Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 4 Review Summary

A superb campaign with impressive visuals and excellent gunplay is undermined by DLSS being disabled with ray tracing, Call of Duty HQ launcher problems, and an abrupt, unsatisfying ending.

Exceptional campaign quality: The campaign is overwhelmingly praised as one of the best in years, with many calling it a masterpiece and the best in the series. It is engaging, well-written, and worth the price.

Best in Call of Duty history: Reviewers frequently compare this campaign favorably to classic titles like MW2, MW3, and Black Ops 2, with some declaring it the best Call of Duty campaign ever made.

Impressive graphics and visuals: Graphics are stunning, gorgeous, and consistently impressive, with top-notch performance and detailed environments.

Excellent gunplay and shooting: Gunplay is described as fantastic, phenomenal, and polished, with tight weapon feel and smooth animations.

Strong narrative and story: The story is powerful, well-written, and surprisingly good, with strong characters and presentation.

DLSS disabled with ray tracing: Ray tracing cannot be enabled together with DLSS, which severely limits performance and is considered an unprecedented restriction. Enabling ray tracing also completely disables DLSS.

Call of Duty HQ launcher issues: The game uses the Call of Duty HQ launcher, which is awful and has usual issues. Integration forces unnecessary relaunches and is considered bloatware.

Abrupt and unsatisfying ending: The ending is abrupt and rushed, does not make sense, and feels underwhelming. Players were unhappy with how it ended.

Disrespectful character deaths: Familiar characters are killed off one after another without dramatic buildup or respect. Deaths of major characters feel neither satisfying nor heartbreaking.

Game missing from Steam library: After purchase, the game does not appear in the Steam library despite showing in purchase history. This prevents players from accessing the game.

Campaign mode included: The game features a story campaign with missions, cutscenes, and various gameplay elements. It is a core component alongside multiplayer.

DMZ-style open world missions: The campaign includes open world missions reminiscent of DMZ, with large maps, fast travel, and exploration. These sections integrate DMZ mechanics into the story.

Multiplayer and DMZ modes: Beyond the campaign, the game offers multiplayer and DMZ modes, though some may not be available at launch. These modes provide additional online experiences.

Korean setting and storyline: The campaign is set in Korea and involves a Korean conflict, including missions in North Korea. The story backdrop is a key element.

Single-player campaign experience: The game includes a single-player campaign that can be played solo, with some sections controlling specific characters like Captain Price. It is a focused shooter experience.

Good performance on high-end hardware: Many users with powerful GPUs like RTX 40 series report smooth performance at high or ultra settings, often achieving well over 100 FPS. DLSS is frequently cited as beneficial for maintaining high frame rates.

Cutscene stuttering and visual glitches: Cutscenes frequently stutter, show visual break-up, pixelation, tearing, or doubling effects. Issues are more pronounced with ray tracing enabled or on systems without an SSD.

Ray tracing causes performance issues: Many users report severe FPS drops, stutters, and visual break-up when ray tracing is enabled. Disabling ray tracing often resolves these problems, with some noting performance increases of up to 4x.

Smooth performance without ray tracing: Without ray tracing, the game runs smoothly on a variety of hardware, including older GPUs and laptops. Users report stable frame rates and no major issues.

Ray tracing poorly implemented: Ray tracing is described as buggy, with visual break-up and forced anti-aliasing that hurts performance. It is advised to disable ray tracing on older GPUs.

Worth buying overall: Many reviewers strongly recommend purchasing the game, often citing it as worth the money. Some advise buying at a discount rather than full price.

Campaign is highly praised: The single-player campaign is frequently highlighted as the main highlight, with many recommending the game specifically for its story. Some consider it one of the best Call of Duty campaigns.

Appeals to Call of Duty fans: Reviewers often recommend the game to fans of the Call of Duty series, particularly those who enjoy the Modern Warfare sub-series. Long-time fans are especially likely to appreciate it.

Wait for a sale: Several reviewers feel the game is not worth full price, especially for the campaign alone, and suggest waiting for a discount. Some specify a deep sale or a particular discount threshold.

Watch playthroughs instead: Some suggest watching a story playthrough on YouTube or streaming instead of buying, especially if only interested in the story or to save money.

Community fair range: $40.00 - $60.00.

Game completion: 10.0h.

Story completion: 6.5h.

The campaign is widely described as gripping from its opening, with relentless action and strong pacing. A minority flag specific story and mission-pacing dips, but the reports do not support a general delayed hook.

Friction: Korean War subplot falls flat after the first 1-2 missions; Price revenge arc feels boring; Overall vibe and gameplay feel soulless compared with 2019; Semi-open-world 10th mission stalls pacing; Forced stealth moments clunk up the pacing; Initial concern that armor plates would hurt pacing.

Unlock drivers: Armor plates add tactical dynamics instead of slowing pacing; Built-in fast travel lets players skip the semi-open mission.

Campaign Nostalgia Veteran: Plays the single-player campaign on Veteran difficulty, focuses on cinematic story moments, and judges the game primarily by its narrative and set pieces. Motivation: Reliving classic Call of Duty campaign nostalgia and seeing the rebooted Modern Warfare story reach a satisfying finale. Stance: buy.

Multiplayer and DMZ Hopeful: Plays beta and launch multiplayer, anticipates DMZ, and evaluates the game by long-term online fun, balance, and mode quality. Motivation: Sustained online competition and extraction-mode progression through multiplayer and DMZ. Stance: buy.

Value-Conscious Campaign Buyer: Plays campaign-only, tracks completion time and mission count, and waits for sales or discounts before purchasing. Motivation: Getting a satisfying single-player campaign that feels worth the money spent. Stance: sale.

Low-VRAM Windows cohorts mostly report smooth, well-optimized play, while the 8-11GB VRAM and 12-15GB VRAM cohorts show substantial launch, crash, and ray-tracing problems. High-VRAM cohorts are split between smooth gameplay and complaints about cutscene frame rates and DLSS/ray-tracing limitations.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: mixed. Reports are split: some users praise stellar performance and smooth optimization, while others cite low FPS with ray tracing, DLSS limitations, stutters, and crashes.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. Many report strong optimization and high frame rates, but launch failures, instant crashes, and repeated mission crashes are also common.

Windows <8GB VRAM / 16-31GB RAM: positive. Most reports describe good performance and impressive graphics on 8GB VRAM systems, with only minor texture or ray-tracing caveats.

Steam Deck: The feedback shows high friction for a Steam Deck scenario. Anti-cheat boot attestation failures and Secure Boot/TPM requirements can block online play, launcher chains and huge downloads add setup burden, and users report crashes, freezes, and broken DLSS/ray tracing performance. One Deck-only user explicitly hopes for playability rather than confirming it. Under the scoring criteria, anti-cheat errors place the experience in the Broken tier.

Linux and Proton: The filtered reviews contain no explicit Linux, Proton, SteamOS, or Wine compatibility feedback. Mentions of RICOCHET anti-cheat, Secure Boot/TPM attestation errors, ray tracing performance, frame rates, and upscaling refer to Windows or general PC experiences and do not establish Linux/Proton friction.

Favorable comparison to Modern Warfare series: Reviewers frequently compare the game to previous Modern Warfare titles (MW2, MW3, MW4, MW2019) and often find it better or among the best. Some note it rivals or is just behind MW2019.

Favorable comparisons to other CoD campaigns: Many reviewers compare the campaign favorably to other Call of Duty campaigns across the series, including older titles and recent entries. It is often ranked among the top Call of Duty campaigns.

DMZ mode included: The game includes a DMZ mode, which is mentioned as a feature and anticipated by players. DMZ is expected to complement the campaign and multiplayer.

Best CoD campaign in years: Several reviewers call it the best Call of Duty campaign since Black Ops 1 or 2, or the best in 15 years. It is considered a standout in the modern era.

Multiplayer not yet available: At the time of review, multiplayer is not yet released or open. Reviewers note it is planned but not yet available.