Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is officially out, but you may have noticed that not all of the new multiplayer modes are live–noticeably NVG and Ground War. The former was removed from Modern Warfare’s multiplayer rotation ahead of launch in an update. The latter, Ground War, is scheduled to release on all platforms on the night of release day: Friday, October 25.

“Jump into Campaign, Special Ops, and Multiplayer, and starting Friday night grab your friends for Ground War,” Infinity Ward tweeted. “And, for the first time ever, you can earn XP and unlock exclusive gear for Multiplayer and Special Ops through Campaign.”

Currently, the option to select Ground War isn’t even available. When playing multiplayer, you can queue for Quick Play, Gunfight, Cyber Attack, Realism, and Private Match. Infinity Ward did not provide a more specific time for when Ground War would go live other than “tonight.”

For those unaware, Ground War feels like Call of Duty’s answer to Battlefield, putting you on massive maps where huge teams of players–up to 100 or more–fight it out. The maps aren’t just large horizontally either, as they feature plenty of vertical spaces to climb up in to. And to help get around, there are vehicles. Your strategies for Call of Duty’s traditional 6-on-6 or 10-on-10 modes aren’t likely to be very effective in Ground War. You need to play a bit differently to excel.

If Modern Warfare is your first Call of Duty game, don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of essential beginners tips to best help you succeed. Modern Warfare also sees the return of several characters from the Call of Duty franchise, so if you need a refresher on who’s important and what they each mean for the future, we’ve got you covered.

In GameSpot’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review, Kallie Plagge wrote, “The pitfalls of Spec Ops don’t detract from what Modern Warfare does well. Realism mode is an excellent addition to the slate, and although not all the new multiplayer modes are great, Gunfight and the Night Vision playlist are refreshing standouts. And while the campaign ends up playing it safe in the end, it’s still a memorable one, and it lays a strong foundation for where the Modern Warfare series could go from here.”

Source: GameSpot.com

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out now, bringing the series back to a gritty modern-day theater of war. The campaign tells the story of moral compromises and civilian damage. But how long does it take to see it through?

Before release, Infinity Ward promised that the campaign would last about as long as you’d expect from a Call of Duty game, but that it could vary greatly. In our experience, a playthrough of the campaign lasts 4-5 hours. That was the case regardless of difficulty, so play on the mode that you feel most comfortable with.

Reviews have been hitting right alongside the release of the game, and so far the critical consensus seems fairly positive–if not effusive. That’s also the case in GameSpot’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review-in-progress, which gave it a score of 7/10. Kallie Plagge said the campaign raises interesting questions but fails to take them to a deeper level.

“Just when it could really make a point about any other aspect of modern war, it pulls back,” the review states. “Modern Warfare makes old observations and presents them with new flourishes. Those new flourishes do make for a good campaign and solid multiplayer. But it’s when Modern Warfare asks you to think harder that it falls short.”

For more on Modern Warfare, check out our essential tips to get you started, and keep in mind that Ground War will go live later tonight.

Source: GameSpot.com

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for the story of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot, as well as the original series. Read on at your own risk!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboots the 2007 game, bringing back some of the same characters but putting them into a new, more contemporary situation. The game reimagines a few specific people and their roles in world events, like series regular Captain Price. It also suggests that more Modern Warfare sequels are on the way and gives a few hints at where the series might be headed in a post-credits scene and with its Spec Ops mode.

To understand the direction of Modern Warfare 2019’s ending, you need to remember the plot from the original series. Those games saw a Russian ultranationalist named Irman Zharkaev attempting to destabilize world politics in order to trigger a world war between the US and Russia–with the help of an American general. Modern Warfare 2019 doesn’t include those old villains, instead focusing on the crisis taking place in a fictional, Russian-occupied Middle Eastern country called Urzikstan. But there are more Modern Warfare series regulars mentioned toward the end of the game, which suggests we might see some of the original franchise’s plot points get reimagined as well.

What Happens In The End

The post-credits scene of Modern Warfare 2019 sees Captain Price meeting with CIA agent Kate Laswell to discuss the future. Price sees the need for a new military unit that can go to hot spots around the world, without implicating any particular government with its operations. That leads to the creation of Task Force 141, with Price running down which soldiers he’d like to recruit for the group, which will fight terrorists and rogue military leaders like those seen in Modern Warfare.

That puts the new Modern Warfare into a rebooted timeline before the events of the original game–we’re seeing Price set up Task Force 141, whereas in Modern Warfare 2007, the group is already in operation. And it seems that this new game could be setting up a reimagined version of some of the events of the first Modern Warfare, as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The Return Of Al-Asad

Start the cooperative Spec Ops mode and you can continue the story of Modern Warfare 2019 with more missions. The opening cutscene sees the return of a villain from the original game: Kaled Al-Asad, a military leader who, at the start of the 2007 game, led a coup in a Middle Eastern country. If you remember the plot of the original game, you know that Al-Asad eventually set off a nuclear weapon in his country. It was also revealed that he was working with Zharkaev, and that the events in Al-Asad’s country set things in motion that eventually led to Russia attacking the US and World War III. It seems Spec Ops is showing us the early days of Al-Asad’s operations, but his presence is a big suggestion that we might see events from the original Modern Warfare in the next game. Zharkaev hasn’t shown up yet in Modern Warfare 2019, but it seems likely he wouldn’t be far behind his former co-conspirator.

Shepherd’s Plans

In Modern Warfare 2, we learn that there’s another villain working in the shadows to create war between the US and Russia: Gen. Shepherd, the commanding officer of Task Force 141. Like Zharkaev and his beliefs about Russia, Shepherd thinks the only way to return America to its former glory is through war. He’s the one responsible for the No Russian mission in that game, in which a terrorist group attacks civilians in a Russian airport. At the end of the mission, the terrorists kill the character you play as; it’s revealed you were a CIA agent, and the US gets blamed for the attack.

Eventually, Captain Price and Soap, the player character, track Shepherd down and kill him, but not before the damage is done and Russia invades the US. Shepherd doesn’t appear in the new Modern Warfare, but he is mentioned briefly at the start of Spec Ops. That means he’s back in the rebooted timeline, along with Al-Asad and, presumably, Zharkaev.

The Future Of The Franchise

So what do all these recurring villains mean? It seems very likely that just as Infinity Ward revisited the character of Price and put him into new situations, it’s also planning to revisit Al-Asad, Shepherd, and Zharkaev in its rebooted timeline. Because it’s set before the formation of Task Force 141, the events of the original Modern Warfare haven’t taken place yet in the rebooted timeline–but a lot of the same players are there. Given how Infinity Ward’s new Modern Warfare is taking a page from current political situations in the world, it seems very likely that future Modern Warfare games will also feature different events from the original trilogy. However, a lot of the ideas from the series that started in 2007, like shaky US and Russia relations, international terrorism, and proxy wars around the world, are still relevant today. We don’t yet know what future Modern Warfare games have in store, but these characters and their role in past games, plus the current events shaping Modern Warfare 2019, give a hint that a conflict between the US and Russia is likely brewing in the future.

Source: GameSpot.com

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019, as well as the original series. You might want to finish the campaign before reading further.

When it rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward reimagined some of the series’ original characters and put them in a new, more contemporary setting. The game’s story deals with events that are similar to what’s happening in our real world, and while some of the characters are the same, the story of the game is very different.

But the ending of Modern Warfare 2019 includes some hints that characters and events from the original series might be part of future installments. It also reimagines the timeline of the original franchise, placing the reboot before the events of the original game. That doesn’t mean Modern Warfare 2019 is a true prequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, per se–but it seems that plot points and characters from the original games might be appearing in the rebooted series’ future.

The Ending Of Modern Warfare 2019

Much of the information about Modern Warfare 2019’s placement in a new, rebooted franchise timeline comes from the post-credits scene at the end of its campaign. In it, we see series mainstay Captain Price talking with CIA agent Kate Laswell, both of whom are major characters in the reboot. Price discusses setting up a new squad, one that will be able to operate around the world to deal with crises without implication particular governments with its actions. Price has a name for the squad: Task Force 141.

If you’re familiar with the original Modern Warfare, you know that in that game, Task Force 141 is already fully up and running, and operating in the world. You join the squad as John “Soap” MacTavish and run through a training simulator before joining the squad on a mission. This is the biggest indcator that Modern Warfare 2019 takes on the role of something of an origin story: Task Force 141 is only an idea at the end of Modern Warfare 2019 and the events of this new game spur its creation.

Al-Asad’s Coup

The original Modern Warfare kicked off with a coup in a Middle Eastern country, led by Kaled Al-Asad, one of the game’s villains. A big part of that game is about taking Al-Asad down, which results in him launching a nuclear weapon against American and coalition forces fighting to stop him in his country. Al-Asad is not a major player in most of the rebooted Modern Warfare, but he does show up at the end of the game in the cooperative Spec Ops mode. It seems your goal in that mode is to fight him and his terrorist organization.

That means we’re seeing Al-Asad at an earlier point in the progression of the original Modern Warfare’s story, before he gains enough power to take over a country. It’s not clear right now if that means the next game in Infinity Ward’s new Modern Warfare timeline will have similar events to the 2007 game, but it’s definitely possible. We could see the next CoD game focus entirely on Al-Asad, which could easily dovetail into a story with similar events to the original Modern Warfare trilogy–which, you might recall, ended with a world war between the US and Russia. Modern Warfare 2019 also mentions Gen. Shepherd, the American military commander who betrays Task Force 141 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Shepherd mentioned as still working with Price and Laswell in Spec Ops.

Taken together, these hints all suggest that Modern Warfare 2019 is at the start of a new series that could revisit some of the territory of the original–or could completely reimagine it. Still, we know that the latest entry into the Call of Duty franchise is actually something of an origin story for the squad we fought with throughout the original Modern Warfare trilogy. Where the story goes from here, though, is anybody’s guess, although Infinity Ward has definitely included some hints.

Source: GameSpot.com

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