Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Feels Like the First Truly Next-Gen Call of Duty – Multiplayer First Impressions

Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer feels similar 1 of those Call of Duty entries wherever you tin instantly archer thing is antithetic – not successful a gimmicky way, but successful a “wait… this really feels much thought through” benignant of way.

After spending a bully chunk of clip with it, the content that sticks isn’t conscionable that MW4 is bigger oregon flashier, it’s that it yet feels similar Infinity Ward had the abstraction to physique the mentation of Call of Duty multiplayer they’ve been edging toward for years, without perpetually trimming it down connected relationship of last-gen console limitations.

And yes, you tin consciousness that astir everywhere: movement, gunplay, maps, and adjacent the mode progression is structured. Here’s what I thought of my clip with it!

Movement: Still Call of Duty, Just Way More Expressive

The archetypal happening you announcement is movement. It’s familiar, but acold little rigid than older entries. This isn’t an omni-movement, slide-everywhere benignant of situation, and honestly, that’s astir apt for the best. MW4 inactive wants you to deliberation astir positioning, not conscionable spam inputs and alert astir the map. But wrong that structure, there’s a batch much freedom.

Climbing feels faster and much intentional acknowledgment to tube climbing and rod traversal. Ledge mantling isn’t conscionable a dilatory animation anymore – you tin really purpose and shimmy portion doing it, which leads to immoderate amazingly clutch moments wherever you’re mid-vault and inactive lining up shots.

There’s besides a mantle cancel, which sounds tiny but ends up redeeming you constantly. Instead of committing to a atrocious ascent and dying for it, you tin conscionable backmost retired mid-animation and reposition.

Sliding feels amended too, particularly the caller backward slide, which is mode much utile than it sounds. It gives you this awkward-but-effective flight instrumentality wherever you tin disengage portion inactive shooting back. You tin adjacent descent straight into a ladder climb, giving you a speedy flight from a losing combat if needed.

Sliding feels amended too, particularly the caller backward slide, which is mode much utile than it sounds.“

Even tactical sprint feels much grounded now. You tin really archer erstwhile your relation is gassed retired alternatively of it conscionable snapping betwixt states instantly, with a flimsy summation successful breaths and the subtle lowering of your gun. It makes your ain question consciousness a spot much readable successful fights, which I didn’t expect to attraction astir but decidedly noticed.

Overall, it’s inactive Call of Duty pacing but with much ways to outplay idiosyncratic without turning each combat into question chaos, and for folks similar maine that aren’t into the overly exaggerated movements of thing similar an Apex Legends (or adjacent erstwhile Call of Duty’s), this is my preferred benignant of gameplay.

Gunplay: No More Bloom!

This is astir apt the astir important alteration successful the full crippled – bloom is gone! And yes, you consciousness it immediately. If your weapon is aimed astatine someone, your bullets spell there. No random dispersed deciding whether you triumph oregon suffer a fight. It’s conscionable you, your recoil control, and however good you’re tracking.

Recoil inactive matters a lot, possibly adjacent much now, but astatine slightest it’s honest. If you miss, it’s connected you, not the crippled rolling invisible dice successful the background. Hip-fire is mode much reliable due to the fact that of that. Close-range fights consciousness cleaner and much consistent, and there’s little of that frustrating “how did that not hit?” infinitesimal that utilized to amusement up successful older entries. Of course, this astir makes it dependable similar sniper rifles volition abruptly go the game’s champion shotgun – Infinity Ward promises that it won’t acknowledgment to the caller weapons question system, which I’ll talk to successful conscionable a moment.

Visually, everything supporting gunplay feels improved too. Smoke doesn’t ruin your sightlines arsenic overmuch anymore, extent of tract isn’t perpetually blurring retired enemies, and aiming conscionable feels clearer overall. It’s 1 of those changes you don’t announcement individually, but you perfectly consciousness successful each gunfight.

The extremity effect is simple: fights consciousness fairer. This won’t marque them easier, but they'll beryllium much successful your control.

Weapons Feel Like They Belong successful the World Now

Another large alteration is however weapons interact with the environment. Your weapon really reacts to walls and screen now. If you’re excessively adjacent to a surface, it adjusts alternatively of awkwardly clipping oregon stopping your question altogether. In choky spaces, weapons displacement into a much compact stance, which makes close-quarters fights consciousness a spot much grounded.

It sounds similar a tiny detail, but it really changes however you attack corners and doorways. You’re much alert of spacing successful a mode older Call of Duty games ne'er truly pushed you to deliberation about.

On apical of that, environments are much reactive overall. Bullet holes instrumentality around, props tin beryllium destroyed, and vehicles make shockwaves that tin sound you down erstwhile exploding. None of it wholly changes gameplay connected its own, but unneurotic it makes matches consciousness little static.

Dropping Last-Gen Was Clearly the Right Call

This is 1 of those cases wherever you tin archer precisely wherefore the last-gen had to go. MW4 conscionable has much going connected visually and mechanically, and it doesn’t consciousness similar it’s warring against hardware limits anymore. Weather effects look better, lighting reacts much naturally, and environments consciousness noticeably much alive. Wet surfaces really shimmer and bespeak airy properly, alternatively of conscionable being a level ocular effect slapped connected top.

More importantly, systems similar movement, destruction, and representation enactment consciousness similar they weren’t scaled down to acceptable aged consoles. It genuinely feels similar this Modern Warfare is being built astir existent hardware alternatively of compromised for compatibility, and yes, it shows.

Apex Attachments: Where Things Get a Little Wild

This is the portion of MW4 that feels the astir “Call of Duty is experimenting again.” Apex Attachments are fundamentally supercharged limb mods that beryllium extracurricular your mean Gunsmith setup. They’re not conscionable stat tweaks, they really alteration however guns behave successful noticeable ways.

You’ve got things similar underbarrel shotguns, radar-linked ammo setups, strobe-light shotguns that messiness with visibility, stealth-focused suppressor builds, EMP-style barrels that disrupt killstreaks, and adjacent rocket-style attachments that crook weapons into thing wholly different.

Someone else’s loadout tin abruptly go their ain biggest enemy, and vice versa.“

Some of it is decidedly over-the-top successful a bully way, particularly erstwhile you commencement picking them up disconnected different players mid-match. It creates these moments wherever idiosyncratic else’s loadout tin abruptly go their ain biggest enemy, and vice versa. It’s chaotic, but successful a controlled mode that keeps matches from feeling samey.

Gunny: Basically Gunsmith Without the Headache

Gunsmith has gotten truthful heavy implicit the years that sometimes it feels similar a spreadsheet much than a loadout system. The caller Gunny strategy fixes that by just… doing it for you if you want.

You prime a weapon and a playstyle – long-range, balanced, close-quarters – and it builds a usable limb setup based connected what you’ve unlocked. It’s not replacing customization. It’s conscionable removing the friction if you don’t privation to beryllium determination tweaking 5 attachments for 10 minutes earlier each match. In fact, erstwhile selecting a Gunny loadout, if you don’t similar the result, you tin support selecting that aforesaid loadout preset to spot what different combinations it comes up with.

And honestly, it works amended than expected. You inactive person afloat power if you privation it, but if you conscionable privation to leap successful and play, Gunny gets you determination fast.

Maps, Modes, and a Lot of Variety

MW4 launches with 12 maps, and the assortment is astir apt the astir awesome portion based connected what I’ve seen truthful far. You’re bouncing betwixt rooftops, factories, snowy Russian bases, Korean metropolis environments, Mumbai bid routes, naval combat spaces, and immoderate much experimental setups similar data-center interiors and atomic facilities. Some of these maps are locations taken from the single-player run (which I’ve spent zero clip with astatine the clip of penning this), portion others were built solely from the crushed up for multiplayer. It feels similar the squad committed to making each representation consciousness distinct, not conscionable successful its ocular design, but successful however you volition really beryllium playing connected them.

Modes look to beryllium conscionable arsenic stacked. You’ve got caller worldly similar Counter Attack, Infiltration, Hijack, and Combat Outpost, alongside returning chaos modes similar Gun Game and Drop Zone. Big War 32v32 is backmost too, which is ever a bully enactment erstwhile you conscionable privation axenic scale.

But the standout is the evolving 10v10 Gunfight mode wherever maps really displacement during matches. Layouts alteration mid-game, which keeps fights from settling into predictable patterns. Speaking of…

Kill Block: The Map That Keeps Changing Its Mind

Kill Block is honestly benignant of wild. Instead of being 1 fixed layout, Kill Block is built retired of modular sections that determination and rotate betwixt matches. So you’re not conscionable learning a representation , you’re alternatively perpetually re-learning it arsenic it shifts astir you. And to beryllium clear, I don’t mean that it shifts portion you’re playing, conscionable successful betwixt rounds.

There are a ton of imaginable variations – implicit 500, Infinity Ward says – truthful it’s improbable you’ll ever play it the aforesaid mode twice. When I asked astir a effect strategy for players to take their favourite variations, I was told that it was connected the array for aboriginal updates, but not a guarantee. At times it feels chaotic, but it’s the benignant of chaos that really keeps things absorbing alternatively of conscionable confusing.

Prestige: Finally Not One-Size-Fits-All

Prestige is thing that not everyone interacts with, and Infinity Ward took announcement and is attempting to get much folks progressive with the system. In Modern Warfare 4, erstwhile you deed level 55, you really get a prime betwixt what they're presently calling Prestige Classic, and Regular Prestige.

Classic Prestige is the old-school loop: reset everything, grind again, get faster XP and much rewards. Regular Prestige is the much modern mentation wherever you inactive reset your level, but you support your unlocks and loadouts intact.

The chill portion is you’re not locked into 1 strategy everlastingly – you take each clip you prestige. Everyone's archetypal travel to 55 volition beryllium identical, but erstwhile you've chosen which prestige way you’ll take, that’s erstwhile things volition commencement to disagree betwixt players. It’s fundamentally Infinity Ward trying to support some old-school prestige fans and much casual progression players blessed without forcing 1 strategy connected everyone.

Onw4rd and Upw4rd

Modern Warfare 4 feels similar a assured measurement guardant for the series, not due to the fact that it's reinventing Call of Duty, it’s not, but due to the fact that it stopped holding itself back.

With the exclusion of past procreation consoles and an other twelvemonth of improvement time, question is much flexible without becoming chaotic, gunplay is cleaner and much honorable without randomness getting successful the way, maps and systems consciousness much dynamic, and the caller features – Apex Attachments, Gunny, evolving maps – really adhd assortment alternatively of conscionable noise.

It’s inactive Call of Duty astatine its core, but it yet feels similar a mentation that isn’t perpetually warring its ain limitations. And that unsocial makes it 1 of the much absorbing multiplayer entries the franchise has had successful a while.

Mark Medina is an Editorial Producer for IGN. You tin find him connected IGN's play PlayStation podcast, Beyond. Or, connected Twitter @Mark_Medina.