- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 features many changes based on fan feedback Modern Warfare 2
- The team paid special attention to the visual recoil of weapons
- Guns ‘shouldn’t be frustrating,’ a dev tells me
A lot of time Call of Duty fans are undoubtedly worried about the gunplay of the next one Modern Warfare 4. After all, much of the arsenal from developer Infinity Ward’s previous effort, 2022’s Modern Warfare 2was criticized for what some considered unpleasantly high levels of visual recoil.
Visual recoil is the screen shake and other similar effects that occur when you press the trigger. It was a big part of Modern Warfare 2‘s gunplay, giving the guns a fairly realistic and aggressive feel, while simultaneously making them harder to aim and seem harder to control, leading to complaints on social media and even YouTube guides on how to reduce it.
“When we made Modern Warfare 2“We made some changes that were healthy for the game, but actually made the game a little less fun and less responsive,” Joe Cecot, creative director of the multiplayer studio at Infinity Ward’s Los Angeles office, told me. “We learned from that.”
This can be seen in the revamped movement system, which is noticeably sleeker than before, but also extends to weapons, which, in my brief time of practice, seemed much more manageable.
“We always try to respect the principle that weapons should be powerful. We want them to look like real weapons, but they shouldn’t be frustrating,” says Cecot.
He explains that a certain level of cumbersomeness is intentional, as it leaves room for players to upgrade their equipment with the many unlockable accessories at the gunsmith, but that addressing these types of complaints was always a priority.
“It’s a challenge for us, but there is a goal that hindsight is more understandable and clearer in this match,” he adds.
Modern Warfare 4 also features a completely rebuilt hip-fire mechanic that more accurately simulates where bullets land. Muzzle smoke has also been studied with a new system that should prevent muzzle effects from obscuring a target.
These all seem like promising improvements, but we’ll have to wait and see what the community thinks when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 falls on October 23, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S and Nintendo Switch 2.
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