Modern Warfare Is Still the King of Call of Duty Campaigns

ign.com:

With its sandbox-like “Open Combat” missions and the return of fan-favourite villain Makarov, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this year’s Call of Duty campaign might be a fun step forward for the series. Sadly, it’s a disaster. Modern Warfare 3 is the worst single-player outing for COD in its lifetime; a duct-taped mess of missions, many of which are quite literally ripped from Warzone, that frequently plays like DMZ multiplayer with bots. It’s almost certain to be remembered as Call of Duty’s lowest point when it comes to single-player design.

I’ll leave it to our review to analyse MW3’s worst mistakes. Instead, let’s remember Call of Duty’s finest hour and the game that laid the foundations for the shooter’s contemporary image: the original Modern Warfare. 16 years later it remains the series’ most accomplished campaign. A masterclass in FPS design, it has a carefully measured tempo delivered via a wonderfully textured set of missions. Seemingly taking notes from Nintendo’s manual for Mario, Call of Duty 4 weaves between novel ideas and builds quick-fire missions around unique gameplay concepts. From sinking ship escapes to aerial bombardments, through stealth assassinations and car chases, the original Modern Warfare is a constantly rotating menu of gourmet shooter design.

That texture set Call of Duty on a strong path: 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 in particular benefitted from making every mission its own individual blockbuster. But few campaigns since Call of Duty 4 have achieved its sense of tone. The series is perhaps best known for being a never-ending cacophony of muzzle flare and detonating oil drums. But across the first two missions of Modern Warfare, your every carefully-placed shot is muffled by a silencer.