Featured image: official Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 key art. Image credit: Activision / Infinity Ward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 had a lot to fix. After the rushed, forgettable campaign of Modern Warfare III, plenty of us stopped expecting much from Call of Duty’s story mode at all. So here’s the short version up front: Infinity Ward has pulled it back. MW4’s campaign is loud, tense, surprisingly dark, and easily the most memorable the series has delivered in years. It isn’t perfect, and the leash it keeps you on gets tight at times, but this is a Call of Duty you’ll actually want to finish.
This Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 review covers the campaign, which is playable now through early access. Multiplayer and DMZ go fully live with the main launch, and we’ll update this review once we’ve had proper time with both.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – Quick Verdict
8 / 10
Developer: Infinity Ward | Publisher: Activision
Release date: October 23, 2026 (campaign early access from October 16)
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam, Battle.net, Xbox on PC), Nintendo Switch 2
Campaign length: 16 missions, roughly 6 to 8 hours
Table of Contents
What Is Modern Warfare 4 About?
MW4 takes the rebooted Modern Warfare saga somewhere it has never really gone: the Korean Peninsula. North Korea launches a full-scale invasion of the South, and the story follows two very different soldiers caught up in it. Activision laid out the setting, cast and modes in its official Modern Warfare 4 announcement.
The first is Private Park Hyun Jun (played by Young Mazino), a young South Korean recruit facing combat for the first time, fighting alongside his squad and a pair of US Marines stationed in Korea. The second is a familiar face in an unfamiliar place: Captain John Price (Barry Sloane), now a fugitive after killing General Shepherd at the end of the last game. With Task Force 141 broken up, Ghost and Gaz, his own former teammates, are the ones sent after him.
Hanging over both stories is a mysterious figure called “the Archer,” played by Mads Mikkelsen, who is waiting on delivery of a very dangerous weapon. The war also spills well beyond Korea, with missions in New York, Paris and Mumbai.
The Campaign: Big, Bold and Finally Worth Your Time
The opening sets the tone perfectly. You start out walking through an ordinary day in Seoul: busy streets, stocked shelves, people chatting about nothing. It’s calm, it’s normal, and you know exactly what’s coming. When the attack hits, the shift is jarring in the best way, the same kind of slow-burn opening that made the classic Modern Warfare 2 so memorable.
From there, MW4 rarely slows down. Some highlights, kept spoiler-light:
- The nightclub mission starts as a quiet hunt for a target and spirals into a stylish shootout through rooms lined with giant screens. It plays like something lifted straight from a modern action movie.
- “Stranded” is the standout. Park is dropped behind enemy lines in the North Korean countryside with nothing but a pistol, and you’re left to scavenge, explore and tackle objectives however you like. You can fast travel past most of it, but please don’t. It’s the closest Call of Duty has come to a proper open-ended mission.
- The amphibious assault on Seoul is a deliberate nod to the series’ D-Day roots, and the scale of it is genuinely impressive.
- A mission played from the other side puts you in the boots of a North Korean soldier searching a village. It’s uncomfortable, and it’s meant to be.
That last one points to what makes this campaign different. MW4 is morally messier than usual. Price in particular is not the clear-cut hero he used to be, and the game doesn’t try to make his choices easy to cheer for. Not every character makes it out alive either. Infinity Ward uses this game to close out storylines that started back in 2019, and it isn’t sentimental about it.
The new cast does a lot of heavy lifting. Mads Mikkelsen is great fun as the villain, but the real scene-stealer is Lanny Joon as Ko Jin-Hyuk, a high-ranking KPA officer who brings real menace to every scene he’s in.
Watch the Official Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Trailer
Where It Falls Short
For all its spectacle, MW4 still doesn’t fully trust you to play it your way.
Mission boundaries are strict. Wander a little too far from your squad, or step outside the intended path, and you’ll often get an instant fail screen. This is most frustrating in the big set pieces, where the game seems more concerned that you see every scripted moment than that you have fun getting through it. Coming straight off the freedom of “Stranded,” that rigidity stands out even more.
The civilian rule is another sore spot. Clipping a single civilian means an immediate game over, even in chaotic sections where you’re firing from a moving vehicle through crowded streets. It makes sense on paper, but in practice it turns some of the best action scenes into trial and error.
Gameplay and Feel
The gunplay is excellent, as you’d expect from Infinity Ward. Weapons feel heavy and punchy, firefights are intense, and the sound design does a lot of the work.
Movement has been loosened up compared to Modern Warfare II, which a lot of players found stiff. Mantling, climbing and hanging have all been expanded, so you can now grab ledges and shimmy along them. Don’t expect the Omnimovement system from Black Ops 6 and 7, though. Infinity Ward has gone for something quicker and more fluid than before, but still grounded.
Multiplayer and DMZ: What to Expect at Launch
We’ll give these a proper verdict after launch week, but here’s what’s coming on October 23:
- 12 core 6v6 maps at launch, plus dedicated Gunfight maps and large-scale Big War maps with vehicles.
- Kill Block, a new arena inside a training facility that rebuilds itself between rounds, with more than 500 possible layouts.
- No more hipfire bloom. Hipfire shots now go where your weapon is pointed, part of a reworked gunplay system Infinity Ward calls Ballistic Authority.
- Two Prestige paths: Classic Prestige resets your unlocks for bonus XP and rewards, while Regular Prestige lets you keep your loadouts.
DMZ returns as a full extraction mode. Up to 20 squads of three drop into Hajin, a South Korean exclusion zone left behind after a nuclear reactor meltdown, and its story picks up after the campaign. Between runs you return to a Forward Operating Base to build loadouts and craft gear, each Operator has its own persistent trait trees, the weather changes as a match goes on, and a Bounty Board turns fights with rival squads into a risk-versus-reward call. DMZ early access opens on October 20 for anyone who pre-ordered digitally.
Graphics, PC and Switch 2
MW4 is the first Call of Duty to skip PS4 and Xbox One entirely, and it shows. It’s a great-looking game, with dense, detailed environments and some striking lighting. On PC, ray-traced reflections, shadows and ambient occlusion are available across the campaign, multiplayer and DMZ, along with DLSS 4.5 support.
It’s also Call of Duty’s first release on a Nintendo console since Ghosts on Wii U back in 2013. The Switch 2 version supports cross-play with other platforms and optional mouse-style controls using the Joy-Con 2. It joins a strong year for the console, including the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.
Is Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass?
Not at launch. Unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, which arrived on Game Pass on day one, Modern Warfare 4 is a standalone purchase for now. It’s expected to join Game Pass in Holiday 2027. For everything else heading to the service, see our Xbox Games Showcase 2026 recap.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Review Verdict: Is It Worth It?
If you buy Call of Duty purely for multiplayer, you were always going to pick this up, and the early changes look promising. But if you’re someone who used to love these campaigns and gave up on them over the last few years, MW4 is the one to come back for.
It’s the strongest Modern Warfare story since the 2019 reboot, packed with huge set pieces, a strong new cast and a darker edge than the series usually dares to have. The overly strict mission design and that unforgiving civilian rule hold it back from greatness, but not by much.
Score: 8/10
Pros
- Spectacular, cinematic set pieces
- “Stranded” is a brilliant open-ended mission
- Strong new characters and performances
- Satisfying conclusion to the Modern Warfare reboot story
- Excellent gunplay and visuals
Cons
- Rigid mission boundaries and instant fail states
- Civilian rule causes frustrating restarts
- Not on Game Pass at launch
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Modern Warfare 4 FAQ
When does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 release?
October 23, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. Digital pre-orders get campaign early access from October 16 and DMZ early access from October 20.
How long is the Modern Warfare 4 campaign?
The campaign has 16 missions and takes roughly 6 to 8 hours, depending on difficulty and how much you explore.
Where is Modern Warfare 4 set?
Mainly on the Korean Peninsula during a North Korean invasion of the South, with missions in New York, Paris and Mumbai as well.
Is DMZ in Modern Warfare 4?
Yes. DMZ returns as a full extraction mode set in Hajin, a South Korean exclusion zone, with up to 20 squads of three per match.
Is Modern Warfare 4 on Nintendo Switch 2?
Yes, with cross-play and optional Joy-Con 2 mouse controls.
Is Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass?
Not at launch. It’s expected to arrive on Game Pass in Holiday 2027.
All images, including the featured image, are official promotional assets. Image credit: Activision / Infinity Ward. Trailer: Call of Duty official YouTube channel. Call of Duty and Modern Warfare are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
