Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 review
Aside from the annual cycle of development, marketing, and controversy that has defined the series identity for the past 22 years, the series has become an integral part of how video games prop up the military-industrial complex .
Aside from the annual cycle of development, marketing, and controversy that has defined the series identity for the past 22 years, the series has become an integral part of how video games prop up the military-industrial complex .
The short version
- Whilst some of the stories - especially 2025's Black Ops 7 - have deteriorated into the realms of science-fiction absurdity, many of the narratives you'll find in the Modern Warfare splinter of the series are more grounded in reality.
- Between these standout missions, there are moments where you're asked to consider what it's like for the pawns on the board - the other soldiers, the unnamed, those whose strings are being pulled by forces they don't understand.
- It's a bit Fisher-Price, a bit A-Level, a 'War is Bad' pin badge worn on a jacket from an Army Surplus store, but hey: I'd rather this than a completely unobserved 'ooh-rah!' story about the US army coming to the rescue again.
What happened
Whatever the emotional impact is, you can't argue with the physical one: this is a tight, eight-hour campaign with moments up there with Modern Warfare's best. It stops before it ever risks getting overlong, it's got plenty of new ideas to throw at you and - played on the hardest mode - it's a tight puzzle box of encounter design that's just as obsessed with detail as it is with Michael Bay-esque spectacle.
Why it matters
It's a far cry from whatever the hell was going on in Black Ops 7 last year.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Eurogamer via the links above and below.