During Gamescom 2019, Geoff Keighley and Infinity Ward announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019 Soft Reboot) was going to have an Open Alpha that would only include the initially revealed 2v2 Gunfight mode. On August 22nd, shortly after Gamescom 2019 wrapped up, Infinity Ward and the team at PlayStation released Modern Warfare’s Open Alpha so early, that it allowed a lot of people to pre-load, and get to playing the game. I unfortunately, found out only a few hours of it being known, but was able to get it downloading until overnight. I was playing as soon as this morning started (at press time it’s August 23rd, at 5:31pm PST/7:31pm EST), to try to get the feel for the game. I started streaming, which you can see below…
So, how is the game? How is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? Honestly? The best Call of Duty title since Black Ops 2. For me, the best Call of Duty titles is in this order: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2), followed up by Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. But, I can definitively say that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the best title I’ve seen so far, based on this Open Alpha.
I like Modern Warfare Remastered, but it’s COD4 remastered. 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is unique. It’s not like any other title in the series thus far. It’s still Call of Duty, but I can tell you that there’s just something about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that separates it from every other Call of Duty title. As soon as you start a match in Modern Warfare, you’ll realize just how smooth, how tight the game is. There is a lot of kick to every single gun shot. The movement is not as slow as everyone else is making it out to be, but only by a millisecond. That’s it.
The graphics of Modern Warfare is beautiful. The sound design makes Treyarch look like an afterthought. Everyone will agree that Treyarch’s Black Ops series has the best sound design of all Call of Duty titles, that is… until you play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. If combine the dynamic animations of Modern Warfare, with the controls, with the recoil feedback you get from each shot, with the sound design in Modern Warfare, you have a winning combination. You just have to experience it to really understand what makes Modern Warfare different from every other Call of Duty title.
It’s an Open Alpha, so it’s bound to have some issues. I found some. Overall, the server is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, but there are some hiccups in the Open Alpha which you can see the YouTube video embedded below. There are some skipping or stuttering going on in the Open Alpha. There are also hit detection issues, I’m not sure if it’s server related, but I sometimes hide behind cars with exposed view, but when I pull out my pistal, and shoot… The hit detection box doesn’t register or recognize my shots arriving at the player’s body or face. I swear that I shot a person point blank, and he doesn’t drop. I think that’s what Infinity Ward is looking for; those small issues. It’s one thing to play it via LAN, the other is playing it via the internet.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with Gunfight, I had a lot of fun playing with some players. There is some players who are trying to be nice, and trying to be on your team – a camaraderie – that has been sorely missing in Call of Duty games since COD4. I am glad there are some good players in the lobbies, but be forewarned: There are still campers who sit back and wait for you to come through a choke point to destroy you or humiliate you.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Blizzard’s Battle.net service on October 25, 2019.
