STACK #180 Oct 2019

GAMES

FEATURE

With the emphasis on realism, does that mean the end of Call of Duty’s renowned cinematic set pieces? DV: Modern Warfare has always been known for having huge cinematic sequences and I feel like it is part of the brand, part of what makes it Modern Warfare . I think that we’ll be able to see a lot more of these cinematic sequences still continue to live on through the game.

all of the bullet physics are actually taken from the real world

actually the weapons. A lot of the guns that are in the game have been inspired or actually taken from the real world. Everything from

game. Activision has been drip-feeding details surrounding Modern Warfare throughout the year, forgoing the usual pomp and ceremony associated with an upcoming Call of Duty release for a more tempered campaign. Whether it’s a play on nostalgia or a switch in battle theatres, there's a definite buzz about this title. STACK recently had the opportunity to speak with producer Dino Verano, and started

three pillars: campaign, multiplayer and co-op, and while the majority of gamers make a beeline for CoD on an annual basis for its multiplayer offer, the campaign, according to Infinity Ward, is still an important

the way they shoot, the way they feel, the way they move, the way

they sound, has kind of been inspired by real- life – including the size of the bullets and the ballistics physics that go along with that.

part of the picture. The online push back from Treyarch’s decision to omit the single-player from last year’s Black Ops 4 seems to support that. “The campaign was always on the table for Modern Warfare . A strong narrative and a strong campaign has always been part of Modern Warfare 's DNA – single player is incredibly important,” says Verano. “As of right now, a campaign trailer has not dropped yet but it’s definitely something that we can look forward to and I think that you can expect to see something gritty, authentic, and maybe something surprising as well.” Can we expect the same level of nerve- racking gameplay that we witnessed in our behind-closed-doors presentation? “That is definitely one of our more tense levels and it’s just a small part of the overall offering that you will see in campaign,” remarks Verano. “We will have a lot of different engagements of sizes and shapes, and of course there will be some lighter moments as well. But yes, you can expect that throughout the campaign, players will be put in these intense situations where they’re forced to make these really quick, split-second decisions.”

“So if you’re shooting a 9mm versus a 762 versus a 50cal, all of the bullet physics are actually taken from the real world, so whether you’re shooting through wood or sheet metal or anything like that, it’s based on realistic bullet physics. Now of course there has to be some changes that are taken, right, for gameplay reasons, such as some pistols actually had a much longer range in the game than we originally thought would be possible.” At the time of writing, very few details surrounding the campaign level have been revealed outside of a couple of levels

by asking how far out and who made the decision to reboot Modern Warfare ? “I’d say around three years ago or so, and I believe that the person who made the suggestion was actually Pat Kelly [Infinity Ward head]," Verano says. "We’ve always been huge fans of the series and I think that as soon as it was suggested, everyone was immediately on board and incredibly excited for a chance to bring back Modern Warfare as a franchise.” A word that kept surfacing after the game was unveiled in April is 'authenticity'. At an Infinity Ward E3 roundtable this year, the developers onstage spoke about bringing a more realistic military feel to the series, and this is something Verano affirms. “One great example of this is

Cross-play Some of the biggest news to come out of this year’s CoD is that Modern Warfare will feature cross-play. What does that mean? In short, it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing on PS4, Xbox One or PC, you’ll be able to play each other. There will be controller-only lobbies and keyboard and mouse-only lobbies. And for gamers who like to use controllers and want to pit themselves against the keyboard and mouse players, that’s going to be possible too.

– one of which we've already touched on. Call of Duty is primarily built on

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out Oct 25

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