Players who hated the omnimovement of Black Ops 6 and 7 can rejoice, as today’s reveal of Modern Warfare 4 confirmed that player movement will be dialed back for this new year of Call of Duty.
Introduced just two years ago, Treyarch’s omnimovement allowed for player movement in any direction, and actions could be chained together to create some really fancy plays reminiscent of action movies. Players could dive backwards to avoid grenades or commit to a series of complicated wall jumps and slides. Omnimovement allowed the recent Black Ops games to cater to the “sweaty” movement kings of Call of Duty. While no one was required to perform these actions in game, there are likely players who will be happy to see the movement scaled back for Modern Warfare 4.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Modern Warfare 4’s movement will feel clunky or stale. Developers at Infinity Ward told GameSpot the studio changed its approach to player movement, with a heavier emphasis placed on “making Modern Warfare 4’s movement as fast and fluid as possible.” They said they felt that, with Modern Warfare 2, the team had made choices that restricted players, like slowing them down as they went through doors.
Modern Warfare 4 does remove omnimovement and the wall-jump capability, so this is very much a boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty, but it will still feature refined parkour-style movement. Players will still be able to perform fluid mantling, sliding, and grabbing ledges, and the game adds the ability to climb up pipes for even more interesting engagement opportunities.
In other news, Modern Warfare 4 will allow players to choose a progression path for prestiging, and the campaign will also be playable offline, so players won’t need to have an internet connection just to enjoy the game’s story.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. Unfortunately, this means the old generation of consoles are losing support, and Warzone will also no longer be playable on PS4 and Xbox One after Season 1 of Modern Warfare 4.
Like previous years, Modern Warfare 4 will feature an open beta ahead of launch, and more details on that hands-on opportunity will be revealed soon.
