soap’ MacTavish makes his return, I’m still hoping. However, at the same time, I do wish that Infinity Ward doesn’t outright rehash the series in this reboot, and still delivers on a good single-player experience without retreading old ground too much. It also looks like Activision is cashing in on the goodwill of fans; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, according to them, will feature cross-play and no season pass. There’s also a cooperative multiplayer mode, which should be interesting to see in a Call of Duty title.
The game is looking very pretty, too. Activision and Infinity Ward developed the title on a new engine, it would seem, featuring hyperrealistic graphics running at a very crisp frame rate. The only thing left to cover now is how it plays out in your hands, and if that’s good as well, then this is absolutely the year I pick up Call of Duty again.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare releases on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 25, 2019.
