More often than not, Call of Duty’s single-player campaigns hit the mark by striking a balance between high-octane action, tense stealth, and fluid gameplay that keeps players coming back for a second playthrough.
Typically, a single-player story in the series spends between eight and ten hours either setting the scene for the next Call of Duty title or bringing the storyline of previous titles to an end. After completing the Modern Warfare 3 campaign, which took a little over three hours to finish, it’s clear that the future of the Modern Warfare series is lacking direction. Rather than the protagonists overcoming evil once more, a rushed ending taints a story that should’ve elongated the battle between Task Force 141 and the Konni Group.
So, what’s next for the Modern Warfare series? The conclusion of 2023’s Modern Warfare 3 leaves the door wide open for a fourth instalment, but after completing a story that felt like a complete afterthought, is it time for Activision to take inspiration from a release from several years ago?
Treyarch’s Black Ops 4 didn’t come with a single-player story. Instead, the focus of the developer moved to multiplayer and Blackout, Call of Duty’s first attempt at a battle royale title. Without the campaign to worry about, Black Ops 4 multiplayer delivered plenty of fast-paced action with numerous innovations. Although some of those innovations haven’t reappeared in more recent releases, the lack of campaign resulted in a polished multiplayer offering instead of one that was riddled with bugs and glitches.
It’s all well and good to completely write off Call of Duty campaigns and return to a structure where multiplayer and Warzone are the main priorities, but Activision has positioned itself to use the single-player story as a hugely profitable marketing tool. The more expensive editions of the game now include a week of campaign early access, enabling players to complete the story without falling behind others who choose to prioritise multiplayer or zombies. But, if the missions only take a couple of hours to complete, is it really worth the extra cost anymore?
Following the hugely negative reception from 2023’s Modern Warfare 3 campaign, it’s time to move away from the single-player structure. Open Combat Missions attempted to add a breath of fresh air into some of the levels but it ended up falling flat along with the more linear missions. Instead of a campaign, Activision could continue the storyline through Warzone. The battle royale is no stranger to acting as a direct continuation to the campaign and with a huge open world in the form of Urzikstan to play with, carrying on the story through Warzone in a similar way to the likes of Apex Legends and Fortnite could keep fans of Call of Duty folklore happy while freeing up resources to create a more complete multiplayer experience rather than marketing games on features that shouldn’t have been removed in the first place.
Spoilers below: The next few paragraphs contain several spoilers from the Modern Warfare 3 campaign so if you don’t want to ruin the story for yourself, head over to our walkthrough hub and check out all of our coverage and useful guides.
With Soap dead alongside General Shepherd, there is a great opportunity to keep the Modern Warfare story alive following the conclusion of the most recent trilogy. Carrying it on through another title may be the way forward.
Although the likes of Captain Price and Gaz are still alive and kicking, the death of a major protagonist and antagonist is a chance for Infinity Ward to lay the Modern Warfare series to rest even if there’s a chance to squeeze a Modern Warfare 4 out of the foundations left by Modern Warfare 3.
Modern Warfare 3 felt rushed and if Infinity Ward continues overseeing any creative processes made by other studios, Modern Warfare 4’s campaign will suffer from the same issues. Call of Duty has always stuck to its guns when it comes to game settings. Whether it’s modern-day, the Cold War, or World War 2, perhaps something new is needed to reinvigorate the franchise. Early rumours claim Call of Duty 2024 is set in the Gulf War which has plenty of potential to deliver a more in-depth storyline. Instead of heading back to Modern Warfare for 2025, head to Vietnam for a new opportunity to create another timeline instead of beating the same set of characters to death over and over again.