Modern Warfare 4 Day One: Great Campaign, but SBMM Holds It Back

Here we are at another Call of Duty launch day. I think this is something like number 21, and I don't even know anymore. Modern Warfare 4 is supposed to save Call of Duty. After my first day with it, I see a good game underneath, but it's being held back by one thing: skill-based matchmaking.

I didn't want to write this piece. I promised I'd always be transparent and real, though, so here's where I stand. Activision is betting on this being a revival game, but the odds stacked against it are clear. GTA 6 is coming. The SBMM is the same as it was in the beta. And there's either no open playlist, or there may be one disguised as something else. It's tiring. Things can change on a dime on day one, so if you haven't played yet, don't let me decide for you. Go play it and form your own view.

The Modern Warfare 4 campaign is as good as advertised

The general consensus is that the campaign is excellent. I'm about 75% of the way through it, and I agree. It starts out strong. Then you reach a mission where it tones down, then it goes back up, then it tones down again. There are some spots I'm not a fan of, the open world mission in particular.

Those dips aside, so far the campaign is what it was advertised to be. It's very good. Later on I'll come back to how it compares with Black Ops 7, because that comparison matters when it comes to how this game might perform.

DMZ isn't my cup of tea, but that doesn't make it bad

I spent a full day playing DMZ. It's not necessarily my cup of tea, but that's okay, and it doesn't mean the mode is bad. I can tell they put a lot of work into it. It's day one, and they're hopefully going to listen to the community, go through it and fine tune it.

I'm digging it. It's okay. It's not something I'm going to grind every day, but plenty of people seem to be into it. Once again, I can tell they put a lot of time and effort into it. I don't have a problem with DMZ.

Multiplayer is being dragged over one thing: matchmaking

Multiplayer is a different story. It's getting dragged across the internet, and the sad thing is that it comes down to one issue. Matchmaking. People are calling it a bait and switch. As I write this, the open matchmaking has been removed. But other people say it's still there, and that you have to go to different places that aren't advertised as open matchmaking.

I don't understand it. Some people say it's gone. Some say it's there but not labeled correctly. Either way, it doesn't matter, because the SBMM in this game feels cranked up as far as it can go. Infinity Ward is seemingly going out of its way to keep players from having the matchmaking system they want.

Infinity Ward devs have also been unfollowing creators on social media if they're critical of multiplayer. That doesn't bode well for communication this year, if the devs are already cutting ties with creators for being critical. Each of those instances is its own case, and there's a way to be critical and a way to just be rude. But it all falls back to SBMM. I've played one day, and it's there, prominently. They said it would be. They said, "We aren't changing anything from the beta over. This is what we're basically rolling with."

Great maps and punchy weapons can't make up for it

That's what stings, because there are many positives in multiplayer. The maps are cool. Infinity Ward knows how to make punchy, good feeling weapons, and these guns feel great across the board, from the campaign to DMZ to multiplayer. There are plenty of cool weapons, reload animations, inspect elements and more. You can tell they put a ton of time into crafting them.

But it doesn't matter if every match you get into feels like COD Champs. It doesn't matter if the players at the very bottom are protected in a secret lower bracket you'll never get to see. Feedback and opinions can change on a dime on day one, and mine may change. I don't know. I'm going to keep playing.

Activision's comeback bet runs straight into GTA 6

Activision is banking on this being the comeback game. They even said they're okay putting it right next to GTA 6, and that GTA 6 was going to help them. They made a big deal about how many lessons they learned from Black Ops 7 and from the Black Ops 1 and 2 ports. Yet here we are, and they won't change the one thing that has everybody held up. That's my biggest gripe.

We have no clue about sales numbers. The game was number one trending recently, and there are all kinds of positive spins as well as negative ones. Who knows. But when GTA 6 arrives, it's not going to matter, not just for Modern Warfare 4 but for any game in its wake. It's going to get eaten up. Modern Warfare 4 needs to make a ton of money before Grand Theft Auto 6 drops.

There are gauges to watch. If Modern Warfare 4 tracks worse than Black Ops 7, that's going to be a big problem. Activision had to release multiple statements about what it was going to do to fix things and get back on track, and Black Ops 7 didn't hit the mark. If Modern Warfare 4 does worse than that, Call of Duty as a franchise might be in serious trouble. That's a big if, though, because Modern Warfare 4's campaign is a thousand times better than Black Ops 7's.

Why cranked up SBMM wears down the regular Call of Duty player

From my own experience so far, they didn't change anything from the beta when it comes to the matchmaking or the skill-based matchmaking. Why they're so stuck on it, or held hostage by it, I have no idea, and we'll probably never know. The community has made its thoughts clear, and not only me but thousands of people. We already know the SBMM merry-go-round, and I'm not getting on it again. It is what it is. It makes me wonder how many times they'll shoot themselves in the foot when they have something that could be very good.

They put a lot of effort into Modern Warfare 4. You can feel it. But none of it matters with that dark cloud overhead. Without the randomness of a hard match, then an easy one, then who knows what, every match is cranked up to 11, and you'll get tired and frustrated. If you're one of the twitch shooters living at the top, you probably like it. But the regular player like me can't do it. I'm old, and I was never better than slightly mediocre at Call of Duty. Over time, you won't have a good experience, and you'll set it down and find something that doesn't stress you out.

I want to play some Domination and have a fun match that pushes and pulls back and forth, not get twitch shot around every corner without knowing what's happening. People say, "Get good, Jimmy." They're right that part of the formula is getting better, and I'm past that. So I guess that's on me.

There's a good game here, if they fix the matchmaking

It's early. It's day one, and SBMM is the topic everybody's talking about. Who would have thought? Underneath it all, there is a good game here, across all three parts: campaign, DMZ and multiplayer.

None of it matters if they won't address the SBMM or find some way to be transparent about the matchmaking playlist and the open playlist, if there even is one. It doesn't need to be convoluted. It doesn't need to be a mystery where we have to hunt for clues to figure it out. That's ridiculous.