Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare essentially defined online
multiplayer shooter action for the previous generation of consoles.
Its highly photorealistic (for the time) graphics and quick-and-easy arcade-like multiplayer
gameplay led to years of fun - and the upcoming current-gen remaster
of the title is springing up bouts of nostalgia in shooter
enthusiasts and die-hard Call of Duty fans alike.
...but was it nostalgia?
My name is Adam or EposVox, and in this video I'll be taking a look at whether or not you
truly "need" a remaster of the original Modern Warfare, and if it's
still playable today.
Is Call of Duty 4's multiplayer still playable?
The short answer is YES!
If you have a copy of the game, you can still get on the multiplayer and enjoy it.
In fact, I still hop on the PC copy of CoD4 and
play multiplayer pretty often - and I get about 100 FPS at 4K with
my GTX 970 graphics card.
Let's start with Playstation 3.
I had to dust of my PS3 slim from my pile of retired PS3s and do the usual updating
song and dance, but then it worked!
No changing settings or anything.
Now, it's worth noting that while both consoles ran the game at vertical resolution of somewhere
around 480 to 640, the PS3 copy only upscaled to 720p while the Xbox 360 copy upscaled to
a full 1080p.
But both copies ran at a solid 60 FPS.
While the menus on PS3 look a little blockier, the end result on both consoles looks about
the same.
The big myth about CoD4 on consoles is that the PS3 copy is "Hacked to shit" as some would
say, and the Xbox 360 copy just doesn't have any players.
Both are wrong, for the most part.
I managed to get carried away, playing the PS3 version - the one I played for most of
high school and my early college years - all day the first day, and
I only encountered some hacking situations at night.
Yeah, there were people running their own custom servers with
a few mods - but nothing too problemmatic.
It honestly felt like I was playing on the PC version and just hopping
through custom servers.
All-in-all, it was a pretty smooth experience.
Player counts were hidden on this version, but I was able to find
matches in the basic gametypes: Team Deathmatch, Free For All, Domination - I managed to get
a match of the legendary Domination on Shipment -, and even
Cage Matches.
This guy stuck around to lose for like 4 games in a row.
I always ended up dying once or twice, though.
No flawlesses.
I had a great time playing it - and I'm still pretty good at it.
Nothing beats nearly a decade's worth of muscle memory.
Flipping on over to the Xbox 360 side of things, we also have an update song and dance -- but
also troubleshooting network issues?
For whatever reason, the game doesn't like connecting to the master servers over wifi.
I didn't want it running over wifi in the first place, so it was an easy fix.
Jumping in, I had a lot harder time finding matches on the 360.
This version still *shows* player counts, but I'm
like 99% sure they're still the same numbers that were there for their big security patch
a couple years ago.
The numbers definitely aren't accurate.
I was able to play Team Deathmatch, Free For All, and a single match of Ground War.
No luck with Domination or Headquarters, but your results may vary.
And yes - I still ran into hackers on the 360.
It happens.
Both console versions of the game were still completely playable, and any player-count-related
issues are fixable simply by having more people play.
There's a reason they made Black Ops 1 backwards compatible on Xbox One instead of this game
- otherwise, they wouldn't sell as many Infinite Warfare copies.
Now onto PC.
Yes, the glorious PC Master Race...
This copy simply has to be better, right?
Well yes, actually.
But also no, depending on your preferences.
The PC copy is great - there's tons of populated servers with both original and custom game
modes - there's even a couple of wonderful servers running a series
of great custom maps on one, including maps from Halo CE, CounterStrike and other games,
and the other running a collection of remade maps from all major Call of Duty titles.
Playing World At War's Castle on CoD4 is a BLAST.
Plus, performance is quite nice.
I have everything maxed out at Ultra High Definition 3840x2160 resolutiona and I
average between 90 and 100 FPS at all times, even when recording with Shadowplay.
BUT, matchmaking doesn't exist in the way it does on consoles.
The server browser way of doing things that PC
shooters are known for kind of eliminates the typical "Jump in, play a game or two,
hope to win, jump out," mentality.
Many of these servers are set with infinite score caps or no time limits and way too high
player counts, just to have fun.
It's great, but can cut away some of the feel console
players enjoy.
There is, of course, versions of this game for the Nintendo DS and the Wii, but we won't
bother with those...
I've been playing CoD4 on PC off and on to this day.
I love hopping into the all-CoDs maps server and destroying for
an hour or two whenever I have time.
Overwatch has eaten into that time a bit lately, but I still enjoy it thoroughly.
I have no interest in a softened-up, overly-glowy Call of Duty 4 remaster until they release
it as a standalone game, separate from Infinite Warfare.
While Infinite Warfare is likely to be a pretty good game, despite the initial
backlash, I will not support this marketing move.
Is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's multiplayer still playable?
Absolutely.
Do you need a remaster?
No.
I think it's absurd that people feel the need to be charged
80 more dollars in order to feel compelled to play a game they likely
own multiple copies of already - speaking to you, CoD YouTubers... - but the remaster
will be a great starting point if you've never played the original Modern
Warfare game.
The choice is yours.
CoD4 does play substantially differently than modern shooters and recent CoDs, and it might
not be what you expect.
For more information, I released a video a while back on the Top 5 things that people
might hate about CoD4.
Check it out if you'd like.
Otherwise, my name's Adam or EposVox, thanks for watching.