Call of Duty Modern Warfare (Remastered) Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right time for another review and this one is another game, which I recently have played on the PS4, which is the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare in its remastered version. This was a great game on its release back in 2007 and I guess this was a 10th anniversary update as it was released in 2017 with enhanced graphics and a few other features. 

So, how does the game still fair after all this time? Well, let's take a look and find out...

And there will be the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So to sum up the story briefly below, I will quote part of the plot from Wikipedia.

"In 2011, a civil war has broken out in Russia between its government and ultranationalists who seek to restore Russia to its Soviet-era glamor. Meanwhile, a separatist group led by Khaled Al-Asad seizes power in a "small but oil-rich" country in the Middle East through a coup d'état, executing its president, Al-Fulani. Al-Asad is ruthless and has extreme anti-Western views, which prompts the United States to invade the country. In the afternoon of the second day of the invasion, a platoon of USMC 1st Force Recon, led by Lieutenant Vasquez, is sent to capture Al-Asad.

In the meantime, John "Soap" MacTavish is recruited into a British Special Air Service (SAS) squad led by Captain Price. The group shortly conducts two operations, one which leads them to infiltrate a cargo ship in the Bering Strait. 

The second operation takes them to Russia in order to rescue one of their allies, a Russian informant named Nikolai working within the Ultranationalist party. Assisted by Russian loyalist forces, Price's team succeeds in rescuing Nikolai. However, their helicopter is later brought down, forcing the group to make their way through enemy territory with support from an AC-130 gunship before they can be extracted. Intelligence gathered from these two missions indicates that Al-Asad may be in possession of a Russian nuclear device". 

So from here the US and the SAS work toward separately toward their aim to hunt down Al-Asad and end his threat to the Western world.

THOUGHTS

COD Modern Warfare without a doubt is one of the best games in the series and it was a landmark in the franchise also because it was the first one to be set in the modern day rather than during the World War II. And the switch to the modern day setting is flawless as the player is thrown into a terrorist threat playing both as an US Marine and an SAS operative who play their part in trying to take down a terrorist leader in Al-Asad. The action again is thick and fast and pretty intense overall just as it was in the previous games with even more weapons available to the player and options for stealth and direct attacks.

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay wise CODMW is terrific as it features a great mix of taut combat where you employ both stealth and direct tactics in taking down your enemies and I will go into more detail on the gameplay in the sections below.

MOVEMENT

Starting with the movement, the play is in first person mode and has three stances of standing, crouching and prone (where you are lay flat on the ground) all of which will affect the player's speed but are used in different circumstances when necessary. The player can also climb over walls, fences etc whenever possible to traverse different areas in the game and they can sprint too to cover ground faster. 

PLAYABLE CHARACTERS & STRUCTURE

To quickly mention the characters of the game, you can play primarily as two, an SAS Operative, Segreant John "Soap" MacTavish and also a US Marine, Sergeant Paul Jackson and the two story lines of the US Marines and SAS intertwine as the story progresses. You can also briefly play as Captain John Price in a flashback mission later in the game (where Price is a Lieutenant). Soap however is the main playable character of the game for the most part. 

WEAPONS & COMBAT

Weapons wise there are plenty to choose from in the game as there is an array of handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and rocket launchers. The player can only hold two weapons at one time and can switch between them and some weapons also have attachment such as a grenade launcher. Players can also use different types of grenades such as flash bangs and smoke ones to disorientate enemies in addition to explosive grenades and set claymores that can be detonated from a distance.

So, combat wise, the player can switch between using firearms to close-up melee combat where they can take down an enemy at close range with their knife (I think!). The player however can also call in airstrikes too on certain missions or air-support from US allies and there is one mission where you can take down enemies from a chopper using assault guns using night vision. Players will also have pay attention to the health damage they will take from gunfire or explosives as the screen will glow red and their heartbeat will intensify as they take more damage and they can only recover their health by taking cover. 

MISSION CHECKPOINTS

The game's progress is saved automatically as you progress through the use of regular checkpoints on missions where you are tasked to perform a specific goals or take out a number of enemies in an area to achieve the goal and reach that checkpoint. So, basically if you die during a sequence of the game you will be taken back to the previous auto checkpoint in the game (kind of obvious really but figure I would give it a mention!). 

GRAPHICS 

As for the game's graphics, going by the remastered version, the game looks excellent with its new overhaul and the game's environments are again pretty rich in detail and variety from open wastelands to security installations and bunkers. The environmental effects are also great and this is particularly notable in the opening mission of the game where SAS infiltrate an enemy ship on a stormy night and the wind and rain effects are very well done. Character model wise, the game has had a good overhaul too as the characters look more defined than before in the original version of the game. So, overall CODMW the remastered version looks pretty fine.

MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING

As for the music score its an excellent one and was composed by Stephen Barton and it is very suspenseful and features some good tracks throughout, particularly the ones that are used in the acclaimed mission "All Ghillied Up" where we get a flashback to Price as a younger operative camouflaged. So, it is a very good score overall and one of the best from the series that I remember and it perfectly suits the tone of the game. 

As for the voice acting, the cast are all excellent.

Starting with Billy Murray (not to be confused with Bill Murray!) who is excellent in his role as Captain Price, the SAS operation leader who is set to locate and take down Al-Asad. Murray get's some good lines of dialogue in the game too such as in his first scene where Price first meets Soap and he asks him "What sort of a name is Soap?! How did a muppet like you pass selection?!". 

Craig Fairbrass is also pretty good in his role as SAS operative, Gaz, who you are introduced to at the start of Soap's campaign and you undertake a tutorial training mission. Fairbrass also has some good lines of dialogue in the game that include the one in the training mission where Gaz tells Soap to use his melee skills to slice a watermelon. So, when you destroy the watermelon, Gaz praises you for it by saying "Nice! Your fruit killing skills are remarkable!". 

Mark Ivanir also does a good job as Sergeant Kamarov, who aids Price, Soap and Gaz on their mission to fight against Al-Asad and he also aids the US Marine Corps too as the game later deploys a joint US-SAS mission. Yvegeni Lazarev is pretty effective too in his role as the main antagonist of the game, Imran Zakhaev although he has very little actual dialogue in the game however it has to be said. 

And last of all Mark Grigsby is very good in his role as the wise cracking US Marine, Sgt Griggs, who in the game later helps the SAS as the two of them take on a joint mission to take down Zakhaev. Grigsby himself was game company Infinity Ward's lead animator. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Flaws...does COD Modern Warfare have any??? Well, yes it has a few but nothing too major.

For starters I would probably say that the single player campaign is a bit on the short side and probably clocks in at just over six or seven hours worth of gameplay. So, if the campaign just that bit longer then you would be getting your money's worth out it more than what you do do get here. There is of course the multiplayer features of the game but I have kept this review primarily just to the solo campaign itself. 

I would also say that early on the game has some rather cringe worthy references to some dialogue from the sci-fi action film, Aliens, which really do undercut the realism the game makers were going for here. And these all take place in the first SAS mission of the game where they infiltrate a boat and we get lines such as one of the SAS guys saying "I'd like to keep for close encounters" and he cocks his shotgun and this also followed by "check those corners!". And to top it off just as SAS flee the ship, Price delivers the line "On you feet! We are LEAVING!!" which was of course delivered by Hicks in Aliens! So, yeah these little moments do feel a bit cheesy and totally unnecessary to the game and as I said they actually do a little bit of detriment to the game. 

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO A SPOILER!

I also felt there were times with the HUD (heads up display) for guaging your direction and distance to your next objective is a bit confusing to read at times in certain missions. This was especially the case later on for me in the game where Soap tries to chase down Zakhaev's son in an effort to use him as leverage to stop Zakhaev's plans to launch missiles on the West and you chase the guy into a derelict building. However, I must have spent about 20 minutes or so wandering around this bloody building trying to find this guy and didn't know where to go as the directions were very misleading! So, it does show that the system is a bit flawed at times. 

Then there is an issue with the whole airstrike system of the game, which can prove a but inconsistent at times in its effectiveness depending on where you target it. I say this because there are moments in the game where you can call in the airstrike on a certain enemy building but at times the attack helicopter barely makes a dent on some enemies perhaps because they are well hidden or just out of sight! So, this makes the airstrike at times a bit ineffective in the game it has to be said.

And last of all, I also have an issue with the tutorial mission of the game relating to the crash course Soap takes as he has to do it in under 60 seconds and there are some fake targets he has to hit. However, the way in which the course is set up is a bit confusing as the rooms you enter are numbered in pen but direction arrows are also shown, however its all too easy to get disoriented when you are trying to work through so quickly and end up in the wrong room! So, it has to be said I was never very keen on this tutorial mission for that alone!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Call of Duty Modern Warfare is still an excellent game 13 years on and the remastered version offers a worthy visual upgrade that help enhance its appeal. The game's single player campaign is also very tight and thrilling at times with plenty of drama and suspenseful moments and features excellent voice acting from its cast. And the game's success would be followed by two sequels, which is no surprise in itself given how good it is. So, after all these years, CODMW is definitely still worth checking out.  

So, that's all for now and I will be back hopefully with another review just before the end of the month but if not I will return in September for more.

Till then, stay safe and bye fer now!