Since the first World War II-based Call of Duty game, released back in 2003, this very popular shooter franchise has marched forward with various sub-series, standalone games and rebooted storylines through scores of game releases.
And the latest entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, takes aim at wrapping up the franchise’s Modern Warfare narrative. The game’scampaign mode flits back and forth between two convergingaction threads in the same overarching tale of warring destruction and world domination.
The first plotline features a British Special Air Service officer named Capt. John Price, a longtime protagonist of the series. He’s working from the shadows to track down a global conspiracy and its mastermind. Price is willing to do whatever it takes to cut the head off this deadly snake, even if it means going rogue for the greater good.
The other throughline features a mixed squad of South Korean and American Marines along with a soldier named Park Hyun-Jun. In a Red Dawn-like scenario, North Korean troops flood into the South in hopes of overwhelming and reuniting the Korean peninsula under the rule of a coalition of ultranationalists.
Through 16 campaign missions, John Price and Park Hyun-Jun and his crew are called upon to fight through collapsing frontlines; repel a beachhead landing; assault fortified strongholds; take on a high-stakes assassination; align with criminal organizations; conduct silent, close-quarters night raids; execute a prison break; navigate open-ended sandbox environments behind enemy lines; and more.
All of that gameplay boils down to a lot of grounded, tactical combat mechanics. The trigger pulling, ledge hanging, hand-to-hand combat and sprinting for cover action attempts to give players a realistic sense of the maneuvering and gun handling of war.
Beyond the 10-to-12 hours of play in the campaign mode, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 also offers a variety of other gaming options, including the large-scale DMZ mode, an online extraction-based sandbox challenge that can be played with up to 20 squads of 3 players each. There are also some 2v2, 3v3 and 10v10 team skirmishes available along with some dozen other specific-goal multiplayer modes.
Modern Warfare 4’s single-player campaign mode can be played offline. But the multiplayer modes are all played online and, depending on your console, might require a special subscription to play (i.e.: PlayStation Plus for the PS5). The game offers cross-platform play.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 features heroic soldiers putting their lives on the line to stop evil forces and individuals. The majority of battles are against overwhelming forces and require strategic thinking and maneuvers.
This well-made game and its story features realistic graphics, an immersive soundtrack, tactical teamwork and characters that players can emotionally connect with. …
However, that emotional connection can make the death and loss all the more disturbing at times. For this is a first-person shooter game that’s packed with constant gunfire, explosive and pressure-filled battles, massive bombardments and often brutal carnage. Both foes and friends fall in the firefights.
Players use everything from pistols and rifles to heavy autocannons and RPGs. The battles can feel heatedly frenetic, highlighted by constant gunfire and explosive destruction.
Enemies and fellow soldiers are shot and die in large bursts of gore and blood spatter. Heads explode, torsos are torn open. We see decapitation and dismemberment, and the deadliness can be viciously gruesome. The death-dealing spreads to innocent civilians as well.
For instance, Modern Warfare 4 features a purposely disturbing and graphic mission in which gamers take on the role of a North Korean soldier who’s ordered to round up, interrogate and execute residents (including mothers and children) in a small village who may be hiding a defector. Even those who offer help in the soldier’s quest are forced to kneel and are shot execution style. And if you refuse to follow a commanding officer’s orders to hang or shoot someone, you are shot.
There are MMA-like, mano-a-mano battles where combatants batter each other bloody. In one case an unconscious loser is battered till his face is a bloody pulp.
The game also features multiple choice conversations and character interactions. And the warring dialogue is riddled with f- and s-words, and uses of “d–n,” “a–hole,” “h—” and “b–tard.”
We see characters smoking cigarettes and marijuana joints.
This latest Call of Duty delivers tense, dynamic battles and wraps up its story in emotional ways. But the M-rated destruction and deadliness of this first-person shooter is gruesomely graphic and should not be in the sights of young trigger-pullers.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
