Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019: new features, cross-play, trailer and UK release date

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The next instalment in the Call of Duty franchise has been announced - and it’s set to reboot the series after a spate of lacklustre titles.

Due to launch at the end of October, the next Call of Duty is being touted by developer Infinity Ward as a “reimagined” version of 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a title that many consider to be one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time.

It’s been two years since the last instalment in the franchise, Call of Duty WWII, launched on consoles and PC. The title received lukewarm reviews, with critics praising the game’s single-player campaign while others criticised its online loot box progression system - where players could pay real-world money to buy virtual treasure chests containing random items.

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Similar criticisms were made of 2016’s Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, with Forbes calling the game’s loot boxes “awful”.

Infinity Ward and Call of Duty publisher Activision will be hoping that a new take on the popular Modern Warfare game can reignite fans’ interest in the multiplayer series.

Release date

Call of Duty Modern Warfare will be released on 25 October on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Pre-orders

Those wanting to secure a copy of the game in time for its release can pre-order through Amazon. Prices start at £49.99 each for PS4 and Xbox One copies, which include a limited-edition figurine of Call of Duty hero Captain Price.

Will it offer cross-play?

Yes. For the first time in the franchise’s 16-year history, games on different consoles will be able to play against each other online, a feature commonly referred to as “cross-play”.

What’s new?

Almost everything, the most notable difference being the change in setting. As its name suggests, Call of Duty WWII was set during the Second World War, while the new Modern Warfare title takes place during the present day.

It isn’t a continuation of the Modern Warfare storyline either. That ended with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, notes Gamespot. Instead, the new Modern Warfare will be a “reboot of sorts” of the first game from 2007.

The gaming site says that the new title “is not set in the same universe as the existing trilogy”, as Infinity Ward claims the existing storyline from the old Modern Warfare games “had left little room to raise the stakes further”.

Therefore, players can expect a new environment and storyline, albeit with some familiar faces. For instance, Captain Price, one of the heroes from the original trilogy, returns in the new game, though he’ll be voiced by a different actor.

The game will feature a new graphics engine that makes use of “photogrammetry”, a process by which developers “reproduce real-world objects and buildings in the game”. It brings an “almost photo-realistic authenticity”, The Guardian notes.

The new Modern Warfare is also expected to come with “a range of multiplayer modes”, the newspaper says.

However, popular gaming mode “zombies”, which tasks players with fending off hordes of the undead, won’t be available in the new game, PlayStationLifeStyle reports.

The game’s campaign director, Jacob Minkoff, told the gaming news site that Infinity Ward is “trying to create an authentic, realistic feeling world”.

“We don’t have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game,” he said. “That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today’s conflicts and things we face.”