Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 already has plenty of obvious hooks, from its full-scale invasion of South Korea to Captain Price operating outside the system and away from Task Force 141. However, the most interesting thing about the game might be hiding in the most obvious place possible. Specifically, this is the first time Infinity Ward has ever had a Modern Warfare 4 to work with, and that could give the studio more creative freedom than it had with the last three rebooted entries.
During a recent reveal event at Infinity Ward in Los Angeles, I sat down with associate design director Alex Norris and narrative director Jeff Negus to talk specifically about Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign. When I asked whether there was one Call of Duty campaign that influenced this one the most, Negus pointed out that there has “never been a four in Modern Warfare before,” which means Infinity Ward is no longer reworking a title players already have years of history with. It still has to feel like Modern Warfare, of course, but for the first time in this rebooted series, it also gets to define a completely new number for itself.
Modern Warfare 4’s Number Gives Infinity Ward More Creative Freedom
The last three Modern Warfare games weren’t straight remakes, and they were never really trying to be. Infinity Ward changed plenty about the story, the characters, and the way certain events played out, even when it was clearly pulling from material players already knew. Price, Ghost, Soap, Shepherd, Makarov, and Task Force 141 all returned, but they returned in a different version of the Modern Warfare universe.
Even so, there was always going to be a limit to how new those games could feel. When a game is called Modern Warfare 2 or Modern Warfare 3, players are going to compare it to the older game with the same name. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does put the rebooted trilogy in a very particular box. Infinity Ward could reimagine the story, but it was still reimagining something nonetheless. Modern Warfare 4 is different, because there is no original Modern Warfare 4 waiting on the other side of it. That’s what made Negus’ answer so interesting when I asked whether there was one particular Call of Duty campaign that influenced Modern Warfare 4 the most:
I wouldn’t say there’s one particular title. This is new ground for us, calling it a 4, there’s never been a 4 in Modern Warfare before. So, that means we get to redefine what it really means to call it a Modern Warfare game. We get to take the parts of the DNA that really make it what it is, and then we get to move into new territory in a variety of different ways.
To be clear, redefining what it means to call something a Modern Warfare game doesn’t mean Infinity Ward suddenly gets to make whatever it wants and slap the name on the box. There’s still a certain weight that comes with that title. Players expect grounded military action, cinematic missions, familiar characters, and a story that feels like it could sit just close enough to the real world to make them uncomfortable. But after three rebooted entries, the series had also started to feel a bit boxed in by its own formula, especially with how often it leaned on Task Force 141, covert operations, and smaller missions built around chasing one target after another.
That’s at least part of what made Modern Warfare 3 such a sore spot for some players. Its campaign had some good ideas, but it also felt like the thinnest version of what this subseries can be, with the Open Combat Missions in particular making it feel more fragmented than fully realized. So when Negus talked about Modern Warfare 4 moving into new territory, that idea made a lot of sense. The game finally has a number the original trilogy never touched, and with that comes a chance to make Modern Warfare feel larger again. Norris seemed to be getting at that same idea when he continued Negus’ thought:
We’re kind of stepping into new ground for Modern Warfare as far as our recent set, because so many of the Modern Warfare 1 and 2 and 3 are kind of these smaller missions where it’s like special forces going after objectives, pursuing terrorists. We’re returning to a bit of our roots of Big War—infantry and armor and air support all working together. So, if you think about influences, maybe a little bit touching back on some of the World War 2 aspects when we think about that side of the campaign.
Norris’ comparison to Call of Duty: World War 2 says a lot about what Infinity Ward seems to be aiming for here. World War 2 was still a linear Call of Duty campaign, but it worked because it made players feel like one soldier moving through a war that was much larger than them. There were tanks, air support, infantry charges, changing fronts, and missions that felt tied to a bigger military effort. That is the kind of thing some longtime players have arguably missed from Modern Warfare, especially after three games that spent so much time with elite teams chasing specific targets through smaller operations.
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