Modern Warfare 4 review: multiplayer is fun, campaign 8/10

Modern Warfare 4 surprised me. I went in expecting a short, unhappy experiment with heavy SBMM, and after about 15 hours over three or four days, I'm having fun with the multiplayer and looking forward to playing more. I give the campaign an 8 out of 10 and DMZ a 6 out of 10. Multiplayer is where most of my thoughts land, and that's where the surprise is.

This is as old school as it gets for me: reviewing a Call of Duty a couple of days after launch, based on my own play. I'll start with the campaign, move through DMZ, and finish with multiplayer, including what I want Infinity Ward to change about matchmaking.

The Modern Warfare 4 campaign earns an 8 out of 10

It's a good campaign, with ups and downs. You start off on a big high, and then there are some downs. The open world mission wasn't for me. Ghost versus Price, Simon versus Price, was awesome. I loved that part.

I don't have a lot more to say about it. It was good, I enjoyed it, and I think it did a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to Modern Warfare 4's sales. It's a campaign, it was good, and it gets an 8 out of 10.

DMZ is a good mode, but I rate it 6 out of 10

I played DMZ for one day, only a couple of hours. Some people will say I can't review it on that basis. I can, because I can tell you how I felt. I can tell they put a lot of work into it. This isn't a throwaway third game mode, and I appreciate that. I can also see how they're going to try to support it. It isn't Warzone, and people are debating what it is, but I can tell their direction and their vision.

It's fun. There's a lot going on when you first start, and a lot to get used to. Extract or don't extract, lose all your loot, go after the bounties on the players at the top of the leaderboard. If that's your cup of tea, I could see you grinding it. I enjoyed it, and I'm sure it would be more fun with friends. I may play it with some friends in the future.

It's not my cup of tea, though, and it's not something I'd commit my time to grinding. That's not because it's bad. It's just not the way I like to play. The leveling system, I think, is the same as multiplayer's, which doesn't make a lot of sense. So DMZ is a 6 out of 10 for me, because I probably wouldn't enjoy the grind. I feel it's a good game mode for a lot of people.

Why I'm willing to say good things about Call of Duty

It's easy to hate on Call of Duty, especially as a creator. It's the fastest way to attention and growth, because people love talking negatively about it. You're never going to have a Call of Duty without negatives, and you'll never have a perfect one, because you can't make the entire community happy.

I'll be the first to say I've been critical, and you could say negative, for the last six months. There hasn't been much positive from me, and for good reason. But I'm not critical because I want to be the commentator who is 100% negative every time. I'm also willing to go to the other side when something warrants praise. If you want strictly negative Call of Duty coverage, there are creators who provide it, and they're entertaining. I do wonder what they would do if a Call of Duty answered all their complaints.

I love Call of Duty, the franchise. My entire life changed with it, and so did my family's. We're attached at the hip, good or bad. That's where my review starts.

My first four Modern Warfare 4 matches felt like heavy SBMM

My plan was to play multiplayer for one day. I had already convinced myself it was going to be a mess, with SBMM through the roof, and that I'd go back to top 10s and ranking lists and get ready for GTA 6. I didn't play on the New Zealand day, because I know better than to go up against all the tryhards.

The first four matches of day one were SBMM cranked lobbies. There's no doubt about it. It wasn't a fun experience at all. I was in the regular playlist, not the popular playlist, and I didn't know anything about the secret open playlist. Nobody is calling it an open playlist, though IGN talked about it, which is strange to me. Just call it the open playlist.

The popular playlist turned day one around

Then I switched to the popular playlist. Allegedly, the popular playlist is the open playlist with reduced SBMM. I don't know the technical terms or the data, and they won't just be transparent. They use word play and word salad instead of saying it.

I had a good experience there. I started with TDM, went positive every time and we won a lot. I think I'm at around a 1.8 win/loss ratio and somewhere around a 1.1 to 1.5 KD overall. For context, I've never been a cracked COD player. I owned an MLG team, but I was never on one. I've always been average to a little above average, and now I'm older and don't have the reactions, so I'd call myself average. Take that for what it's worth when you think about how SBMM rates me.

I spent the rest of day one learning the guns, mostly the SMG I call the MP7 and the M4, which in every modern COD is the crutch gun, the easy gun. I like the map Transit. I don't care if everybody else hates it. I think it's a bigger version of Shipment, with a little more room, and it isn't quite as chaotic. Day one ended with me on a high.

Days two through four stayed fun in the popular playlist

On day two I was tentative. I didn't want to give my opinion yet. We played two or three hours in the popular playlist and moved over to Domination. There were a bunch of great matches. Some were rough, some went back and forth, and some were sweaty, but it was the classic sweaty, not the SBMM sweaty.

People ask how I can know that. I've played thousands upon thousands, probably tens of thousands, of COD matches in 18 years. I can't give you data points or explain the algorithms, but I know when matchmaking is being manipulated on the back end, just like a lot of other longtime COD players and fans do. Across 10 to 15 matches on day two, I felt none of it. We won a ton and lost a couple. In one or two lobbies I felt I was in an easier, bot style lobby for a while, and then it went back to normal.

Day three was exactly the same, and so was day four. One or two matches felt a little cranked up, but nothing crazy for me. I'm not getting easy bot lobbies, but I am getting lobbies I can compete and have fun in. Some are pressure cookers, but not that SBMM cranked pressure cooker vibe. It's like old times for me. I'm a little apprehensive, and I'm hoping it continues.

Modern Warfare 4 gunplay is top three for me, and guns get an 8 out of 10

The MP7 and the M4 are my main guns. The burst rifle everybody is melting people with, I get it. After two matches, I can see it's probably overpowered and probably going to be nerfed. I did well with it, going something like 20 and 10 and 25 and 7, but my aim isn't very good and I sometimes twitch, which doesn't suit a burst weapon.

The gunplay is good. I'd call it top three. The gun sounds are punchy and heavy, and they hit. For me, the hit detection is pretty good. Yes, I'll lose some gunfights, and sometimes it feels like an opponent is a bullet sponge, but nothing makes me think of the Black Ops 1 hit detection and connection issues. Some of the reloads and inspects I enjoy.

One oddity: weapon motion blur is on by default. If your gun looks blurred, it's not you. There's a setting to turn it off, and I think it should be off by default. Shout out to Infinity Ward. They put a lot of love into the guns, and they're fun to use. Guns get an 8 out of 10.

Killstreaks are my weak spot at 5 out of 10

I'm not a fan of the killstreaks at all. The artillery strike is useless. I don't like how you have a stack of killstreaks in one category with four levels and have to pick between them. Somebody told me that's just how modern COD is. Well, I don't like it.

I've used a bunch of them. The drone streak is fun, the attack helicopter is pretty powerful, and the counter UAV sits at the end of the second tier at around six kills, I think. The one where you control two dive bombing planes is okay. Killstreaks get a 5 out of 10. I think they could be better, and I don't like how they're set up.

Perks and tacticals both land at 6 out of 10

I'm working toward Ghost, Ninja and Cold Blooded. I'm running Ninja, probably Ghost now that it's unlocked, and I'm close to Cold Blooded. I've also been running Hardline, because I'm average and will take any help getting my scorestreaks. Tac sprint isn't in the game, and I don't think it should be, but it is available as a perk. I love that Tac Insert is in there, and I love that Ninja, Cold Blooded and Ghost are in separate categories, so it takes a real grind to unlock all three. I haven't seen anything completely broken, though I haven't checked the usual news sites lately. Nothing jumps out, but I have no issues. Perks get a 6 out of 10.

For tacticals, the zip gun is a gimmick, but it's fun, not going to lie. I wouldn't use it regularly. I'm big on the sensor drone. It reminds me of an older Call of Duty, I think Advanced Warfare, where you had to run a recon drone yourself to tag people. This does it on its own. Set it and forget it. I love it. Semtex is my go-to, and Bouncing Betties and the drill charge are okay. Nothing is terrible, and nothing is going to make me quit. Tacticals get a 6 out of 10. I don't have enough detail on attachments or secondaries to rate them yet.

Popular playlist lobbies seem to stay together

In the popular playlist, there are persistent lobbies. In one session there were four or five lobbies in a row where we played pretty much the same team. People came and went, but the lobby wasn't being disbanded. I can't say how it works in the regular playlist, because I was getting dragged across the spikes for those first four matches. Maybe I'm convincing myself, but I'm pretty sure they were persistent, and that's a positive to me.

Modern Warfare 4 maps are middle of the road, and the doors have to go

Everybody hates Transit. I love it. A lot of people are saying the maps are all smaller. I don't agree. On some maps I feel like I'm running a lot, though maybe that's TDM and not Domination. I can't stand the reactor map with the glowing blue water. Some maps have an old school vibe. I'd say three or four maps are ones I enjoy, two or three are terrible for me with the flow, and one or two are hit or miss. It's early, so I'll say 5 or 6 out of 10.

I'm sure we'll get remasters eventually, and I know Shipment is coming. I hope they go back to Modern Warfare 3 and COD 4. Maybe borrow maps from Advanced Warfare and change them so there's no wall running. I heard somebody mention COD Ghosts maps, and a couple of those would probably do well.

One of my biggest gripes is doors. Are we serious? There are doors everywhere on most maps, including the big boat map that feels like Hijacked and Wetwork had a baby. Some you open, some you slam through, and some open and shut automatically. I've been killed by doors, caught in doors and glitched in doors multiple times. I thought we got away from interactive doors. Some people gripe about hit detection, and I'm okay with it. The doors I'm not okay with. Fewer doors in new maps, please, and if you bring back classics, don't put doors in them.

Matchmaking speed and leveling feel right so far

The HUD is fine. I'm getting into matches quickly, and I'm staying in the popular playlist because it doesn't look like lobbies are being disbanded and I'm not getting the heavy SBMM. Leveling seems normal, not too fast and not too slow. I'm probably 60 to 70% of the way to prestige one, and the progression feels spot on so far. All of this will change with patches, Season 1 and new guns.

Infinity Ward should label the playlists and own SBMM

There are two classes of players. The casuals who love Call of Duty are protected and having a great time. The online crowd, content creators, longtime fans and better players hate SBMM.

So here's my feedback, and I'm not trying to upset any developers. I'm trying to be constructive about the positive and the negative. Can we get transparency? Can we label the playlists that use it? You're attached to the term whether you say it or not. Own it, and then give us a classic playlist like Black Ops 7 had. Maybe it's placebo, but the popular playlist feels to me like that classic vibe, with less SBMM and more of the natural golden age feel. Label it so everybody knows. There has to be some middle ground on communication and transparency around the biggest issue in Call of Duty, and it is by far the biggest issue.

Modern Warfare 4 has a chance to be a solid Call of Duty

I was critical of this game from April on, and I'm still critical. It's going up against GTA 6, and that's not going to be good. Modern Warfare 4 is going to get hit hard. All Infinity Ward can do is make the best game possible, and part of that is listening to the community and being transparent, not saying it's listening and then ignoring what players say about issues like SBMM. I don't know if their hands are tied. But if they can figure out a way, they can have their cake and eat it, too.

And no, they don't pay me. I don't get flown out anymore. These are my opinions, good and bad, as they always have been. If there's bad, I'll be critical, and I have been about what I don't like. Could my view change tomorrow if the matchmaking switches? It definitely could. But right now, there is a lot I like about this game, and I believe Modern Warfare 4 has a chance to be a solid Call of Duty.