Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched its early access beta on August 22. For the first time in the history of the Call of Duty series, this beta included a campaign mission. Players can experience the "Hold the Line" mission, which focuses on close-quarters combat and all-out war.
Foreign media have released 17 minutes of gameplay footage from the beta's single-player campaign mission "Hold the Line," showcasing trench gunfights, vehicle operation, and more, but lacking the series' signature large-scale set pieces.
What Call of Duty players hope to get from the Modern Warfare 4 campaign is the pure shooting feel reminiscent of classic titles—an experience fully focused on combat. While all-out war and close-quarters engagements have indeed returned, certain elements hinder that classic sensation, ultimately leading to disappointment.
A prime example is the armor plate system. Initially applied to enemies in Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and extended to players in Modern Warfare 3 (2023), it has been confirmed to remain in Modern Warfare 4. When armor plates become mandatory rather than situational, they turn enemies into "bullet sponges" that require excessive ammunition to defeat, while forcing players to constantly swap plates to survive, breaking their focus during combat. Due to these drawbacks, many players hoped the armor plate system would be excluded from campaign missions, but its inclusion has been confirmed.
Furthermore, the overemphasis on mechanics such as swimming to close valves, or the heavy use of parkour elements in the latter half of the mission, is disappointing. Players engage with Call of Duty or any shooter for the thrill of shooting, not to complete tedious tasks. Consider the "All Ghillied Up" mission from the original Modern Warfare (2007)—which had a similar premise—it felt more intense because it cleverly conveyed the urgency of escaping quickly and cleanly without disrupting the gameplay with unnecessary interactions.
The final part of the "Hold the Line" mission feels less like a tense, engaging narrative and more like a showcase of game mechanics. It comes across as if it's showing off the newly added parkour system simply because it was designed specifically for this title, but was it really necessary to drag out the escape sequence for so long?
