REVIEW Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4: is the king of the FPS really back?

Launched in 2007 with Call of Duty 4, the Modern Warfare sub-franchise initially never went beyond a trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 wrapping up that particular arc in 2011. The reboot that began in 2019 goes further, since it now welcomes a fourth instalment. And while you could legitimately fear that Activision was stretching things a bit thin and squeezing the lemon rather too hard, this 2026 CoD turns out to be a very fine vintage indeed.

Modern Warfare 4 had to make a strong impression, not only to erase the distinctly cool reception given to Black Ops 7, but also to assert its "next-gen" credentials. This is, after all, the first entry in the series not to release on the previous generation of consoles and, as such, the first to be freed from various technical constraints. And while they're not entirely revolutionary, the graphics often manage to impress. Remember the wow factor of that Modern Warfare II mission set in the streets of Amsterdam? Well, here it's renewed again and again. The solo campaign sets out its stall immediately by letting us wander around an extremely realistic Korean convenience store, where harsh neon light picks out a multitude of products wrapped in hyper-detailed packaging. After that, the giant video screens and snow-covered streets of New York, the grey gloom of Parisian back alleys and the video installations of a packed nightclub all confirm just how well the game holds up graphically and technically. Some improvements are more discreet but particularly welcome, such as the new volumetric smoke system. In both solo and multiplayer, bullets can now briefly carve holes through the plume of a smoke grenade.

In the end, only the pre-rendered cutscenes are a bit hard on the eyes, even though they're meant to deliver a level of detail the game engine can't reach. That promise is kept, but their excessively grainy look is ultimately less flattering to the retina than the real-time scenes. Above all, they sometimes stutter badly. The problem looks like a bug rather than a genuine technical limit, since on the PC version, pushing the game into the background behind any other window temporarily restores full smoothness.

Korea opportunity

Beyond questions of form, the solo campaign also wins out on substance. The story blends the broader context (North Korea's invasion of South Korea) fairly deftly with the more intimate affairs of Task Force 141. The result is a pleasing mix of spectacular, explosive missions and others of a more personal bent. To that end, the game also introduces a hand-to-hand combat system. It's a little too messy and scripted to be genuinely thrilling but, thankfully, the heart of the gameplay still lies in gunfights. The shooting feel is impeccable, while the movement toolkit gains new options (advanced slides, pipe climbing, using certain scenery objects as mobile cover and so on). The campaign's various missions, meanwhile, fall back on the good old recipes of the past, namely scripting and staging that keep the spectacle coming at all times. Some of those scripts are nonetheless a bit too rigid and poorly signposted, which can lead to failing once before you work out exactly what the game wants from you at that precise moment. It's mildly frustrating but, on the other hand, there's nothing to fault in the cinematic, larger-than-life quality of the situations you're thrown into.

Unabashed, the campaign even dares to have us (re)live a beach landing clearly inspired by the franchise's Second World War entries. The old recipes are sometimes the best! Modern Warfare 4 does still step out of its comfort zone at times, notably during the open mission Stranded. With towers to climb, outposts to liberate and weapon caches to uncover, it works like a genuine mini Far Cry. The exercise pays off and, for anyone utterly allergic to the formula, a fast travel system is available, while the mandatory objectives number a mere 3 (compared with the 11 outposts, 58 written notes and 26 supply crates to hunt down optionally).

From live service to hard labour

While the "Stranded" map adds a few extra hours to the campaign, multiplayer will of course be the main time sink for most players. As usual, the menu is both generous and varied (6v6, 32v32, Domination, Team Deathmatch, the new Hijack mode and so on). But it's DMZ, which we got a taste of in the Modern Warfare II beta, that caught our attention the most. This PvPvE mode, riding the extraction shooter wave with some skill, is set in the sprawling fictional region of Hajin. You can drop in solo or as a squad, take on scripted missions or dynamic operations, and you'll need to extract in time or lose the resources and weapons you've picked up during the match. The operator, bounty and trait systems give a satisfying sense of progression, while the forward operating base takes the form of a freely explorable hub.

It all works very well, and it's far more fun than Warzone (battle royales really have had their day…). What's less fun, on the other hand, is the overall interface, which piles on connection screens, pointless menus and ill-timed restarts until you feel queasy. Restart after an update, restart when you switch from one game mode to another, restart when you change certain graphics settings, restart when your internet connection gets a bit shaky… enough already! Nothing especially new under the sun, admittedly, but it's high time Microsoft set about cutting down on all this friction, which could easily put some players off.