- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 boasts plenty of changes based on fan feedback Modern Warfare 2
- The team paid careful attention to the visual recoil of weapons
- Weapons “shouldn’t feel frustrating,” one developer tells me
Many for a long time Call of Duty fans are undoubtedly worried about the upcoming shot Modern Warfare 4. After all, much of the arsenal in developer Infinity Ward’s previous effort, 2022’s Modern Warfare 2was criticized for what some felt were uncomfortably high levels of visual recoil.
Visual recoil is the screen shake and other similar effects that occur when you pull the trigger. That was a big part of it Modern Warfare 2s gun games, gives rifles a fairly realistic and aggressive feel, but also makes 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 were making Modern Warfare 2we made some changes that were healthy for the game, but actually made the game feel a little bit less fun and less responsive,” the studio’s multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot tells me at Infinity Ward’s Los Angeles office. “We learned from that.”
This is evident in the overhauled movement system, which is noticeably slimmer than before, but also extends to the weapons, which in my short hands-on time seemed much more manageable.
“We always try to walk the line that weapons should feel powerful. We want them to feel like real weapons, but not feel frustrating,” says Cecot.
He explains that some degree of unwieldyness is intentional, as it gives players room to improve their gear with the many unlockable attachments in the gunsmith, but that addressing these kinds of complaints was still a big focus.
“It’s a challenge for us, but there’s a goal for the recoil to be more understandable and more clear in this game,” he adds.
Modern Warfare 4 also boasts a completely rebuilt hip fire mechanic that more accurately simulates where bullets land. Muzzle smoke has also been looked at with a new system to prevent muzzle effects from ever obscuring a target.
These all sound like promising upgrades, 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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