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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered – A Richly Improved Classic Revisited

Call of Duty Series Brought us Good FPS Gaming

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Captain John Price - Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Remastered 2016 PlayStation 4 PS5 Retro Review
Captain John Price - Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare Remastered 2016 PlayStation 4 PS5 Retro Review

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

As you may already noticed, we are reviewing variety of “CODs” – the newest and older Call of Duty franchise games. We will start with the well-done Black Ops 6 (2024), followed by our recent retro review of the fantastic original Call of Duty 3 (2011). Now we aim somewhere into the middle.

It’s been over 8 years since the remaster of one of the most popular games in the franchise was released. We’re talking about none other than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered, which was released on November 4, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One as part of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in Legacy, Legacy Pro, and Digital Deluxe Infinite Warfare editions. It was handled by a team of developers from Raven Software, who were undoubtedly no newcomers to the market back then, bringing us several DLCs for previous games in the franchise and helping with development, among other things. How did they improve this immortal classic to make it look and play great today? Find out in the following text.

A Misleading Title: Remaster or Remake?

Even though the title of the game says Remastered, the term Remake defines the game much better. This title isn’t just an improved version, which players have been served more and more of lately, but a fundamentally new game, so to speak. When Activision and Infinity Ward announced the original game almost 18 years ago (April 12, 2007, to be exact), setting the battlefield in modern times instead of the popular World War II, many people stared in disbelief and predicted failure. However, as we have long known, upon release, the game became a worldwide success because of its new and fresh setting and defining the action game genre as we know it today.

The Original Legacy of Modern Warfare

The story revolves around Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish and his allies from Task Force 141, a special forces unit tasked with calming the situation in the Middle East. However, as it soon turns out, the problem is far more complicated than it first appears. The story campaign hasn’t changed much in the remaster, featuring all the well-known levels and similar gameplay to years ago. The developers have changed practically nothing about it, which may bother mainly newcomers a little bit; fans will, of course, overlook this fact, and they will even care a little bit that the controls or movement is not as smooth as in more modern action games, or that the game constantly sends practically endless crowds of enemies at you, who unerringly hit targets or spam you with grenades, which you die from very often. Even the vastly improved visuals I’ll get to can’t hide the game’s age and a few slightly dated elements for today. Still, it’s up to you how you ultimately approach them.

Story Campaign: Timeless Yet Slightly Dated

Even today, Modern Warfare’s story campaign is of high quality. It stands up quietly against the competition, dosing the action well and not threatening to bore you while playing it. Indeed, it offers many memorable moments, be it the ship’s cast in the first episode or the stealthy Chornobyl mission, which fans still remember after almost two decades.

Memorable Missions and Unforgettable Moments

Singleplayer is an excellent action game, but multiplayer was the main thing in the first Modern Warfare. Of course, this can’t be missed in the remaster, and it may come as a real shock for players who are used to the modern installments. No wall-running, sliding, or fast-paced jumping around levels; this wasn’t the rage back in the day. The gameplay is slower, but even today, it still has quite a bit of charm. In truth, I enjoy the multiplayer in old Modern Warfare far more than titles that are only a few years old, and given the number of players playing, I do not share this opinion alone. Understandably, nostalgia may play a big part in this, which may not work for newcomers. However, I’m glad it’s still possible to play Modern Warfare in this state after all these years.

Multiplayer: A Slower but Nostalgic Charm

The Modern Warfare remaster offers many game modes in multiplayer, with Team Deatmatch, Free-for-all, Kill Confirmed, Domination, Sabotage, Search and Destroy, and many more presents. The system of unlocking new weapons and equipment, in general, is, of course, making a comeback. Trough leveling up, you can unlock many new weapons, perks, and even cosmetic items, so you have extra motivation to play.

Game Modes and Unlockable Content

Activision has brought a few remasters to consoles before, and I’m sorry to say they haven’t been very successful. In fact, visually, they haven’t seen much of an improvement. So it’s great to know that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare isn’t one of these not-so-good ports from Activision. It stands high above them. The developers from Raven Software didn’t settle for a simple port but redesigned many textures, added new visual effects, or improved the lighting, resulting in a magnificent spectacle with a much better atmosphere at each level.

Visual Overhaul: A Stunning Transformation

The game has dramatically improved visual quality, which many certainly didn’t expect. I first played this remaster years ago on a PlayStation 4, which runs natively at 1080p resolution, with only the occasional framerate drop in the most challenging scenes in singleplayer. For the most part, though, the game runs steadily at 60fps in multiplayer. I subsequently played the game again a while ago, this time on a PlayStation 5 on a 4K TV (the game ran at 2880×1620 resolution, just like the PlayStation 4 Pro), where the game has a smoother image and is even more visually impressive, especially in the night missions. The framerate is then even better despite the better detail and higher resolution, and there is even less dropout, so the result is outstanding. Multiplayer then, of course, runs at a perfectly stable 60 fps, I didn’t encounter any drops or other technical issues.

Conclusion

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare made it to the consoles of its time in an honest-to-goodness remaster, allowing us to this day to still enjoy a fantastic story-driven campaign and an equally high-quality multiplayer that still retains its unforgettable charm. The game has been beautified visually; it’s doing well in motion, too, and can be enjoyed in a beautiful 4K display. It’s just a shame that for a time, this remaster was only sold with the more expensive editions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which, of course, is now long gone, and everyone can buy this enhanced gem separately, which I highly recommend!

About the Game

Title: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered
Type of Game: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 4, 2016 (bundled with Infinite Warfare), June 27, 2017 (standalone)
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Where to Purchase

You can purchase Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered digitally or physically on:

*Check for bundled versions, as it was initially included with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

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