Spoilers ahead for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 (2023).
On paper, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 seems to be doing a lot right. The campaign splitting focus between a South Korean squad stuck behind enemy lines and Task Force 141’s usual globe-trotting adventures should ensure a good deal of mission variety, while the return of DMZ is something many extraction shooter fans will welcome with open arms. On the multiplayer front, create-a-class will now allow players to attach their preferred streaks and Operators to individual classes, allowing for mid-game swaps. And, though MW4 on Switch 2 could limit its visual potential, the game leaving PS4 and Xbox One behind could still be a big step toward graphically stunning Call of Duty games.
However, it’s none of this that has me hyped. Instead, it’s Captain Price’s storyline that has me the most intrigued, but again, it’s not for the same reason as everyone else will be. Longtime Call of Duty campaign enjoyers may be on the edge of their seats to witness a fight between iconic action heroes Price and Ghost, and while that could certainly be cool, it’s everything that will lead-up to that confrontation which has me ready to pre-order. This is because Modern Warfare 4 is showing what happens when a rogue hero is hunted by the people he once fought for — an awesome story idea that I’ve always been let down by Black Ops leaving on the table.
Modern Warfare 4 Has to Do Price vs. Ghost Justice, But Can It?
Modern Warfare 4’s reveal trailer and marketing put all the focus on a conflict between Price and Ghost, but living up to expectations won’t be easy.
Black Ops’ Alex Mason Story is Full of Untapped Potential
Anyone who knows me will be aware that I’ve always been a Black Ops guy. I find its twist-filled narratives that pull from real-world history to be far more interesting than Modern Warfare’s straightforward, fictional plots, and I spent pretty much the entirety of my teenage years theorizing about and playing CoD Zombies. Yet as much as I love the Black Ops subseries as a whole, especially its first two campaigns, it’s always bothered me that nothing came from the unforgettable ending to the 2010 original.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
Drag weapons to fill the grid
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For those who didn’t play the original Black Ops, or have simply forgotten the ins and outs of its story in the decade and a half that has passed since its release, Alex Mason was essentially brainwashed twice. First, by the Russians to turn him into a sleeper agent that would kill president JFK, and then again by Viktor Reznov to hunt down the men behind this plot, who just so happened to have betrayed Reznov years prior. When Mason is about to kill Dragovich, the final man on the list, he exclaims that the villain tried to make Mason kill his own president — to which Dragovich snidely replies, “tried?” As the credits are about to roll, an edited photo showing Alex Mason in the crowd on the day of JFK’s death is shown, with eerie music playing as Mason’s face is zoomed in on, implying he did indeed kill the 35th president. With all the real-world conspiracies about JFK’s death, I thought creating a new one within the CoD universe was a super inspired idea.
As someone who loved learning history in school at the time, this revelation was downright mindblowing, and I spent months imagining how cool a game where Hudson and Woods had to hunt down Mason would be. When Black Ops 2 was announced, and there was confirmation of both a past and near-future aspect of its campaign, I was hopeful I’d soon be seeing that story unfold. In reality, that wasn’t what happened. And though the Black Ops 2 campaign we did get was downright excellent — Raul Menendez remains my favorite CoD villain by a large margin — I couldn’t help but be annoyed that this cliffhanger went untouched. As Alex Mason has continued to re-appear, I’ve given up hope entirely, accepting that the JFK plot was retconned, and Mason simply broke through the KGB’s conditioning. Yet while my dream CoD scenario will probably never play out in any official capacity, MW4 is poised to offer the next best thing.
Since Treyarch seemingly canonized Alex Mason’s death at the hands of Frank Woods in the lead-up to Black Ops 7, I’m also disappointed we’ll never get a game showing where Mason was between his “death” and his reunion with David in the good ending of BO2. Alex Mason as a character really is wasted potential, as his story after Black Ops 1 presented far more memorable story opportunities than what we actually got.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Modern Warfare 4 is The Closest to My Dream Black Ops Game We’ll Probably Ever Get
Obviously, the situation with Captain Price is a bit different from Alex Mason. That Winter Soldier-like, “forced to do something you didn’t choose to” guilt that would have been great to see Mason grapple with just won’t be there, as Price was fully in control of his actions when he killed General Shepherd. Additionally, Shepherd “deserved it,” making it easier to support Price’s on-the-run ventures than it would have been with Mason’s crime (especially for OG Modern Warfare fans who would have hated the new Shepherd from the start because of the original’s actions). Still, the core idea is there — the main protagonist on the run from characters who would normally be allies, forced to make morally gray choices at every turn to stay alive. That’s a refreshing concept for a CoD campaign, and so long as Price isn’t let off the hook and there are some real consequences for his decisions, the story should leave me feeling a bit of closure… even if it’s not quite as appealing as a Black Ops tale with Mason on the run.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
