Warning: This piece contains story spoilers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019, as well as the original series. We recommend you complete the story campaign before reading on!
Infinity Ward’s reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reimagines the 2007 classic in a more contemporary setting. While it tells a new story, elements of the original game are remixed and reused throughout, with a number of characters making their return in new roles and dealing with new circumstances. Modern Warfare 2019 tells a fresh story, but it maintains its links to the original trilogy by making many of those same characters a centerpiece to the story and fleshing them out.
It’s been clear for a while from trailers that Captain Price, one of the original Modern Warfare’s main characters, is back to lead the charge in the campaign. But Price isn’t the only familiar face you’ll see from the past. The new Modern Warfare is full of callbacks to the series that fans will recognize, which suggest that Infinity Ward has more in store for Task Force 141 in future games. Here’s a rundown of all the characters returning in Modern Warfare, and what they hint about the future of the series.
The Modern Warfare series has always been about the messiness of modern war–the fundamentally different rules of engagement that come with a battle that has no set battlefield. When the fight could be anywhere at any time, where do you draw the line between doing what’s right and doing what has to be done?
Throughout Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s campaign, that line is chemical weapons. It’s a safe line to draw; people are largely in agreement that chemical weapons are beyond horrific. But there are other horrors of war, some of which Modern Warfare depicts, starkly, in strong but uncomfortable missions. Just when it could really make a point about any other aspect of modern war, it pulls back. Modern Warfare makes old observations and presents them with new flourishes. Those new flourishes do make for a good campaign and solid multiplayer. But it’s when Modern Warfare asks you to think harder that it falls short.
Campaign
In one of the game’s most distressing levels, you play Farah, a young girl in a fictional war-torn Middle Eastern country as she hides from both a Russian terrorist and the deadly gas his cohorts have unleashed on her town. To escape, you have to kill a man twice your size with his own gun. It’s a deeply uncomfortable experience. But the flashback serves to illustrate why Farah, now the leader of a group of freedom fighters, refuses to use chemical weapons or associate with anyone who does. It is a hard line she won’t cross, even though she’s had to face a lot of ugliness in the course of defending her country.
In many ways, Farah is Modern Warfare’s moral compass. There are a few key players in Modern Warfare’s proxy war, and everyone you play as–Sgt. Kyle Garrick from the UK, rogue American soldier Alex “Echo 3-1,” and sometimes Farah herself–abides by her one rule. Outside of that, though, the rules are much murkier. In getting pulled into a war between the Russian terrorists, a separatist group from Farah’s country, and the freedom fighters, US and UK military personnel disagree on how best to proceed with the situation–matters of disobeying orders, sacrificing some lives to save others, taking civilian hostages, and even torture. And on these matters, the moral compass is Captain Price.
A returning face from the original Modern Warfare and undeniably a problematic fave, Captain Price is the seasoned badass who takes the lead in most Garrick missions. Early levels with Price are among the best. As a rash and impatient Garrick, you follow Price’s directions in order to save as many people as possible from terrorists–though more than once that means watching as innocent people die while you wait to make the best possible move.
These missions range from large-scale, high-octane firefights to a carefully planned raid on a terrorist hideout with less than a dozen enemies total. You direct a woman through an embassy under siege using security cameras to make sure her path is clear. You quietly search a compound for an enemy using night vision goggles as Price watches overhead, shooting out lights to keep you hidden. Price guides you through the different approaches you need for each mission, and his mentorship–both in the mechanical skills you need to be successful and the hard choices you have to make along the way–makes these missions memorable.
While Alex’s missions don’t stick out quite as much in a gameplay sense, he gets a sniping level reminiscent of the original Modern Warfare’s “All Ghillied Up”–though with more enemies–and otherwise a few cool gadgets. His dynamic with Farah is strong, though. He follows Farah’s lead on her turf and on her terms because he believes in the cause, and they share mutual respect.
It’s disappointing, though, that Farah doesn’t play more of a role. While she is a key part of Alex’s missions and the driving force behind much of the story, you only play as her a few times. On top of the childhood flashback, there is an even more disturbing flashback later on in which you see the full extent of Farah’s resolve. Experiencing her suffering this way borders on unnecessary, as it’s already established in Alex’s missions that she’s a respected leader and a strong-willed person in general. While I liked Alex, I would have rather just played as Farah in those missions than get to know her character largely through her trauma.
I already liked and respected Farah without that context, and despite some questionable decisions, I liked each of the main characters and their small but crucial differences in working toward the same goals. Farah and Alex are principled, whereas Garrick and Price are results-driven. Alex goes so far as to disobey orders in favor of doing what’s right, and when he’s told that would be illegal, he responds, “I’m pretty sure everything we do is illegal.” To Alex, it’s a criticism; to Price and Garrick, it’s an excuse.
That tension builds up over the course of the campaign, and because the characters are likable, it’s easy to at least consider each one’s view of what’s right. But in the end, all you get is a vague “we all did what we had to do” sentiment rather than anything more substantial or interesting. Quite a bit of what you had to do–as Garrick, as Alex, and as Farah–was unpleasant or distressing, but the questions raised by your actions aren’t interrogated further, especially the questionable side of Price’s approach. Modern Warfare’s ending isn’t bad, but it is a safe one, leaving you to think on the harder questions yourself.
If anything, Modern Warfare lets Farah down with the bizarre and much-discussed inclusion of white phosphorus as a killstreak in multiplayer. Given how strong the campaign’s emphasis is on chemical weapons being a reprehensible war crime, it’s tone-deaf to include one in multiplayer, even though one could argue–much like Alex does–that pretty much all of it is illegal at the end of the day.
Multiplayer
Outside of any thematic contradictions, Modern Warfare’s multiplayer is up to par, with a variety of game types for different kinds of players. Across all the modes, maps move away from the obvious three-lane structure in favor of nooks, crannies, and tons of cover; there’s generally a balance of close-quarters and long-range approaches. The standard, highly customizable toolkit for your chosen loadouts returns, with a good selection of perks to suit different game types and playstyles. Modern Warfare largely stays within the strong foundations of Call of Duty multiplayer without pushing them much, with the exception of the excellent Realism mode.
Undeniably the highlight of Modern Warfare’s multiplayer, Realism mode is somewhere between the familiar Core and Hardcore modes, bridging the gulf between them. Oddly enough, in a mode called “Realism,” you can take more damage than in Hardcore, and your health regenerates like it does in Core. But Realism removes the HUD entirely, going beyond Hardcore to strip out the kill feed on top of everything else. In order to confirm a kill, you have to listen for the sound effect that plays upon death, and you also have to listen for NPCs over the comms alerting you to available killstreaks and enemy intel. It’s a fantastic balance for those who want more of a chance to survive a scrap, rather than dying in one or two shots like in Hardcore, but with the rest of the challenge intact. It’s a smart, satisfying evolution, and as a stubborn Hardcore-only player, it’s one I could see myself playing exclusively going forward.
While none of the new game types are earth-shattering, some are better additions than others. TDM 20, a 10v10 version of the classic 6v6 Team Deathmatch mode, is the least inventive or warranted of them, instead functioning as a more bloated version of regular TDM with bigger maps that can make getting back into the action an overly long process. One of the two maps I’ve tried, Euphrates Bridge, also suffers from balance problems on top of that; of the two spawns, one is much closer to the bridge dividing the map, and the closer side was almost guaranteed victory in every match I played. My team once managed to flip the spawn mid-match after struggling against snipers on the bridge for a while, and from there we were able to gain the lead relatively easily.
Gunfight is the antithesis of TDM 20. It’s a one-life, 2v2 mode in which your loadout rotates each round, and the goal is to kill your two opponents with the means available to you before they get you first. Gunfight features small maps with two main routes on each, and quick coordination with your partner–a “you go left, I’ll go right” at the beginning, plus callouts over voice chat if things go haywire–can make or break the fight. With a relatively level playing field, battles are often exhilaratingly close, and it’s hard to get discouraged by a loss since rounds go by so quickly. There’s also a version where you start without any weapons and have to find a gun in the map, which is a fun scramble before the frenzy of Gunfight itself. Either way, the more arcadey bent to Gunfight keeps things light and makes both versions a great addition to the multiplayer suite, if not a huge draw.
Ground War is somewhere in the middle. Maps are sprawling, with five control points to capture and one safe zone for each team on either end. Unlike in TDM 20, you can pretty easily get back to the fight after dying by respawning at any capture point your team owns, or on vehicles or your teammates (provided they’re not actively in a fight). Having objective points is also helpful for keeping such a large game type–it supports 64 players currently–more structured than the free-for-all of TDM. That said, matches can drag on a bit too long, as there isn’t anything to break up the constant tug-of-war for capture points.
There’s also a night vision mode, NVG, for a different take on the same maps, and by its nature it makes things a bit more tense. It pretty much plays the same as the other game types, but you don’t aim down sights in night vision–you have a laser, and that laser is easy to spot. You have to be extra cautious when lining up your shots, paying close attention to sightlines and who might see where your beam is coming from. Like in the campaign, the threatening glow of these beams cutting through the darkness looks excellent, and the slight change of pace NVG affords is enough to keep it interesting and distinct from the daytime modes. Editor’s note: As of October 24, Infinity Ward has removed NVG maps from the rotation and has said it will add them in at a later time. Stay tuned for updates.
Spec Ops
As of this writing, Spec Ops is the mode I’ve had the least experience with, though it’s not one I particularly want to play much more of. On paper, it’s a co-op mode where you and a team complete a set of objectives and are rewarded with some story. You can choose one of several roles at the onset, each with its own ultimate ability–there’s a medic, for instance, that can revive fallen teammates–and as a group, you have to work together to overcome enemies while gaining intel, heading to specific objective points, and so on.
In practice, my team of four could barely complete a handful of the objectives on both of the missions we attempted. This was largely due to frustrating enemy spawning–enemies seem to generate endlessly from all directions, and it’s all too easy to get overwhelmed by them. To add insult to injury, there are also no clear waves. It’s just enemies, from everywhere, at all times. After struggling to fight them off, reviving each other was we each inevitably died, we would end up running out of ammo and dying for good.
We tried a few different approaches on each of the two missions to try to figure it out. Splitting up was a disaster; stealth seemed to have no impact whatsoever on the number of enemies; different loadouts with PvE-friendly perks helped marginally. No matter what we did, it didn’t help our understanding of the mode itself. It’s just frustratingly, inexplicably hard. That said, I will be trying it again in the coming days to see if there was anything we were missing, and I also have to play the PS4-exclusive Survival mode as well as Spec Ops’ Classic mode.
But the pitfalls of Spec Ops don’t detract from what Modern Warfare does well. Realism mode is an excellent addition to the slate, and although not all the new multiplayer modes are great, Gunfight and the Night Vision playlist are refreshing standouts. And while the campaign ends up playing it safe in the end, it’s still a memorable one, and it lays a strong foundation for where the Modern Warfare series could go from here.
Editor’snote:This review, including the score, will be finalized once we’ve tested multiplayer on live servers and played more Spec Ops.
Welcooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! Casey is back from Nintendo Live in Japan to talk about K.K. Slider’s appearance at the Splatoon concert, her Animal Crossing experience, and more. Then, the panel discusses this week’s news, like Suda and Swery’s strange new collaboration and Diablo 4’s potential leak. Stick around to hear stories from some NVC fans who went to Reggie Fils-Aime’s lecture at Cornell University earlier this week. Finally, the show wraps up with more of your burning questions answered on Question Block.
While services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu offer up a variety of different genres for their content, there is only one streaming service that specializes in horror, and that’s AMC’s Shudder. And the service just revealed what’s coming out for the month of November.
On November 1, there are a couple classic ’90s horror movies to check out. First, there’s Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. The film follows a man trapped in a hotel, protecting a vile of ancient blood who is being hunted by a demon (Billy Zane). Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson (The Walking Dead, Dexter), the movie is a feature-length spinoff of the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. Also arriving that day is the very meta Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Starring Heather Langenkamp as herself, the film follows the former Nightmare on Elm Street actress who is haunted by a demon who has taken on Freddy’s form. Trying to figure out why a fictional monster from her past acting gig is terrorizing her and her son, she enlists the help of Wes Craven, who is writing the very movie they are starring in.
The other must-watch movie of November is Takashi Miike’s Audition, which arrives on November 4. Audition follows a widower who has trouble finding new love years after his wife’s passing, so his son holds an audition for a fake movie for a lead actress, in hopes the man will move on. However, the woman he becomes obsessed with is a bit deranged. If you’ve seen the film, then the phrase “tik tik tik tik” brings back some horrific imagery.
Below, you’ll find everything headed to Shudder for the month of November, with the first of the month launching four titles you’ll really want to check out or watch again.
New to Shudder in November
November 1
Session 9 (Director: Brad Anderson)
Trick ‘r Treat (Director: Michael Dougherty)
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (Director: Ernest Dickerson)
Bandai Namco has revealed a new Code Vein update, which is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The version 1.10 update introduces Halloween-themed content, difficulty reduction options, various bug fixes, and more.
Just in time the spooky season, Code Vein will receive some additions to its character creator, including Halloween-themed color palettes and face paints, as well as new accessories and hair functionality. The update will also change exploration and battle systems, giving you the option to lock the direction of the mini-map and turn off damage screen effects when near death.
Code Vein’s version 1.10 update also allows you to reduce the difficulty of New Game Plus. Elsewhere, the update addresses various bug issues, such as application errors and enemy movement.
In our Code Vein review, we said, “Code Vein adopts the Souls-like formula in its structure, presenting a familiar cycle of progression and basic combat similarities, and there are some interesting ideas here, too, built around the use of various Blood Codes and their distinct Gifts. You can see the fragments of a fantastic game hidden within these systems and its meaty combat feedback, but the mundanity of its enemies and the effect they have on nullifying the combat’s enjoyment prevent Code Vein from ever realizing its potential.”
Full Code Vein Patch Notes
Additional Contents
New creation accessories, color palettes and face paints, Halloween-themed.
New function for hair parts that allows to use as left-right symmetry.
Updates
Character Creation
Character creation data can be available at the camp.
Extensions can be made symmetrical.
Adjustments to accessory costs.
Exploration
Add option to lock the direction of radar mini-map.
Trial of Blood only occurs a second time when the dropped item is picked up.
Option to turn off exploration conversation.
Battle
Pop up message appears when the player is afflicted with status effect.
Option to turn off damage screen effects when player is about to die.
Ichor can be collected from sandbags at the camp.
System
Option to reduce difficulty which has been raised in new game plus.
Buddies can be changed at the Mistle.
Some item icons are adjusted.
Bug Fixes
Fixed application errors on the following conditions: Moving to event scenes with specific Blood Veil; Guarding continuously right after pushing confirm button in front of a closed-door; Rebooting the game on Steam after moving to sleep mode during launching the game.
Fixed matching facility while using keywords on Steam.
According to YouTuber Menthex, there are 15 challenges in total. Completing them allows you to unlock unique Halloween-themed rewards. Bloody Harvest is scheduled to end December 5, so you have until then to complete all 15 of its challenges. We’ve outlined all of them below.
Borderlands 3 Bloody Harvest Challenges
An Eye for Quality Hecktoplasm – Kill 20 Loot Ghosts
Chaotic Good Cleric – Kill 500 Ghosts in Mayhem Mode
Charon’s Toll – Collect 50 pieces of Bloody Harvest loot
Easy as Pumpkin Pie – Solve the Pumpkin Puzzle
El Compeon Fantasmal – Kill Haunted El Dragon Jr
Exorcist – Kill 150 Haunted Badasses
Friends Don’t Die – Kill Haunted Demoskaggon
Heckraiser – Loot a Bloody Harvest Legendary
I am Rakkman! – Kill Haunted Rakkman
Lawful Good Cleric – Kill 250 Ghosts
My Boss has been Ghosting me all Week – Kill Captain Haunt
Nate’s Hostile – Kill Haunted Borman Nates
Pumpkin Spiced – Equip 3 pieces of Bloody Harvest loot at the same time
Reap What You Sow, Bro – Kill Captain Haunt with a Bloody Harvest gun
Snowball’s Chance in Heck – Kill 100 Haunted enemies with Cryo Damage in the Heck Hole
You can’t jump into Bloody Harvest until you’ve unlocked Sanctuary III, the hub area in Borderlands 3. Once you’ve reached Sanctuary III, talk to Maurice to begin the event. He’ll be the sentient fire-breathing dinosaur creature wandering around. Speaking with Maurice unlocks a quest to hunt down Hecktoplasm. Once you’ve acquired a sufficient amount, you’ll unlock a new area, Heck, where you can battle against the dead spirits of enemies you’ve long since killed. There’s a new boss in the area too, Captain Haunt.
At a glance, it looks like you’ll actually complete most of the Bloody Harvest challenges by completing the quests you get from Maurice. You’ll have to kill haunted enemies anyway to earn Hecktoplasm, and your journey to Heck will see you go up against even more haunted creatures and earn Bloody Harvest loot–such as a new legendary shotgun. The only ones you likely have to keep conscious track of while playing are killing Captain Haunt with a Bloody Harvest gun, solve the Pumpkin Puzzle, and kill 100 haunted enemies with Cryo damage in the Heck Hole.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
With a huge library of Xbox One and PC games and an Xbox Live Gold subscription, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is one of the best subscription services in gaming. It’s already quite the steal at $15 a month, especially when you consider that The Outer Worlds is coming to the service at launch on October 25. If you’d like to save some money, Newegg has an awesome deal on six months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
With coupon code “EMCUTVY32,” Newegg is offering three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $40. Additionally, the online retailer is giving away a free gift of an additional three months for anyone who purchases the three months of Ultimate. However, if you’re a new subscriber, be sure to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at $1 for your first month before redeeming your three-month codes. After pulling out my calculator and calling the space station, I can confirm that’s a total of seven months for cheaper than the regular price of three.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives players access to more than 300 games across Xbox One and PC. Players can also play any of these games online, thanks to the included Xbox Live Gold subscription that also comes with free games monthly. You can check out some of our favourite Game Pass offerings in the lists below, but be sure to check out Xbox.com for the full library of titles.
