As someone who has followed Call of Duty for a long time, I never imagined a day would come when this game received this level of spotlight in Korea. Unlike in North America, where every title becomes a box-office hit, in Korea it has always been positioned as a "game played only by regulars". The news that North America's flagship AAA game would cover South Korea quickly became a hot topic not only among Korean gamers but also non-gamers.
While I felt good about this atmosphere, I was also worried on the other hand. Many people would be encountering the Call of Duty franchise for the first time, and I wondered if it would leave them with a good first impression. Although the developers emphasized setting the game in South Korea, I worried that if the level of implementation were only at the level of Advanced Warfare released in 2014, it might leave nothing but disappointment.
And those worries completely vanished as soon as I entered the first mission, "Mayhem."
※ Before starting, this review does not contain spoilers regarding character survival or plot twists.
Campaign Satisfying environmental detail, bold and refreshing pacing
The moment I stepped off the transport vehicle after the opening cutscene—which consisted of small talk related to Wu-Tang Clan—I doubted my ears. For a second, I thought I had left YouTube or a music streaming app playing and forgot about it. Changmo's "Band," which played right as the soldiers disembarked, instantly engraved upon me that the place I stood as Private Park Hyeon-jun was right in the middle of South Korea.
The actions and dialogue shown along the way were South Korea itself. Senior soldiers excited at the prospect of hazing the new recruits, senior and junior soldiers pondering whether to return to civilian life or re-enlist, a USFK soldier who learned Korean poorly and yelled "My d*** is real big," and a South Korean soldier who bitterly retorted to the USFK soldier's question ("Does your country not really like soldiers?") with "Our country has mandatory service, so there's nothing special about it"—I lost track of how sincere Infinity Ward was, blurting out exclamations the entire time I watched.
I can also confidently speak on the quality of the convenience store they enter. Among games developed by overseas studios, no game has ever depicted a South Korean convenience store to this level. The store clerk grumbling about ventilation issues as sweaty soldiers walk in, along with the food and various OTC medicines arranged inside, maximally heightens immersion and keeps your eyes glued to the screen just from walking into a convenience store.
The moment I stepped outside after chatting away in the convenience store, it went beyond admiration and started to feel eerie. Dozens of artillery shells falling from the sky simultaneously with a blackout, North Korean troops parachuting onto a baseball stadium—it was no exaggeration; it depicted what could unfold right before your eyes if national security slackened. Among those who completed mandatory military service in South Korea, there is likely no one who could watch this scene without being fully immersed. On the flip side, I could also understand to an extent why American gamers become so thrilled and immersed when playing Call of Duty campaigns. Supported by high-quality environmental depiction, cold sweat trickled down despite it being a game.
This level of high-quality depiction is not limited to South Korea. In portraying the primary enemy, North Korea, they also delivered chilling depictions. Watching Ri Ju-yeong and the North Korean military tearing through a village to hunt down dissidents instinctively kindles sympathy for North Korean civilians and hostility toward the military regime. Seeing a young child recite what he knows with bright eyes during Ri Ju-yeong's interrogation as if meeting an idol, or watching a husband and wife clinging to each other and trembling, evokes mixed emotions.
It was also impressive how they implemented every action players might selectively take while playing as a North Korean soldier. Whether you become a brutal North Korean soldier following Ri Ju-yeong or feel a shred of conscience and stand on the opposite side was all accounted for. Typical examples include how you conduct interrogations of North Korean civilians, whether you spare or kill the village residents, or whether you click your tongue and fire at the portrait of the Chairman who inherited this absurd system.
Ten mouths would not be enough to talk about the environmental realism of South and North Korea in this game. I feel a world of difference seeing an overseas game developer dedicate this level of care, and I want to give them a round of applause. Since examining every piece of the background would mean this review never ends, I will stop the praise here and move on to discuss Task Force 141's perspective and scale.
As seen in the images above, while South and North Korea portrayed full-scale warfare, Task Force 141 attempted to weave in everything else. The 141 section handled guerrilla warfare, chases, and special forces building breaches, pulling off these elements quite well. The biggest complaint when the Modern Warfare series transitioned to the reboot was that combat was structured around small-scale engagements, losing much of the large-scale warfare experience provided by the original Modern Warfare, but Modern Warfare 4 succeeds in killing two birds with one stone.
Although "Open Combat Missions"—which raised concerns among some users—reappeared, this time there are evident signs that the developers paid sufficient attention, allowing players to enjoy them decently without breaking the flow. The issue with Open Combat Missions up to now was that players were dropped into a battlefield reminiscent of an empty shell, performing missions quietly alongside dry radio chatter from squadmates until it ended, with little replay value.
On the other hand, the Open Combat Missions introduced this time feature plenty of elements to explore, a reasonable number of enemies placed across the battlefield, and fast-travel options alongside 'Kal' for those who do not want this mission style, demonstrating great care for replayability and fatigue levels.
In fact, in my case, I chose fast travel with Kal three times in a row for fast mission progression, and it caused no major issues with progression. On the other hand, an acquaintance took their time exploring the open field and securing various items, leaving feedback that it was quite fun. In the case of these Open Combat Missions, they succeeded in catering both to those who prefer a linear style like previous Call of Duty titles and those who want to explore the map and engage in combat more freely.
High-quality representations of South and North Korea, the provision of genuine Open Combat Missions, the return of the scale fans wanted—the Modern Warfare reboot series campaign, which had been struggling for a while, has finally returned. However, even this Modern Warfare 4 campaign is not perfect.
First, upon seeing the ending, the wishy-washy plot developments of previous installments feel all the more frustrating. Despite being capable of such refreshing and bold story progression, Call of Duty had been holding back characters under the pretext of continuing campaign narratives alongside seasonal service. Characters who clearly died in the campaign came back to life, or enemies couldn't be finished off due to a lack of a decisive blow, creating a continuous stream of frustration. As a result, Modern Warfare 4 unexpectedly found itself with an over-saturated character roster, both for allies and enemies.
In this situation, the appearance of 'Archer,' played by Mads Mikkelsen, feels all the more disappointing. Honestly speaking, Archer clearly missed his entry timing and felt more like he was brought in to clean up and sort out character storylines. While the actor's signature middle-aged charm and presence carry the atmosphere, his narrative within the Modern Warfare reboot universe is inevitably paper-thin. I strongly felt that the weak narrative was being brushed over and pushed forward solely by the actor's aura.
Since Modern Warfare 4 inherits the narrative arc of MW2 and MW3 rather than standing as an isolated title, I felt on one hand that such choices were inevitable to clean up the mess. In conclusion, relief pitcher Archer fulfilled his role sufficiently, and it is clear he became the saving light for a Modern Warfare 4 campaign that almost fell into darkness.
Additionally, the fact that the armor plate system—criticized since the previous entry for disrupting combat flow—remains present, along with Korean-American actors voicing the South and North Korean military, which can sound somewhat clumsy to native speakers, also came across as disappointing.
Nevertheless, when viewed as a standalone title, the Modern Warfare 4 campaign is quite impressive. The story progression and scale that fans desired, along with bold and refreshing pacing, naturally draw out the comment, "Now this is Call of Duty," for the first time in a while. However, the problem is that this statement itself holds a contradiction. Ultimately, Modern Warfare 4 is part of a series. What a serialized story must achieve is building rapport with each character as the narrative continues, sharing joys and sorrows with them, and sufficiently stimulating emotional resonance when someone enters or exits. In that regard, lingering regrets remain inevitable.
Although there are a few drawbacks, they do not serve as major stumbling blocks. The Modern Warfare 4 campaign fully claims the title of 'series finale' and offers ample satisfaction to players who were disappointed with recent Call of Duty campaigns.
Multiplayer Bewildering and full of questions
Because the campaign was satisfying, expectations for another key mode, Multiplayer, naturally rose as well. Severe feedback had been exchanged both domestically and internationally during the prior beta, and since the developers subsequently took a communicative stance signaling changes, it was expected that the full release would deliver a fairly pleasant experience.
To start with the conclusion, the gunplay feel is incredibly thrilling and fun, just as experienced in the campaign. However, the issue lies in everything else. Almost nothing has changed from the feedback users raised after the beta. I will talk through these points one by one. First, SRs and DMRs remain dominant. Although the Call of Duty series is not known for having great multiplayer weapon balance, SRs and DMRs in this title stand out with exceptionally high damage and mobility. In contrast, ARs and SMGs have relatively weak damage (in other words, the TTK for SMGs and ARs is long). As a result, in actual firefights, even when initiating combat with an AR or SMG from an advantageous angle, cases of being counter-killed by the opponent and accumulating deaths are frequent.
Furthermore, run-and-gun play itself was nerfed, forcing a more static playstyle. This was implemented through both environmental and systemic aspects: environment-wise, most maps feature numerous angles, making run-and-gun difficult to attempt. System-wise, base movement speed was nerfed, and tactical sprint was locked behind a perk called 'Sprint Instinct,' creating a setup where players must lock in that perk if they want to run and gun. The problem is that in Perk Slot 2, alongside Sprint Instinct, there are other great perks like Hardline or Fast Hands that add fun to run-and-gun play, making choosing Sprint Instinct merely to gain sprinting capability feel like a huge disappointment.
In addition, controller aim assist issues mentioned since the beta remain unchanged, raising questions about what the developers spent their time doing during the remaining window after the beta. Because it is a live-service game, these are areas that can be sufficiently adjusted through patches, but asking the inverse, a strong question remains as to why they chose to face harsh criticism once again.
DMZ A twist in DMZ—returning stronger with lessons learned from four years ago
Finally, contrary to concerns, DMZ mode turned out to be a pleasant surprise, prepared well enough to be enjoyed decently at launch. Given the preview of DMZ mode provided 4 years ago in Modern Warfare II (2022), players' anxious reactions were only natural.
The biggest problem with the previous DMZ was that despite claiming to be an extraction shooter, there was no motivation to explore the field and no sense of progression. Simply entering the field, looting high-value items, and exfiltrating was all there was, resulting in a considerable lack of pull. It felt strongly as though, with few competitors in the extraction shooter genre, they were merely trying to recycle existing assets to grab a share of that pie. In short, there was little sincerity.
However, this DMZ clearly shows effort toward understanding the extraction shooter genre while allowing players to enjoy Call of Duty's combat style effectively. By providing free loadouts, it well reflects the trend among recent extraction shooters to lower entry barriers, and through base upgrades and operator upgrades, it builds a satisfying sense of progression while enjoying DMZ's narrative. With the addition of the upgrade system, motivation for looting naturally became stronger than before.
In terms of combat and exploration, it has also made leaps and bounds compared to the previous DMZ. Previously, enemy variety was extremely limited, but in this DMZ, not only do drones appear, but also robotic dogs that perform self-destruction or electric shocks, as well as mini-bosses called 'Lieutenants' with various concepts. Because this genre generally operates as PvPvE, AI diversity and roles are also crucial. In that regard, Modern Warfare 4's DMZ succeeded in overcoming past weaknesses and creating a battlefield players want to explore in many ways. The initial foundation has been laid well, making it a mode to look forward to in future updates.
Campaign and DMZ overhauled, Multiplayer stumbles Lingering flaws exist, but well worth playing
In conclusion, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched with significant disappointment regarding its multiplayer direction, it brought back much of what fans wanted in its Campaign and DMZ, delivering a solid overall experience.
If there is a silver lining, it is that unlike the unalterable Campaign, Multiplayer belongs to live service and thus has room for improvement through patches. If you can accept that, traversing South Korea and the globe as Private Park Hyeon-jun and Captain Price in the Campaign guarantees players a vivid combat experience unlike anything felt before.
Having made a relatively fresh start among recent Call of Duty titles, we hope Modern Warfare 4 addresses its shortcomings swiftly and rises even higher.
- The return of full-scale warfare alongside Park Hyeon-jun
- Bold and refreshing story progression in terms of scenario
- Higher-than-expected mission quality and environmental detail
- DMZ returning by taking past lessons to heart
- Bewildering and questionable direction for multiplayer
- Armor plate system that still occasionally disrupts combat flow
- Limitations from cleaning up narrative lines carried over from previous entries
- Voice acting in both Korean and English leaving room for disappointment
Review Platform: PC (Launch Version)
