Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is too fast for tactical design

Call of Duty: Modern war (2019) is more than a simple restart of the first-person shooter of 2007.

After a few hours with the beta last night on PlayStation 4, it is clear that the Infinity Ward team is rethinking what it means to move and fight in a first-person shooter. The result is a game mode that commands more like a methodical and tactical shooter than a competitive arcade game. And that would also work if everyone had not moved so incredibly fast.

The circulation system in the new Modern war is deliciously smooth. The management of obstacles comes to me naturally during the game, just like jumping through the windows. The terrain that will allow you to reach the top level of the map is clearly defined, but not to the point of having a color code, as with games like Tom Clancy's The Division 2. And, in the two cards revealed up to now, this second floor is as large and integral to the game as the first. As a result, the cards feel more open than ever, with fewer invisible barriers to slow me down.

Once on the run, I begin to notice many more points of interaction than in previous games. The doors are entirely analog, for once, and the speed and rate with which I pass them can be controlled according to the speed at which I move. Sprintering while pressing the button to open a door sends it quickly, allowing me to slowly look into the corners with the weapons at hand. Once opened, the doors can even be closed.

The game mode also offers a weapon at rest. I can access many doors, windows and game obstacles, push a button and stick to surfaces like glue. When I do it, the recoil of my weapon drops to zero and I can easily make several fully automatic shots.

But as soon as I stop to take advantage of these systems, whether it is the analog gates or the weapon mounting system, I am invariably knocked down. The benefits brought by this new style of interactivity are completely lost in multiplayer because the speed of movement in this mode is simply ridiculously fast.

When enemies are able to sneak into all environments, there is no benefit to stopping – even for a moment – to do something as pedestrian as slowly open a door. Why be methodical when everyone sprints everywhere, hurling enemies when they see them? Systems and the speed of movement of the game seem to be warring, and the speed of movement is clearly winning.

The game will be launched on PlayStation 4, Windows PC via Battle.net and Xbox One, the game being multi-platform on October 25th.