Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is a first-person shooter developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is a remastered version of 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The remaster was initially released as part of the special edition bundles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on November 4, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A standalone version was released for PlayStation 4 on June 27, 2017, and for Xbox One and Windows the following month.
Development began in early 2015 after a fan-made online petition requesting a Modern Warfare remaster was released. Activision enlisted Raven Software—who had assisted the development of past Call of Duty games' multiplayer modes—to develop Remastered, while original developer Infinity Ward supervised. Remastered features extensive graphical, rendering, and lighting enhancements, updated animations, remastered original sound effects as well as adding new, and offers numerous small improvements while retaining the original core gameplay. New multiplayer content and additional achievements and cheats are also included.
Modern Warfare Remastered received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the improved graphics, sound, and range of enhancements, and felt the gameplay had aged well and still provided challenge. While the game overall was considered fresh and grounded in realism, some criticized the dated narrative and called the multiplayer shallow (although new online content would later be distributed through updates).
Further complaints focused on certain design choices retained from Modern Warfare and the artificial intelligence. Remastered was also the subject of controversy for Activision's decisions to initially only release it as part of a bundle, the incorporation of microtransactions, and the determined pricing of the downloadable content and standalone version of the game.
Gameplay
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered features the same core gameplay as the original version: it is a first-person shooter in which the player controls several characters. However, it includes a few modifications. For example, while in the prone position, the player's equipped weapon is now visible.
The game uses "dual render technology" for sniper rifle scopes when aiming, providing the player with a view of the scope and blurred surroundings, as opposed to a black screen representing the scope interior present in the original. Throughout the campaign, new predetermined first-person animations are present on a few occasions. In multiplayer modes, if a weapon is equipped, players now have the ability to taunt their opponents, such as allowing the player to inspect the exterior of their gun.
The campaign is almost identical to the original. It keeps the same collectibles and cheats as before, with the addition of several new cheats, such as exaggerated physics that fling enemies backwards as they are killed, and replacing the heads of non-player characters (NPCs) with watermelons. The game offers full PlayStation Network trophy and Xbox Live achievement support (trophies of which had been absent from the PlayStation 3 version of Modern Warfare, due to the game releasing before they were introduced), with the inclusion of several new challenges.
Remastered features an updated version of the multiplayer that shares similarities with those featured in later Call of Duty games. It includes the same weapons, killstreaks, perks, and game modes from Modern Warfare, with existing modes present in other installments included such as "Kill Confirmed", "Gun Game", and "Hardpoint", as well as new modes like "Prop Hunt" (in which players hide as inanimate objects from the opposing team).
The multiplayer offers a greater variety of customization options for profile personalization, character skins, and weapon camouflage. A number of weapons not featured in Modern Warfare were also added. All new content can be unlocked through completing challenges, crafting by consuming "Parts" that the player can earn, or by opening supply drops, while existing items from the original remain unlockable only through gaining in experience.
The online includes 20 Prestige levels, an increase from the 10 available in Modern Warfare. Entering each new Prestige level resets any unlockables that have been previously made available, but retains all customization items, in addition to any weapons, attachments, or perks that have been permanently unlocked. A firing range is present in the online lobby, allowing the player to test out different weapon loadouts.
Plot
Modern Warfare Remastered features the same plot as the original game. The player acts as a member of the United States Marine Corps and the SAS and takes on missions to fight against a separatist group in the Middle East as well as an ultranationalist group in Russia.
While the United States invades a small, oil rich Middle Eastern country following a coup d'état by the extremist Khaled Al-Asad, a British Special Air Service (SAS) squad infiltrates a cargo ship found to be carrying a nuclear device. The ship is sunk by enemy jets, but the SAS team escapes with its manifest, and then heads to Russia to rescue their informant, codenamed "Nikolai", from the Ultranationalist party. The intelligence from these operations indicate Al-Asad has a Russian nuclear device. The U.S. military launches an assault on Al-Asad's palace, but the nuclear device is detonated, wiping out most of the city along with everyone in it.
The SAS team tracks down Al-Asad in Azerbaijan, and discover that he was working with Imran Zakhaev, the leader of the Ultranationalist party. The mission then flashes back 15 years where Captain Price, who was a Lieutenant at the time, is sent alongside his commanding officer, Captain MacMillan, on a failed assassination attempt on Imran Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine.
After killing Al-Asad, the SAS team, with support from U.S. Marine Force Recon and Russian loyalists, attempt to capture Zakhaev's son and learn his whereabouts. They ambush him, but he commits suicide. In response, Zakhaev seizes control of a nuclear launch facility. A joint operation is launched to take back the site, but Zakhaev launches intercontinental ballistic missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The joint teams are able to breach the facility and remotely destroy the missiles before fleeing the area.
Zakhaev's forces trap the escaping joint force on a bridge, and during the fight many are killed. Zakhaev arrives but is soon distracted by the arrival of a loyalist helicopter. The player uses their pistol to kill Zakhaev, before being tended to by loyalist forces.