After Black Ops IV released last year without a campaign, the series is finally back with what a lot of players look forward to in a Call of Duty game. The market is split, we get that. Some players never touch campaigns, while others never play multiplayer. It appeals to a great many players for varying reasons, and though there are pros and cons, so far it's a massive hit.
That’s why this franchise continues to remain one of the best selling video game franchises year after year. And Modern Warfare is no exception to that, earning the company millions within days of release. It’s actually pretty good despite some logical setbacks. Find out what we mean in this spoiler filled breakdown.
10 The Highway Of Death
The Highway Of Death is kind of an infamous atrocity. During the Persian Gulf War the United States and its allies bombed out this highway in order to attack their enemies. What one sees in the game, named the same thing, is basically what it looks like in real life. Here is the senseless thing about it.
Since this involves a fake country in the game, why bring in real life horrors like this and also blame it on another country, which in this case, is Russia? It is poorly thought out and offensive.
9 So Many Car Filters
One of the earlier missions involves Alex helping Farah sneak through a Russian infested city. In order to make their way past a few guards, they need to execute them, but have no silencers.
Instead, players can grab car filters for not only their pistols, which fit suspiciously perfectly on the end of the barrel, but also shotguns. How are there so many cars with filters just waiting to become silencers in this city?
8 Blowing Up The Factory
The game concludes with the team infiltrating a major chemical plant. In order to stop the monstrosities of more gas attacks, it is decided that this place needs to blow up.
In the fight Alex damages the trigger, which detonates the bomb. This means they can no longer trigger it remotely, so Alex decides to stay behind in Farah’s place. It’s an emotional moment, except for the logistics of it all. Is there really no other way to blow up the plant than by sacrifice?
7 White Phosphorus
The Highway Of Death was a bad move on Infinity Ward's part, but including white phosphorus in multiplayer was equally as boneheaded. White phosphorus is no joke.
Let's avoid talking about the nitty gritty legalese of this issue and just point out that it is a bad thing. Because the developers naively created it as a Killstreak award, they got some heat for it - and rightfully so. Why now of all times to include it in the series?
6 Farah Flashbacks
There are multiple moments which flashback to Farah’s life as a child and as a struggling leader on the rise. One mission has her being interrogated. Players can choose to answer questions truthfully, remain silent, or to give some joke answer.
While giving players choice in games is usually great, it doesn’t make sense in this situation since we already know the outcome in the present. That is to say there are no stakes in what players say so it felt pointless.
5 Spoon!
There isn’t a hero alive that loves spoons more than the Tick. Well, except for Farah. She knows the good use of spoons besides eating. In that same prison scene eventually she will break her eating spoon in order to use it as a shiv.
Using it as a weapon makes sense, but what doesn’t is her being able to use it as a crowbar. Just what the heck is that spoon made out of, Vibranium?
4 The Butcher
There are a couple problems with how the final sequence with Jamal "The Butcher" Rahar winds up. First of all, on the chase, why can’t players just shoot him in the leg? We get that a chase is more exhilarating, but there had to be a better way.
That aside, the interrogation afterward was a bit too dark. That is the line this game wanted to draw in that what is good and what is bad is in the eye of the beholder. It certainly has impact, to say the least, but it's also kind of out of the blue.
3 Espionage Dog Pile Up
This can be associated with a lot of video games, but it still made us laugh enough to want it on this list. One of the later missions has Kyle and the infamous Price infiltrating a compound in the dark. Players can stealth their way through, or go in hog wild.
If one chooses the latter there will be a lot of guards to deal with alone. However, taking them down one by one in a confined stairwell was way too easy. Just look at that pileup! If we were guards and saw that, we would bounce. The money is not worth it.
2 Hadir’s Motives
The reason Kyle and Price were infiltrating the base was because it was believed Farah’s brother, Hadir, was hiding out there. Once found he tries to explain that his betrayal was just, and actually starts to help their escape instead of trying to stop them.
For one, Farah not noticing her brother’s actions was unbelievable. Two, Hadir’s motives weren’t really clearly defined. They just didn’t do enough to show why he did what he did, or why. It was a "twist without a twist," if that makes sense.
1 Rebooting It
By the end of Call of Duty 3, gamers were sick of World War II shooters. Infinity Ward changed the playing field when they released the original Modern Warfare to great success, not just for redefining multiplayer, but what a military shooter could do with a story. This was in 2007.
That was twelve years ago, which is admittedly a long time, but rebooting the franchise now just doesn’t seem justified. Why not call it something else? The easy, business-forward answer is that the name will sell more copies this way. We can only imagine what this means in terms of a potential sequel.