Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Review: Top Five?

Modern Warfare 4 is a confident return to the campaign style that made Infinity Ward’s best work so memorable. Although its roughly eight-hour runtime feels brief, the latest instalment delivers enough set pieces, tension and character drama to rank among the five strongest Call of Duty campaigns.

The campaign follows two connected-but-separate stories. Sierra-1, a joint South Korean and United States unit, fights a North Korean invasion across the fictional Hajin City, a frozen North Korean wilderness and dangerous trenches surrounding a nuclear reactor.

The second storyline brings back Captain John Price. After assassinating the traitorous General Shepherd at the end of Modern Warfare 3, Price is on the run while pursuing a Russian defence minister known as the Archer, played by Mads Mikkelsen. His uneasy partnership with cartel allies takes him through New York, Paris, Mumbai and North Korea.

That split gives the campaign two distinct perspectives on the same conflict. Park Hyun-Jun and the other Sierra-1 soldiers are focused on survival, while Price and Ghost become involved in the political manoeuvring behind the war. The scenario feels grounded because the soldiers experience the invasion as a brutal military emergency rather than a puzzle to be decoded.

A return to memorable Call of Duty missions

The best Call of Duty campaigns leave behind a handful of scenes that remain easy to recall after the credits. Modern Warfare 4 understands that balance. Its opening mission begins when an EMP plunges Hajin City into darkness, then escalates into a stadium battle where you pull paratroopers from the sky.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing North Korean paratroopers entering through the stadium.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming down the scope of a sniper rifle at an enemy.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the map in the "Stranded" mission.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player shooting an assault rifle.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Price talking to Valeria on a train.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing a number puzzle on a supply crate in "Stranded."

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player using a supply crate tracker in "Stranded."

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming at a North Korean family.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Commander Ri demand families gather in the courtyard.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming a grenade launcher at a helicopter.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Captain Price in hand-to-hand combat with a security guard.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Captain Price talking to Valeria.

Several missions wear their cinematic influences openly. Price turns into a one-man action hero while hunting Vladimir Makarov through a New York nightclub. Elsewhere, Sierra-1’s assault on Hajin City recalls the scale and pressure of the D-Day sequence in Saving Private Ryan, with troops leaving naval vehicles under heavy fire.

Stealth and close combat are also stronger than before. Some missions put you behind enemy lines with inferior numbers and equipment, allowing you to avoid patrols, sneak past guards or eliminate them quietly. The prison sections create an oppressive, almost horror-like atmosphere, particularly when moving through dark corridors.

Stranded experiments with an open-world structure

The campaign changes direction during “Stranded”, an open-world mission that resembles a compact Far Cry scenario. You can capture enemy outposts, search for supplies, take vehicles, avoid patrols and return resources to a base where additional weapons and equipment can be crafted.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming a pistol in a nightclub.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming a pistol in a kitchen.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player hiding under a bench while guards look underneath.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing dialogue options in conversation.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Sierra-1 in their hideout.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player aiming down a thermal scope on a sniper rifle.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Ri talk to Ko.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player in control of the recon drone.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing a huge submarine in an abandoned bunker.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing aiming down the scope of a sniper rifle at an enemy on a rooftop.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing Gaz in a cutscene.

A Modern Warfare 4 screenshot showing the player advancing up a beach.

The idea continues the open-combat approach introduced in Modern Warfare 3. It builds on the stronger version seen in Black Ops 6’s “Hunting Season”, after the more exaggerated open-world sections of Black Ops 7.

“Stranded” offers three main objectives, secrets and several possible approaches, but its slower pace interrupts the campaign’s otherwise relentless momentum. Players can skip the exploration and fast-travel between objectives, though this reduces access to useful equipment and makes the required tasks harder. You may miss night-vision goggles for an underground bunker or a suppressed weapon for a snowy mountain stealth mission. Skipping the area also removes several hours from an already short campaign.

Bugs and an abbreviated finish

The campaign has its share of technical problems. In one encounter, squadmates followed a recon drone as if it were the player, abandoning cover while the actual soldier remained behind. Other glitches include grenades failing during enemy animations, bomb drones spinning wildly, falling through apparently solid rooftops and a reload that left interaction disabled until the entire mission was restarted.

Despite those issues, the campaign’s biggest weakness is its length. The credits arrive after about eight hours, just as the momentum is at its strongest. The Sierra-1 story reaches a clear conclusion, but Price’s side of the narrative leaves unfinished business that appears to point towards Modern Warfare 5.

The two storylines also never fully converge. Price’s missions take place several days before the South Korean events, functioning largely as flashbacks. That structure leaves unanswered questions, yet it does not erase the campaign’s many strengths. Modern Warfare 4 is a polished, high-impact shooter with enough memorable missions to earn a place in the top five.

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