Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is a 2016 first-person shooter game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is a remastered version of the 2007 game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and was initially released as part of the special edition bundles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in November 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. A standalone version was released for these platforms in mid-2017. The game's story follows the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the Special Air Service (SAS), who take on missions to fight against a separatist group in the Middle East and an ultranationalist group in Russia.
Development began after an online petition requesting a Modern Warfare remaster began circulation. Activision enlisted Raven Software—who had assisted in the development of past Call of Duty games—to develop Modern Warfare Remastered, while original developer Infinity Ward supervised. Modern Warfare Remastered features extensive graphical enhancements, updated animations, and revised original sound effects as well as new ones. It retains the original core gameplay, with small adjustments. New multiplayer content, and additional single-player achievements and cheats are included.
Critics lauded Modern Warfare Remastered for its enhanced graphics, revised sound, and range of other modifications. They praised the gameplay for what was considered a challenging and innovative single-player campaign when compared to later games in the series. The multiplayer mode was complimented for its simplicity and freshness. Criticism focused on the multiplayer mode for balancing issues and the single-player mode for its pacing and artificial intelligence. Modern Warfare Remastered became the subject of controversy following Activision's decisions to initially release it only as part of a bundle, include microtransactions, and—in the eyes of players—overcharge for both the downloadable content (DLC) and standalone version of the game.
Gameplay
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered features the same core gameplay as the original version: it is a first-person shooter in which the player controls several characters during the single-player campaign, alternating from one to another between missions. It includes some modifications consisting of adjusted timing to existing gameplay animations, while remaining nearly identical to their original counterparts. In the prone position, the player character's arms and equipped weapon are visible. In the multiplayer mode, players can perform a taunt, by allowing them to inspect the exterior of their gun for example, intended to humiliate a defeated opponent.
The single-player campaign is almost identical to the original. It retains the same collectibles and cheats while adding several more of the latter. The game offers full PlayStation Network trophy and Xbox Live achievement support—trophies were absent from Modern Warfare because the game was released before they were introduced—by including several new challenges.
Modern Warfare Remastered features an updated version of the multiplayer mode that shares similarities with those featured in later Call of Duty games. It includes the same weapons, killstreaks—rewards gained that allows the player to locate opponents or call in military aircraft to attack them—perks, and game modes as Modern Warfare. Existing modes present in other installments are included such as "Gun Game", in which the player receives a new weapon each time they kill an opponent, and "Hardpoint", involving players attempting to secure and defend a designated area from the opposing team. New modes like "Prop Hunt", where players hide as inanimate objects from the opposition, are also introduced. Medals is another incorporated feature present in previous games. These are awarded to players if specific circumstances are met when killing an opponent. The multiplayer mode offers a larger variety of customization options for profile personalization, guns, and characters. The game also added weapons. All new content can be unlocked through completing challenges, crafting, or buying in-game currency through microtransactions.
Plot
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered features the same plot as the original game. The player mainly controls British Special Air Service (SAS) recruit Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, starting with his enrollment in the 22nd SAS Regiment. The player also controls United States Marine Corps (USMC) member Sergeant Paul Jackson during five of the levels of Act 1. SAS officer Captain John Price is playable in two flashback missions from 1996 when he was a lieutenant. The player further assumes the role of an American thermal-imaging TV operator aboard a Lockheed AC-130 gunship during one level, and a British operative infiltrating a hijacked airliner to save a VIP in another. Finally, the player controls Yasir Al-Fulani, the president of an unnamed Middle Eastern country before he is executed, although he has no freedom of action beyond turning his head.
While the United States invades a small, oil-rich Middle Eastern country following a coup d'état by the extremist Khaled Al-Asad, a British SAS squad infiltrates a cargo ship found to be carrying a nuclear device. Enemy jets sink the ship, but the SAS team escapes with its manifest and heads to Russia to rescue their informant, codenamed "Nikolai", from the Ultranationalist party. Intelligence from these operations indicates Al-Asad has a Russian nuclear device. The U.S. military launches an assault on his palace, but the nuclear device is detonated, wiping out most of the city and everyone in it.
The SAS team tracks down Al-Asad in Azerbaijan and discovers he was working with Imran Zakhaev, the leader of the Ultranationalist party. The mission then flashes back 15 years where Captain Price, who was a lieutenant, is sent alongside his commanding officer, Captain MacMillan, on a failed assassination attempt on Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine. After killing Al-Asad, the SAS team, with support from U.S. Marine Force Recon and Russian loyalists, attempt to capture Zakhaev's son, Victor, and learn his whereabouts. They ambush Victor, but he commits suicide. In response, Zakhaev seizes control of a nuclear launch facility. A joint operation is launched to take back the site, but Zakhaev launches intercontinental ballistic missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The joint teams are able to breach the facility and remotely destroy the missiles before fleeing the area.
Zakhaev's forces trap the escaping joint force on a bridge, and during the fight many are killed. He arrives, but a loyalist helicopter distracts him. The player shoots and kills Zakhaev with their pistol before being tended to by loyalist forces.
Development
Activision became interested in a remaster of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare following the circulation of an online petition. The publisher approached Raven Software, which had assisted in the development of previous Call of Duty games, to be the primary developer; Infinity Ward would act as executive producer. Raven's studio director, David Pellas, recalled that every Raven employee agreed to undertaking a remaster. The developers pledged to focus throughout development on redefining the term remaster while respecting the original game. Much of Modern Warfare was "rebuilt [...] from the ground up" through the revitalization of its source code, materials, layouts, and effects that Infinity Ward allowed Raven to access. The game runs in a native 1080p resolution (increased to 4K for the PlayStation 4 Pro version) at 60 frames per second, and uses the then latest iteration of the series' IW engine.
Raven wanted the remaster to provide a faithful experience for fans of Modern Warfare. They looked to connect newcomers to a world that players were used to in recent Call of Duty games, albeit one that mirrored reality. To assist in their decision-making, Raven scoured social media websites to find active players of Modern Warfare to understand what they would want from a re-release of the game. Pellas noted that the risk of negative fan reactions resulting from changes to the original and the desire to meet expectations was daunting for Raven; they were encouraged by their leading principle of keeping the gameplay unchanged. Subtle adjustments were made to the timing of existing gameplay animations, such as the transition between aiming a sniper rifle and the scope overlay appearing, but these were designed to be as close to identical to the original as possible.
In bringing Modern Warfares visuals up to modern standards, enhancements to the environments were designed using a procedure called "paint-over": color schemes were established and screenshots taken of the levels from Modern Warfare before they were overlaid with concept art. Raven wanted to give the environments a sense of history to avoid them feeling generic, with more visual details being integrated into them. The game used improved textures and mapping, effects, and lighting; objects were remodeled and new features such as realistic physics were used to move materials like clothing. The remaster became the first Call of Duty game to allow each gun to eject spent ammunition rounds accurate to that type, which was achieved through the inserted rounds remaining in the gun before ejection; identical rounds separate from those inserted were ejected in previous games. Raven faced some issues remastering the graphics, as the remaster used a heavily upgraded version of the series' engine. As a result, several of Modern Warfares visual assets were not suited to the new technology, requiring the developers to enhance or remake them. The movement of non-player characters was improved to be more realistic. Several new first-person animations were added to the single-player campaign for immersion during certain scenes and to improve how the camera made use of the player character's body.
The remastering of the game's audio included reverberation, depth, and spatial effects; one example a Raven developer noted was that, "Layering out multiple sounds now makes a big difference." A range of other examples of sound not present in Modern Warfare were used. The original music and vocal performances were retained, although Al-Asad's Arabic dialogue was amended and re-recorded to represent the game's English subtitles more accurately. Other minor dialogue alterations included adjusting the order of several lines and including new ones in the game's training level. Following negative player feedback at the gaming convention Call of Duty: XP 2016, the developers reverted changes to the multiplayer mode's announcers. Similarly, the weapon audio was revised to more closely resemble that found in the original game.
As well as the remastering process, the game contained an array of new features. The multiplayer mode's content initially remained largely unchanged. Ten of the original sixteen maps were featured at launch, after the developers realized they could not remaster every map by the release date; the remaining six were released as a free update several weeks later. Raven supported the multiplayer mode from December 2016 to keep players invested in the game, introducing types of cosmetic customization and new melee weapons within a business model. This includes a loot box system, virtual crates branded in-game as "supply drops", which contain randomized items. Supply drops are obtained after purchasing in-game currency called Call of Duty Points (CP) or with Depot Credits earned through playing. Parts are another in-game currency used to craft items, acquired in supply drops or from duplicate items. Raven published playlists and seasonal events, which introduced new but similar customization content, multiplayer modes, and variants of existing maps. Further guns and melee weapons were incorporated during these events along with other game updates.