The steamroller ‘Call of Duty‘ returns: the blockbuster par excellence of the industry, developed this time by Infinity Ward and published, as always, by Activision. The game brings more news than usual in the saga. Many of them are oriented to multiplayer, and some also to the plot development of the delivery, something unusual in a series dedicated to action without further contemplation.
‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been in development since 2016, following the custom of the franchise, already perfectly oiled, to launch a game from each of the studios involved in the saga every three years, so that there is no year without ‘CoD’. Infinity Ward is in charge, as the main studio, of the games with more technological load and those that usually turn the franchise around in the aesthetics and style of play.
‘Call of Duty,’ with its perfectly defined style and with a faction of player’s little friends of experimentation as the bulk of its users, has to introduce changes in the franchise with great caution. The saga has become the titan of the industry that is for its perfect balance between respecting the legacy and renewing it. Therefore, the novelties of each year are observed and judged with a magnifying glass.
We have selected some of the innovations that the series brings with this kind of reboot of the classic ‘Modern Warfare’ and we tell you how they affect this delivery. The weight seems to fall on a plot that, according to the new times, is more serious, and less excessive than in more film installments of the saga. And by the way, it adds some very interesting new features to multiplayer.
It’s a “soft reboot”
This update takes up characters already used by the saga, such as Captain Price (previously voiced by Bill Murray, now with barry Sloane). However, although the character is the same, it does not take into account his previous appearances, such as the first three installments of the classic incarnation of ‘Modern Warfare’. It’s actually a way of saying that you don’t have to take into account what’s happened in previous games in the franchise, but the character is the same.
Updated graphics engine for ray tracing support
In the PC version, ‘Modern Warfare’ will support ray tracing on the most advanced computers. The new graphic feel and its spectacular reflection effects on the most monstrous computers are the results of the direct collaboration between Activision and Nvidia and their GeForce RTX cards. Ray tracing will even be used in audio design, in the search for realistic 3D effects.
It is multiplayer with ‘cross-play’
For the first time in the series, games saved on one platform can be continued on another. It is the fashion trend in the current multiplayer, and with which Sony has had its pluses and minuses: until September 2018 it did not admit it on Platstation 4, to the chagrin of the players of ‘Fortnite’, among other titles. From that date, he opened it in the Epic Games game and admitted that it would be considered in third-party games. Nothing better to start with it than a success of the caliber of ‘CoD’.
Loot boxes disappear
Loot boxes are one of the great plagues of video games and have been criticized for years by the press and players. The current trend seems to be one of frank withdrawal (or at least, substitution by less aggressive mutations), and Activision embraces this, replacing them with battle passes, which will not be available from day one and that will grant improvements to players not merely cosmetic, but real, of impact on the game.
And the season passes disappear
Season passes, another way to squeeze players with more downloadable content that you pay for separately (although less toxic than loot boxes, of course), have also been removed from the game. This, possibly, will receive free content, new maps and game options for free, making Activision one step away from the wild economic bleeding of players of other times.
The dramatic moments of the plot have increased
According to those responsible, a more mature narrative set in current war events has been sought, such as terrorism in large cities (here, none other than Piccadilly Circus in London) or the war in Syria, so perhaps we are closer to experiments of war atmosphere but introspective tone such as ‘Spec Ops: The Line’ than to explosive pieces of noisy action as in other deliveries. The team mentions series and films that have inspired them such as ‘Homeland’ or ‘Sicario’. This has led to some controversy over dramatic elements such as the appearance of child soldiers.
Multiplayer: The Killstreaks are back
The points are based on the number of deaths achieved return, as opposed to the Scorestreaks, which reward the player according to the score obtained and that was the usual thing in the last deliveries. We can find this change in massive player maps, such as ‘Ground War’, which supports up to 100 players. Another new mode is ‘Gunfight’, quick matches of forty seconds per assault of two teams of two players each.
Goodbye to Zombies Mode
For the first time since the 2013 installment, ‘Ghosts,’ there will be no Zombies Mode in this installment. It is one of the most celebrated and expected game modalities by the regulars (also the most discussed, for its derivative character and break with the tone of the series), and its disappearance is possibly due -in addition to the fact that the characteristics of the ‘CoD’ are usually rotating- to the most serious style of this delivery. Something he shared, by the way, with ‘Ghosts’, which in some respects was also a turn in that direction.
Hello again, ‘Spec-Ops’
What we said about the rotary modes. ‘Spec Ops’ was seen in the classics ‘Modern Warfare’, in installments 2 and 3, and now it returns. This mode, which was born as a co-op in the single-player section, soon earned its own version for multi: frantic and action-packed missions and was designed especially for online or split-screen co-op.
According to Activision, a more precise customization option to exactly fit each player’s playstyle and firepower needs. The novelty is that only five upgrades can be applied to each weapon, although there are more possibilities available. A strategic and realistic touch for one of the essential features that add more nuances to the multiplayer.
The Tamagunchi
In a lighter tone to contrast with the general gravity of the game, the great novelty of the clocks that players will carry is that in them you can activate the Tamagunchi, a virtual pet in the image and likeness of the Tamagotchis of the nineties, and that can be fed with the deaths of the enemy. The Tamagunchi will even be able to evolve into other forms and will ask for more deaths and better strategies to satiate their appetite.