Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is incredible. I could spend a few paragraphs building up to that, but honestly, that is the feeling I want to start with. After so much frustration around recent entries, this is the kind of release that reminds me why I still care about this franchise.

I reviewed the PC version, and my final score is 10/10.

That does not mean every decision is perfect or that there is nothing worth criticizing. It means the complete package delivers what I want from Call of Duty so convincingly that the smaller problems never become the thing that defines it. The campaign matters again. The shooting is fantastic. The multiplayer gives me reasons to return, and DMZ feels like a substantial part of the experience.

This might be one of the last big FPS releases we get for a while that feels this determined to deliver the whole package. I hope I am wrong about that. For now, though, I am enjoying the fact that this one actually does.

A campaign worth caring about

The biggest relief is that Modern Warfare 4 remembers how to make its campaign feel important.

Call of Duty does not need to abandon its identity to tell a good story. It needs characters worth following, a conflict with understandable stakes and missions that turn those things into exciting situations. Political tension, covert operations and conflicting motivations already provide plenty to work with. The story does not need to keep escalating into nonsense to hold my attention.

The two main narrative threads give this campaign a strong foundation. The conflict on the Korean Peninsula provides the larger military picture, while Price's pursuit of Makarov brings a more personal and dangerous motivation into it. One story looks outward at a developing war. The other follows a man whose anger threatens to consume the decisions he makes.

That contrast gives the campaign more personality than another sequence of objectives delivered through a radio.

Price's determination is especially interesting because the game has reasons to question it. Familiarity with a character should not make every action automatically heroic. Revenge can provide momentum while also making someone reckless, and that tension gives the story something worth exploring.

There are other characters and connections I would rather leave for players to discover. What matters is that the campaign gives those encounters a purpose. I wanted to keep following the situation, rather than simply get through another conversation so the shooting could start again.

Focused missions make a huge difference

I am very happy with the return to more deliberate mission structures.

An open environment can be excellent when the game has interesting things to do with it. Giving the player a larger space is not automatically an improvement, though. Sometimes a carefully directed mission creates a much better experience because the developers can control the rhythm, build tension and make each encounter feel intentional.

Modern Warfare 4 benefits enormously from that focus.

The campaign moves between different types of action without making them feel like disconnected demonstrations. Team advances, defensive encounters, infiltration and vehicle sequences contribute to an adventure with a clear sense of momentum. The variety comes from what the situation asks of the player.

The quieter stretches matter too. Night operations and infiltration create room for anticipation, making the louder confrontations more effective when they arrive. Constant spectacle eventually becomes background noise. A campaign needs enough control over its own pacing to make an explosion feel exciting again.

That is what I appreciate here. The game can be spectacular without forgetting that spectacle needs a buildup.

The shooting is absolutely fantastic

Whatever criticisms I have had of recent Call of Duty games, the basic appeal of their shooting has rarely been difficult to understand. Modern Warfare 4 takes that familiar strength and makes it the center of a much more convincing overall experience.

The weapons feel powerful. Recoil, impact and sound work together to make firing enjoyable before I even start thinking about progression or unlocks. That immediate satisfaction matters enormously in a game built around thousands of repeated interactions.

Movement supports it beautifully. Positioning, reacting and moving between cover feel connected to the combat rather than competing with it. There is a confidence to the controls that makes the action easy to settle into, even when the encounter itself becomes demanding.

I do not need every sequel to invent a completely different way to fire a rifle. Sometimes I want a developer to understand what already works and deliver it at an exceptional level.

That is a major reason this game earns its score. The fundamentals are strong enough to support everything built around them.

DMZ is a proper reason to keep playing

DMZ is another huge part of the appeal.

Extraction games can sound exhausting before I even start them. Prepare equipment, enter a dangerous area, collect things, survive and try not to lose everything. The structure only becomes compelling when the decisions inside that loop feel worthwhile.

Here, its connection to the campaign gives those operations a stronger identity. The contracts and objectives exist around the larger conflict, making the mode feel like another perspective on the same world.

Hajin City provides a useful setting for that approach. Competing groups, valuable intelligence and unstable control create reasons for different operations to take place. The objectives have a context beyond filling another inventory slot.

The preparation between deployments is important too. Managing resources, improving capabilities and deciding what equipment to risk give the next operation a sense of consequence. The forward operating base makes those decisions part of the rhythm instead of treating everything outside a match as an inconvenience.

I also like the idea of recovering missing operators. Failure can create another objective, rather than simply ending with a loss screen and an empty loadout.

There is a satisfying connection between preparation, execution and recovery. That gives DMZ the kind of structure that can keep me interested beyond the campaign.

The monetization deserves criticism

My enthusiasm does not mean I am going to ignore the commercial decisions.

Moving DMZ into the paid package changes how people access it, particularly those who enjoyed its earlier free-to-play format. That is a meaningful difference and deserves to be acknowledged.

The additional benefits attached to the Vault Edition are more frustrating. When extra spending affects storage, equipment availability or preparation advantages, it introduces a question that should not overshadow an extraction mode: how much of the starting position is being influenced by what someone paid?

I want the excitement to come from the operation, the decisions and the way a team handles pressure. Commercial advantages complicate that.

This is one of the clearest criticisms I have of the package. The game is strong enough that I still come away extremely positive, but that does not make this particular direction something I want encouraged.

Multiplayer still has that dangerous "one more match" appeal

The traditional multiplayer remains a major reason to stay.

Modes such as Domination, Hardpoint and Search and Destroy work because their objectives give the shooting a structure. A good match becomes more than a series of isolated gunfights. Timing, positioning and understanding what the team needs can change the whole flow.

Modern Warfare 4's pace keeps that flow intense. The action demands attention, and a small mistake can quickly become an expensive one. There is real satisfaction in reacting well, holding an important position or helping turn a match around.

That intensity will not suit everyone equally. Players looking for a relaxed evening may find the competitive pressure tiring, particularly when matchmaking produces demanding lobbies.

For me, the important thing is that the combat makes those matches worth engaging with. I want another chance because the act of playing feels good, rather than because a progress bar is asking me to remain online.

An audiovisual presentation with real impact

The presentation brings a tremendous amount to the experience.

Lighting is especially effective at giving different situations their identity. Darkness, changing light sources and the visual disruption of combat help make night operations feel distinct from brighter encounters. The environments contribute to the tension instead of merely surrounding it.

Some secondary character models are less convincing than the central cast. That difference becomes noticeable when the game places its most detailed faces beside less expressive figures. It is a weakness within an otherwise impressive presentation.

The sound, however, is outstanding.

Gunfire, explosions and environmental acoustics make an enormous contribution to the action. A weapon should not sound detached from the space in which it is being fired. Here, the surrounding environment helps give each exchange its physical presence.

The Brazilian Portuguese voice work also deserves recognition. A strong localization helps the story retain its urgency and personality, and this is the kind of production where convincing performances make a real difference.

Use a good pair of headphones if you have them. The audio deserves to be heard clearly.

A complete package matters

Modern Warfare 4 does not earn my enthusiasm because it reinvents the genre. It earns it because the major parts of the experience give me compelling reasons to engage with them.

The campaign provides an exciting story with direction. Multiplayer gives the shooting a competitive home. DMZ adds preparation, risk and a different kind of progression. The presentation gives all three more impact.

Even the cleaner interface contributes to that feeling. Getting to the game should not feel like navigating an advertisement for everything surrounding it. A clearer, faster presentation helps keep attention where it belongs.

There are still criticisms to make. The later campaign developments can feel compressed, the competitive pace can be unforgiving, and the paid advantages surrounding DMZ are something I would rather see removed.

None of those things erases how much the overall package gets right.

Verdict

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the kind of FPS I wanted this series to deliver again.

The campaign is exciting, the characters have reasons to matter, the missions understand pacing, and the shooting feels absolutely fantastic. Add a compelling DMZ structure, multiplayer with serious staying power and outstanding sound design, and this becomes an incredibly satisfying release.

For me, this is Call of Duty at its best. Confident, entertaining and packed with things I actually want to play.

I hope more FPS games deliver this much. Until then, I am very happy to have this one.

Final score: 10/10.

Review by Andrew Louis.
Reviewed on PC.

Review access disclosure: A review code was provided by Activision. Thank you to Activision for providing access.