There was a time when a new Call of Duty campaign was something I genuinely looked forward to. I still remember how the original Modern Warfare games managed to make a six-hour single-player experience feel more memorable than games that demanded fifty hours of my life. Somewhere along the way, though, the campaigns became increasingly inconsistent, with Modern Warfare III in particular leaving plenty to be desired.
That makes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 a rather pleasant surprise! Infinity Ward has delivered one of the strongest campaigns to close out this story, that the franchise has seen in years, with genuinely superb writing, excellent character development and the kind of blockbuster action that originally made Modern Warfare such a compelling series.
I’ve only spent time with the single-player campaign, so I won’t be commenting on multiplayer or DMZ. What I can say is that the campaign alone reminded me why I’ve always had a soft spot for Call of Duty. It also happens to be an impressive PC release, with optimisation that makes the game accessible across a surprisingly broad range of systems.
A war that actually feels personal
Modern Warfare 4 takes the series into relatively unfamiliar territory, with a large part of its story unfolding on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea launches a full-scale invasion of South Korea, setting off a conflict that gradually draws in forces from across the world.
The opening hours introduce us to Private Park and a group of young South Korean soldiers, whose relatively ordinary lives are suddenly thrown into chaos. There’s something particularly effective about starting a military shooter with characters who aren’t seasoned special forces operators capable of clearing an entire building before breakfast. These are young soldiers facing a situation they were never properly prepared for, and the writing does an excellent job of establishing that.
The opening sequence in Seoul is a perfect example. We get a brief opportunity to experience everyday life before everything goes horribly wrong. The conversations feel natural, the characters are instantly likeable, and when the violence begins, it carries a sense of urgency that feels earned. I’ve played enough Call of Duty campaigns to know when the game is preparing to throw a spectacular explosion in my direction. Modern Warfare 4 still does that quite regularly, but I found myself far more invested in the people caught up in the fighting.
That’s largely down to the writing. The dialogue between Park’s squad members is particularly good, with moments of humour providing some much-needed relief from the relentless fighting. These small exchanges make the soldiers feel like people who have known each other for years, and that familiarity makes the more serious moments land considerably harder.
The campaign also brings Captain Price back into the picture, continuing the storyline established in the rebooted Modern Warfare trilogy. Following the events of Modern Warfare III, Price finds himself operating outside the very system he once served, with his pursuit of revenge taking him into increasingly questionable territory. I’ve always liked Price as a character, but what makes his portrayal here interesting is how the writers are willing to challenge the heroic image that has defined him for so long. His decisions carry consequences, and the narrative isn’t particularly interested in giving him an easy moral escape route. The tension between Price and those who once trusted him gives the story considerable weight, particularly as the wider conflict begins to escalate.
The two storylines also provide a welcome change in perspective. Park’s journey shows us the consequences of war from the ground, while Price’s missions examine the increasingly murky decisions being made behind the scenes. For a franchise that regularly treats international conflict as an excuse to blow up another famous landmark, there’s an impressive amount of thought behind the story this time.
Some of the best writing in a Call of Duty campaign
What surprised me most about Modern Warfare 4 was how invested I became in its characters. Call of Duty has always been excellent at spectacle, but memorable writing has been far less consistent. The original Modern Warfare trilogy gave us characters and moments that players still discuss today, and I think Infinity Ward has rediscovered some of that magic here.
The script understands the importance of giving its characters personalities outside their immediate objectives. Conversations aren’t simply there to explain where the next enemy position is or which building needs to be destroyed. There’s genuine chemistry between the soldiers, and the performances give even relatively brief exchanges a sense of authenticity.
I also appreciated how the campaign handles the increasingly complicated morality surrounding Captain Price. The writers clearly understand that a character who has spent years operating in morally questionable situations cannot simply continue without eventually confronting the consequences. The result is a story that feels surprisingly mature by Call of Duty standards.
That’s not to suggest the narrative is a particularly nuanced examination of international politics. It’s still a Hollywood-inspired military thriller, complete with familiar geopolitical assumptions and some spectacularly convenient plot developments.
However, the writing commits to its central ideas, and the story benefits enormously from that confidence. Characters make difficult decisions, people suffer the consequences, and the campaign is willing to take some surprisingly bold turns. I won’t spoil the major developments, because discovering them is a significant part of the experience. Suffice to say, there are several moments that genuinely caught me off guard.
The performances also deserve recognition, particularly the work surrounding the new Korean cast. They give the campaign much of its emotional identity and help ensure the story has something worthwhile to offer beyond the familiar faces.
The action is exactly what I wanted
Fortunately, the improved writing hasn’t come at the expense of the gameplay. Modern Warfare 4 still understands how to deliver the kind of cinematic first-person shooting that Call of Duty does exceptionally well.
The gunplay is fantastic, with weapons carrying a satisfying sense of weight and responsiveness. Firefights can become wonderfully chaotic, particularly during the larger battles where friendly forces are desperately trying to hold their positions against overwhelming numbers.
There’s also a great deal of variety across the campaign. One moment you’re fighting through devastated urban environments, and the next you’re involved in a more carefully coordinated operation where patience and positioning become considerably more important. The missions take us across several locations, including Paris and Mumbai, with each environment bringing something different to the experience.
Some of my favourite sequences involve the South Korean soldiers attempting to survive increasingly desperate situations. There’s a real sense of vulnerability during these missions, particularly when compared with the almost superhuman abilities of the franchise’s more experienced operators.
The larger battles are spectacular, with the combination of environmental destruction, excellent sound design and frantic gunfire delivering some genuinely memorable moments. The campaign also experiments with a more open-ended structure in the mission Stranded, which offers considerably more freedom than the series’ usual tightly scripted encounters.
I enjoyed having the opportunity to approach objectives differently and spend some time exploring, particularly because the rest of the campaign moves at such an aggressive pace. That said, Modern Warfare 4 occasionally suffers from the familiar problem of being a little too determined to control the player’s experience.
There are moments when moving away from the intended route results in frustrating mission failures, even when your decision makes perfect sense during the firefight. The contrast is particularly noticeable after experiencing the greater freedom offered by Stranded. It’s a relatively minor complaint in an otherwise excellent campaign, but I would have appreciated a little more flexibility during some of the larger encounters.
An excellent PC experience
One of the most impressive things about Modern Warfare 4 is the work that has gone into its PC version.
There’s an unfortunate tendency among major AAA releases to demand increasingly powerful hardware without always delivering a convincing improvement in visual quality. Modern Warfare 4 demonstrates what can be achieved when developers put serious effort into making a game scale across different hardware configurations.
Infinity Ward and Beenox have clearly invested considerable resources into the PC experience, and the result is a game with an unusually comprehensive collection of graphical options. What I particularly appreciate is that the experience doesn’t revolve entirely around owning the latest flagship GPU.
The game supports a broad range of RTX cards, with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution helping older hardware maintain a useful balance between image quality and performance. Owners of RTX 40-series cards can take advantage of Frame Generation, while RTX 50-series users have access to Dynamic Multi Frame Generation. The important distinction is that you don’t need the newest generation of RTX hardware to enjoy what Modern Warfare 4 has to offer. I played on an intel i9 10900K with a RTX3070Ti and reached around 60 frames per second at 1440p.
Naturally, the experience will vary depending on your processor, chosen settings and whether you’re using ray tracing. Older or entry-level RTX cards will require more compromises, particularly at higher resolutions. Still, the amount of control available is impressive.
The visual settings allow players to adjust individual details rather than rely exclusively on broad presets. That makes it easier to decide which graphical features genuinely improve the experience and which can be reduced without dramatically affecting the presentation.
Ray tracing is also available for those with the hardware to support it, although it’s one area where the visual improvements and performance costs deserve careful consideration. Some of the more demanding effects aren’t necessarily worth enabling on a midrange system, particularly when the game already looks excellent without them.
The lighting during night operations is particularly effective, while the densely detailed urban environments give the campaign a striking cinematic quality. Character models and animations have also received considerable attention, helping the narrative’s more intimate moments feel convincing. What impresses me most is that the game delivers this level of presentation while remaining relatively accommodating to a wide range of PC hardware.
It’s encouraging to see a major release where scalability appears to have been treated as an important part of development rather than something to address several patches after launch.
There are still a few technical compromises, particularly around ray tracing, and the substantial storage requirement is worth keeping in mind. Nevertheless, Modern Warfare 4 makes a strong case for how a modern AAA shooter should approach PC optimisation.
Short, but very difficult to put down
Of course, there’s the familiar question surrounding almost every Call of Duty campaign: is it long enough?
Modern Warfare 4’s main story can be completed in roughly six hours, although spending more time exploring its larger missions can extend that considerably. I would have loved another few hours, particularly with the new characters who make such a strong impression.
There are also moments when the narrative moves a little too quickly for its own good. Certain developments could have benefited from more breathing room, and the relationship between the two main storylines isn’t always as cohesive as I would have liked. Then again, Call of Duty campaigns have never been particularly interested in taking their time. What matters here is that those hours are consistently entertaining, with very little filler standing between the player and the next major story development.
I was invested throughout, and that’s something I haven’t been able to say about every recent entry in the franchise. The obvious caveat is value. Modern Warfare 4 is sold as a complete package, and I haven’t played enough of that package to judge whether its full asking price is justified. Anyone buying it exclusively for the campaign should understand that they’re getting a relatively short experience.
However, judged purely on the quality of its single-player offering, I think Infinity Ward has done an excellent job.
Should you play it?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a reminder of why the franchise’s single-player campaigns still deserve attention.
The writing is some of the strongest we’ve seen from the series in years, with characters worth caring about and a story that isn’t afraid to explore the consequences of their decisions. The campaign is packed with memorable action, while the addition of a more open-ended mission suggests Infinity Ward is still interested in experimenting with the formula.
From a technical perspective, the excellent scalability across several generations of RTX graphics cards is another major positive. With so many modern PC releases placing increasingly demanding requirements on players, it’s refreshing to see a game of this scale accommodate a wide range of hardware without sacrificing its visual identity.
There are shortcomings. The story could have used a little more time, some missions remain overly restrictive, and the ray-tracing implementation isn’t entirely convincing. But I came away from Modern Warfare 4 feeling considerably more enthusiastic about Call of Duty than I have in some time.
I haven’t touched multiplayer or DMZ, so I can’t tell you whether the complete package will keep players entertained for months. What I can say is that the campaign is absolutely worth experiencing, particularly for anyone who remembers why Modern Warfare’s single-player storytelling became so popular in the first place.
And for once, when the credits rolled, I was disappointed that it was over.
