When Activision announced that they would be remaking the original “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare”, the news was met with mixed responses from the community at first. Some saw it as an attempt to cash in on the franchise’s popularity, but most seemed excited at the idea. As long as the game is remastered properly, fans should be all over it.
Some were worried that the game might deviate too much from the original formula in order to please modern crowds, but that doesn’t seem to be the case looking at the trailer. While the game has received a fresh coat of paint, it also seems pretty similar to what we remember from the original, except of course the graphics.
It’s actually funny to see the surprised responses of some fans who realize just how bad the original game looks by modern standards. Some jokingly exclaimed that the visuals in the new trailer are actually how they remember the original game, as nostalgia can be quite powerful in these cases.
The only complaints people have concern minor details like the kill score values, the on-screen medals, and the overall aesthetics of the game. The original “Modern Warfare” was a bit minimalistic in these aspects, while recent entries in the franchise have made the games a bit tacky according to some.
Killstreaks are one of the main concerns of some fans, but it looks like Activision have chosen to preserve the original balance in this regard. This means that players won’t get to pick from dozens of different streaks, but will be limited to the original three featured in the old game, namely the UAV, air strike, and helicopter.
Some have expressed concerns about the presence of the chopper in its unmodified form, as that particular killstreak had some potential for the abuse in the original game. In the same tone, players are complaining about the idea of preserving the original weapon balance intact.
Not all guns were perfectly balanced, and there were some obvious outliers, such as combinations that allowed players to get a 1-hit-kill from any distance, the annoyance caused by some perks like Martyrdom, and more.
It wouldn’t hurt the game if Activision decided to retouch the weapons balance, it would actually make it last longer. It’s also possible that they are waiting for the first few weeks of gameplay to see player feedback and decide on their balance according to that, but they should already have plenty of information from the original “Call of Duty 4” about this.
Will the game manage to reach the same levels of popularity as the original? That’s an unrealistic expectation for several reasons. “Call of Duty 4” was a unique, innovative game that came out at the right time and set some new trends. The popularity of the franchise has been on a bit of a decline in the last few years too, so the situation is quite different.
Last but not least, the game won’t initially be available as a separate purchase, and those who want to get it will have to buy the new “Infinite Warfare”, so that will severely limit its playerbase.
We hope that the publisher will eventually come to their senses and release the game as a standalone version, but by that point it might be too late. The best time to realize its potential would be right at the initial release, as players will gradually lose interest over time.