Everything We Know About Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Topic)

So far, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 looks like a game with promising multiplayer. However, for a large number of people, the storyline carries a lot of weight. After Treyarch decided not to include a story campaign in Black Ops 4, Infinity Ward are returning the series to a more familiar track and are going to take the storyline to the next level. Game Informer has collected all the most important we know about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Threat Detection

When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was launched in 2007, it talked about the confrontation between the two sides in a more traditional conflict [despite the name of the game]. However, the war in 2019 has changed dramatically. In a world of terrorism, militias and freedom fighters are clearly defined, as they were in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. With this in mind, the Infinity Ward team, led by a group of Naughty Dog natives, set out to create something unique, intense and unprecedented in a first-person shooter format.

The definition of "modern warfare" has changed, and with that, the team's approach to creating Modern Warfare must change as well. “Thematically, in this world, enemies don't have to wear uniforms,” says Gameplay Director Jacob Minkoff. “The world is not so clean. The war is much dirtier these days ... ".

In the storyline company, we must identify hidden threats as we progress through the mission. In one of the two story missions seen in Game Informer, a team of soldiers sneaks into the Townhouse where the terrorists have settled. We play as Sergeant Kyle Garrick, who believes that the rules of war must adapt in order to fight an enemy who does not play fair. Garrick wants to cross the line in his fight against the enemy. This mission shows exactly what he has to enter.

A brigade of soldiers breaks into the Townhouse from different points - the front door, the second floor window, the basement - and immediately begins to neutralize everyone in the building. Kyle crosses the kitchen and goes into the hallway that leads to the meeting room. Several terrorists are waiting for him there, talking loudly. Kyle puts on his night vision goggles, turns off the lights, and the team “shoots” enemies one by one. Moreover, you can move according to alternative scenarios. Without turning off the light, the enemy will see you and start resistance. Climbing the stairs, the squad will meet different scenarios for the development of events. For example, in one room a woman will run to grab her child, in another, a man will grab his wife as a human shield.

“If you shoot a guy like we did in this demo, she goes and grabs a gun,” Minkoff says. “We educate the player early on that you really need to identify threats. And all this is due to the fact that we talked with our military advisers. They do not talk about people as civilians or enemies. They divide them into threat and non-threat.

War is not always black and white, and the threat is not always unambiguous, and can be ambiguous. “Hostile action is a really simple thing,” says narrative director Taylor Kurosaki. In his opinion, this is when a person is simply shot. And hostile intentions need to be figured out.

As the team climbs the ladder, they face other, more obvious threats. For example, when in one room a guy hid under a bed with a gun to set up an ambush, and he might start shooting through the mattress. A similar situation is when approaching the attic, they shoot at you through a wooden door, and this shot will injure your co-worker. Each surface in the game has its own bandwidth. Therefore, it is much easier to shoot through a drywall door than a metal one. The same is the case with the 9mm pistol, which will be useless against armor.

When the team finally gets to the attic, Kyle is instructed to take the target alive. Entering the attic, the sergeant shoots her lower body to neutralize her, however she lunges towards the table and Kyle shoots her in the head. It would seem that the goal of the mission was not fulfilled, but when the heroes look at what was on the table, they see a detonator there. Minkoff and Kurosaki told Game Informer that if she grabbed the detonator in time, it would blow up the townhouse, killing the team and the game would end.

You will have to use your sixth sense and take tough actions that may contradict your goals. However, in most cases, this method of passing can also lead to a complete failure of the mission.

As told by Jacob Minkoff:

“We have a rather complex heuristic in which we are trying to determine if you, a player acting like a real soldier or a psychopath, are not playing by the rules?”

But while the player is required to identify threats, the plot in Modern Warfare will not rely on such details and branch out. The classic story for this franchise is very linear. As Minkoff told the portal again:

“We want you to have the highest quality cinematic experience we can create; this is what we did at Naughty Dog, this is what we do here. Sometimes branching and randomization will reduce the quality of the narrative. But there is certainly a place for that in video games. I myself am a big fan of big open world games that have a lot of randomness. But everyone knows that these games have great stories. We make the best cinematic experience. This is why it is linear. ”

Another experience

Gamers will be able to get a completely different experience playing as CIA operative Alex. It is located in the Middle East in the fictional country of Urzekstan. In the story, he collaborates with the local militia Farah, which can also be played.

As a flashback we will be shown the other side of the war. We take control of young Faro, she was pulled out from under the rubble of a destroyed house, which was hit by a shell. Next to her lies the body of her dead mother. Further, the gameplay consists of the fact that we run with my father to save her brother, use a screwdriver to kill a USA soldier who shoots her father and try to leave the city unnoticed.

Such a painful look at the hard life of Farah helps to better understand her as a character and her motivation, beliefs. Unlike Kyle Garrick, who wants to destroy the enemy by any means necessary, Pharah has a strong understanding of right and wrong and refuses to cross the line, sacrifice her humanity to win the battle.

She fights on two fronts: against the USAs who have occupied her country and those who are trying to restore control over her by violence. However, she is willing to lose the battle if she has to sacrifice her humanity. This is what defines her as a good character.

Given the opposing dynamics of the two sides, as well as creating daring situations inspired by the real world, one of the main goals of the game is to make the player feel empathy.

It was similar in past games, but very detached. “What we're bringing this time around is a much more developed sense of character. I want you to sympathize with each of these characters with all their views and say, "I understand why he did it, but I disagree with that." I want you to understand the complexity of modern warfare and empathize with the reasons why different people have different points of view. Understanding the narratives of different people is super, super important, ”says Minkoff.

Kurosaki, in turn, realizes that not all players are ready for this, but hopes that the storyline will still arouse the interest of those who want to relax. He believes that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, for people not very interested in world politics and the situation on the planet, should shed light on a character like Farah, who is largely based on people in tough modern realities, empathize and understand that war is not just something that happens “out there”.

The history of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 looks grim, and according to art director Joel Emsley, the end of the game is amazing. It's just a great story with great impact.

We can only wait for October 25 to understand whether the game will really meet all expectations.

The Topic of Article: Everything We Know About Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Author: Jake Pinkman