To no one’s surprise, 2019’s Call of Duty game has finally been unveiled as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The reveal trailer features some gorgeous in-game footage as well as some familiar faces. Check it out below.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks to be a return to form for the series, aiming to recapture the emotional weight and gravity that Call of Duty stories used to have. Being a reboot, it’s unlikely that there will be too many connections to the original Modern Warfare trilogy, but fan-favorite character Captain Price makes a return in this entry. While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare aims to take steps backward in order to bring the franchise back to its roots, Modern Warfare will also take several significant steps forward for the franchise.
The first and most noteworthy of which being full cross-platform play between consoles and PC. After multiplayer giants like Fortnite and Rocket League have been continuing to make strides in making cross-play a more common practice, Call of Duty finally joins the cross-play team. Not only that, but this year’s Call of Duty is eliminating the season pass entirely. All post-launch content including maps will be available to free for all players, a welcome idea after Black Ops 4‘s all-or-nothing “Black Ops Pass”. It’s clear that Infinity Ward is doing everything it can to unify Modern Warfare‘s playerbase, keeping players satisfied and multiplayer lobbies populated.
Modern Warfare will also employ an entirely new game engine. This engine provides a number of graphical enhancements, which was made incredibly apparent from the reveal trailer. This new engine utilizes photogrammetry, the practice of using real-life photographs to create textures, and this results in high-fidelity visuals. Say what you will about EA’s Star Wars Battlefront series, but those games’ use of photogrammetry do a great deal in creating gorgeous visuals. The new engine also supports a bunch of other technical stuff like raytracing, volumetric lighting, and all that good stuff. It even supports Dolby ATMOS for all you audiophiles out there. Call of Duty has always been a series that pushes the boundaries when it comes to graphical fidelity, and it seems that Modern Warfare will be no exception.
Of course, none of this will matter in the long-term if the gameplay isn’t up to snuff, and unfortunately, there isn’t much to go off of at the moment save for some impressions from a behind closed doors preview event. What we do know, however, is that the game will have a co-op mode. Details are scarce at the moment, but previous Call of Duty co-op affairs have included spec-ops missions and a survival mode, so expect something along those lines. The game will also feature a unified progression system across all game modes including single-player, co-op, and multiplayer. There’s not much information on that, either.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks like it could end up reaching the highs that Call of Duty used to reach in its heyday. This series has been in need of shaking up for some time now (and we have some thoughts on that here), and it looks like Infinity Ward is taking a different, more grounded approach to warfare this time around.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is slated to launch on October 25 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The PC version will be available exclusively on Battle.net.