Call of Duty: 75 Modern Warfare trivia: facts about the new video game

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the newest installment in the Call of Duty franchise. It was released on October 25th, 2019.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about it!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game
It is developed by Infinity Ward
It is published by Activision
Serving as the sixteenth overall installment in the Call of Duty series
As well as a reboot of the Modern Warfare sub-series
It was released on October 25, 2019, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
The game is set to take place in a realistic and modern setting
For the first time in the franchise’s history, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will support cross-platform multiplayer
Activision has also confirmed that the franchise’s traditional season pass had been scrapped and loot boxes removed
Enabling the company to distribute free post-launch content to all players
Modern Warfare’s single-player campaign will focus on realism and feature tactically-based moral choices
Whereupon the player is evaluated and assigned a score at the end of each level
Players will have to quickly ascertain whether NPCs are a threat or not
Such as a civilian woman who is believed to be reaching for a gun, but then simply grabs her baby from a crib
This collateral damage score, referred to as a threat assessment, is based on how many civilians the player injures or kills and ranges from rank A to F
Rewards are introduced to those who score higher
Character dialogue will differ depending on the choices the player makes in the game
Tactical decisions are also included
Such as the player using a sniper rifle in a large environment to approach objectives in a non-linear order
And choosing to shoot out lights in favor of using night-vision goggles during breaching and clearing
The game’s multiplayer has been revised to allow for more tactical gameplay
Including a focus on map exploration, door breaching, and a “Realism” mode that removes the HUD
The mini-map has been removed in favor of a compass-style marker
With visual cues to detect friendlies and opponents
Multiplayer also features the return of Killstreaks (rewards based on kills), with more recent Call of Duty titles having used Scorestreaks (rewards based on score) instead
The online modes allow for a larger range of players within a map than previous installments
With a new mode called “Ground War” featuring over 100 players
While conversely another new mode, “Gunfight”, tasks two teams of two players against each other in small matches lasting forty seconds per round
The game includes an extensive weapons customization system
Presenting most guns with a range of up to 60 attachments to choose from (five of which can be equipped at any one time)
The introduction at the start of multiplayer matches has also been revamped
While in previous titles players would remain motionless on the map as a timer would countdown to zero
Players will instead be transported into the battle zone as part of various animations
Modern Warfare will be the first game in the series since 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts not to feature a Zombies mode
Instead featuring the cooperative “Spec Ops” mode previously present in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The Spec Ops mode shares its narrative with both the campaign and multiplayer
The mode will include survival mode which was present in Modern Warfare 3
But is exclusive to the PlayStation 4 release until October 2020
Modern Warfare will be “heavy on troubling, realistic emotional moments”
Being compared to the thematic elements of the controversial “No Russian” mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The plot will feature a unified narrative across the campaign, co-op, and multiplayer modes
The game was developed by Infinity Ward, following their 2016 entry Infinite Warfare
And continuing in the “three year development cycle” tradition for the franchise
Beenox, Raven Software and High Moon Studios provided additional development
The game uses a brand-new engine for the series, allowing for the use of more detailed environments, advanced photogrammetry and rendering, better volumetric lighting, and the use of ray tracing
On May 30, the game’s official trailer and release date were unveiled
According to narrative director Taylor Kurosaki, Captain Price will be featured in a retconned narrative “where the events in the previous Modern Warfare timeline have not occurred”
Studio art director Joel Emslie described the game’s narrative as “much more grown-up [and] mature”
Designed to elicit a more intimate and emotional response from players through a depiction of conflict based on contemporary events (such as terror attacks in London and the Syrian Civil War) rather than the original trilogy’s reliance on bombastic set pieces
Campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff expressed his desire for video games to go further in exploring otherwise traditionally taboo topics in the medium
Noting that television series and films such as Homeland, American Sniper, and Sicario told “relatable, realistic, relevant, and provocative stories that really touch people”
In avoiding telling such stories insensitively, consultants were brought in from multiple cultures
For example, conflict related to the Middle East in the game is located in the fictional country Urzikstan rather than based on any specific real-life location
Half of the game has been described as having morally complex choices
And the narrative has resulted in making several playtesters cry
Some controversial aspects of the game were removed prior to its release as the developers were unsure of how much potential emotional discomfort they wanted to effect
This included a line in which a Russian soldier ponders handing over a captured girl to his commanding officer, implying pedophilia
Following previews at E3 2019, the game was subject to some controversy in response to it tackling realistic and mature subject matter
Such as presenting child soldiers and the ability to shoot civilians (including infants)
Escapist Magazine’s Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw described the gameplay demonstration as “fifteen minutes of cold intense ruthless killing”
IGN felt it was the most divisive game of the event
Other critics also gave mixed opinions
Recalling the past successes of video games as a medium to provide social commentary on war and conflict
Such as Spec Ops: The Line, This War of Mine, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Emma Kent of Eurogamer criticized a level in which the player controls a child soldier
Which she felt inappropriately merged sensitive subject matter and over-dramatized violence into a boss fight, creating “a Frankensteinian, dissonant mess”
Kent described another level involving a stealth operation inside a building as having a “heavy-handed” emphasis on avoiding civilian collateral damage
Although praised it as “a good exploration of the way terrorists are embedded within civilian communities”
Cade Onder of GameZone similarly commented on the civilian collateral damage and child soldier level
Opining that the former lacked tension because there was only one civilian present
Thereby only granting the illusion of choice, and the latter turning “an otherwise very real and grounded moment […] into a very video game-y moment”
Also comparing it to Spec Ops: The Line, Onder reflected on whether killing too many civilians would merely result in a game over
Causing ludonarrative dissonance, and how the linearity of the game may prevent it from reaching its narrative ambitions
The game’s multiplayer beta in September 2019 was withdrawn for reasons unknown from the PlayStation Store in Russia
A prominent theory posits that this is because the Russian media, and by proxy the Russian government, had been critical of the game’s campaign’s reportedly favorable portrayal of the White Helmets, a volunteer organisation that operates in parts of opposition-controlled Syria
In October 2019, Sony announced that Modern Warfare would not be sold on the PlayStation Store in Russia