Modern Warfare 4 Review: We Played the Beta, and the Multiplayer Isn’t There Yet

Our Modern Warfare 4 review starts with a confession: we wanted to love it. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23, and the campaign is getting the best reviews the series has had in years. But we played the multiplayer open beta, and we came away disappointed. The time-to-kill is too fast, the spawns are all over the place, and too many deaths feel like they happen before you can do anything about it.

To be clear about what this review covers: our score is based on the multiplayer beta, not the finished game. We haven't played the full campaign or the launch version, and Infinity Ward has promised more changes before release. If launch fixes what we didn't like, we'll update this review and the score.

Modern Warfare 4 review at a glance

Modern Warfare 4 review: the time-to-kill is too fast

Our biggest problem with Modern Warfare 4 was how quickly you die. Time-to-kill (TTK) is how long it takes to down an enemy, and in the beta it was so short that most fights were over before we'd had a chance to react, let alone outplay anyone. Getting shot from an angle you couldn't see and dying instantly isn't tense, it's frustrating, and it happened far too often.

We weren't the only ones who felt it. Infinity Ward made several weapon-tuning passes during the first beta weekend, then gave every single weapon an update for the second weekend, aiming for "more survivability and room for skill expression in combat." Even after that, its own closing notes on September 1 admitted: "we aren't fully satisfied with TTK and will continue dialing in our weapons ahead of launch."

The spawns are all over the place

Spawns were the other big problem. Too often we spawned straight into the enemy's sights, or so far from the action that we spent the next half-minute running back to it. Combined with the fast TTK, it made matches feel random: you'd die, spawn somewhere strange, and die again before you'd got your bearings.

Again, Infinity Ward agrees there's a problem. It changed spawn logic in every respawn mode at the end of the first weekend, cut spawning on squad members, and rebuilt how Hardpoint spawns work for the second. Its own notes warned: "You may still see some bad spawns on smaller maps, and on larger maps you may spawn too far from the action." Its September 1 update listed "additional spawn improvements" as a focus for launch, especially "on certain map/mode combinations."

What Infinity Ward got right in the beta

It isn't all bad. Infinity Ward patched the beta almost every day and was unusually open about what it was changing and why. Some of those changes were smart:

• Tactical Sprint moved to a perk (Blood Rush), so the default pace is more classic Modern Warfare and the fastest movement is now a choice.
• Killstreaks cost one more kill after players complained about killstreak spam in the first weekend.
• Aim assist was reduced, with the studio admitting it still wasn't where it wanted it.
• Battle Hardened was added to spawn protection, so flashbangs and stun grenades hit you less hard right after you spawn.

The game also looks and sounds great. But the problems above are about the core of how a Call of Duty match feels, and at the end of the beta they still weren't fixed.

What about the campaign?

This is where the news is much better, though it isn't something we've played. The campaign went live early on October 16 for digital pre-orders, and critics' reviews (still marked "in progress" on Metacritic) are very positive. GameSpot calls it the best campaign "since Modern Warfare 2019", Destructoid says "it's the best the series has had in quite some time", and PC Gamer says it's "the first time in too long that Call of Duty's campaign does not feel like the afterthought." Several reviewers mention the Paris chase as a highlight, while some criticise repetitive quick-time events and the lack of co-op.

The story takes the Modern Warfare series to war on the Korean Peninsula, with missions in Korea, New York, Paris and Mumbai. There's also DMZ, an extraction mode that opens early on October 20 for pre-orders, and 12 new 6v6 maps at launch, according to the Xbox Store.

What players are saying

On Steam, Modern Warfare 4 is rated Very Positive (93% of 3,800+ reviews at the time of writing), but almost all of those reviews are about the campaign, because multiplayer isn't live yet. A cross-section, credited to the players who wrote them:

• The campaign. Lumina™ wrote the most upvoted review: "Hate to say it, but the campaign was good."
• The price. The Fabulous Slayer calls it one of the best-written campaigns in the series, but asks if it's worth $70 on its own, and answers "No."
• The launcher. CRONBACHALFA says the game is good, but on PC it runs through the Call of Duty HQ app instead of as a standalone game, which they say ruins the experience.
• Anti-cheat problems. MAWstermind reports a "BIOS firmware: Update Required" error from the RICOCHET anti-cheat on a new Windows 11 PC with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot switched on, which locked them out of online modes until they updated their motherboard's BIOS.
• Waiting for multiplayer. DietCoke would give the story 10 out of 10, but says it's an expensive game for a short campaign until multiplayer arrives.

Modern Warfare 4 PC requirements

Watch the Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer trailer

Modern Warfare 4 review verdict: should you pre-order?

Not on the strength of the multiplayer we played. If you mainly buy Call of Duty for the campaign, the early reviews say this is the one to get, and that may be enough for you. But at $69.99 / £59.99, most people are paying for years of multiplayer, and in the beta that multiplayer had a time-to-kill that left no room to react and spawns that made matches feel random.

Infinity Ward knows both problems exist, and it changed a lot in two weekends. If the launch version fixes them, Modern Warfare 4 could be a very good Call of Duty, and we'll happily raise our score. Until we've seen that, our advice is to wait for launch-week impressions of the multiplayer, or for a sale.

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Modern Warfare 4 review FAQ