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Why Was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare A MASTERPIECE?!

The Act Man

916,313 views

50,000 Gamers used to play here... Now it's a Ghost Town...
Dedicated to Vince Zampella, for what it's worth.

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Narrative Brilliance & Social Irrelevance in COD 4 https://www.destructoid.com/narrative...

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___TIME STAMPS___
Introduction – 0:00
The COD Game Everyone Liked – 3:34
Answering The Call of Duty (Development) - 6:43
Selling the ‘Modern Warfare’ Setting – 8:56
F.N.G – 11:15
Crew Expendable (Setpieces) – 12:47
The Coup – 17:15
The Only Criticism of COD 4 – 22:49
Blackout & Charlie Don’t Surf - 26:14
Hunted – 29:02
The AC-130 Mission - 32:03
The Nuke – 35:15
All Ghillied Up – 39:48
Campaign End – 44:00
Multiplayer – 48:31
Conclusion – 1:00:53

20 Comments

@TheActMan Creator 8 months ago (edited) Pinned

Took me like 8 years but I can finally check Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare off the ‘to-do’ list! Thank you for your incredible patience! I hope we all have a fantastic year in 2026.
Also, yes I forgot to add a Black Ops 1 clip in the intro. I decided to just post the video anyways haha it was already taking too long!

If you want to watch my playthrough of COD 4 you can check it out here on the 2nd channel :) https://youtu.be/8L3pjiyJAqo

@NatestahsSpace 8 months ago

I was the Level Designer behind the very last mission of COD4 (which ended up being my all time favorite contribution in over 20 years of CoD dev), my YT algorithm has been sending a whole bunch of love for those old games. Love the sentiment, great job!❤

@Lawrence_Talbot 8 months ago (edited)

Minor critique but at the end you are supposed to think Price died. As you are airlifted away, you can see the soldier trying to resuscitate Price literally hammering on Price’s chest out of desperation. That’s why finding out Price is the rogue asset you need to free from the Gulag in MW2 is such a shock to both Soap and the player

@BrotherHercules01 8 months ago

Why is this line so iconic for me "on your feet soldier, WE ARE LEAVING" it just sticks

@TheBortie 8 months ago

Honestly I really miss when the campaign was the main focus of all games

@mrherbert1754 8 months ago

I live in Iran and didn't have access to the internet for weeks. Now I'm barely connecting but seeing this video made me very happy.

@spideyman1146 8 months ago

Fun fact: When the SAS go to find Al-Assad, Al-Assad will always be in the last building you check, since the first 3 buildings are close to each other and the farm house is farther away, the farm house is usually the last house everyone checks but if you do the farm house first, he won’t be in it and Al-Assad’s execution will happen in one of the other 3 buildings so long as one of them is the last building you clear out

@frantictoast3741 8 months ago

Undisclosed Middle Eastern Country is giving My Team and The Enemy Team energy

@xXninjaboltXx 8 months ago

7:24 Funny thing is they never took each other down. Both Halo and COD committed suicide both shooting themselves in the head. RIP to these amazing franchises if only they learned from their past mistakes.

@parkerd5508 4 weeks ago

33:20 unique idea for a new call of duty campaign mission is to flip this idea on its head and have you be the one on the ground trying to avoid an enemy AC 130. hiding in buildings, using creeks and water to hide your thermal profile. if the past 20 years of Call of Duty has introduced the AC 130 as this overpowered terrifying weapon, introducing it as a threat would be an amazing breath of fresh air, and truly terrifying if executed correctly.

@4TheWinQuinn 8 months ago

Al Fulani should have pre-ordered the Reznov challenge pack

@Theultimateginger 8 months ago

“Switching to your pistol is faster than reloading” is a lesson I take with me through every game I play, it’s saved my life more than can I remember.

@dennybud9752 8 months ago

Oh we’ve been waiting for this one boys

@Michael-y7l1p 8 months ago

Fun fact: in the game files, Paul Jackson was supposed to survive the nuke and we were actually gonna link up with survivors after the nuke in Aftermath. Fortunately they went with the mission we all know and love.

@CyonisCyberFox 7 months ago (edited)

38:33 One little detail I do like from the remaster is the way they made the mushroom cloud of the nuke look kinda like a giant eye staring down at us. Does kinda also play to how Shepard says "I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an EYE...and the world just fucking WATCHED." Not to mention that looking feeling of doom just seeing the mushroom cloud gives when looking at it.

@Summer_Gains 8 months ago

Every time I see a ferris wheel, the first thing that comes to mind is "15 million people use to live here. Now, it's a ghost town."

@Misclickt 8 months ago

COD4 achievements are split between, 99% suffering through Mile High Club on Veteran, and 1% accidentally unlocking the other 49.

@scarecrow928I 8 months ago (edited)

" Last year, I laid off the CoD art employees and whole Games Industry just fucking watched"

@Metal_Snake06 8 months ago (edited)

Thank You Act Man for giving us an overdue COD 4 review but it came out at the right time, and honoring Vince.

@Joel_Pulkkinen 8 months ago (edited)

I think that the reason why Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare got green light from Activision was because EA's Battlefield 2 was so successful. It showed that the modern warfare wasn't taboo, considering that USA was both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I like how they took inspiration from Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down.
EDIT: I wrote this comment before watching the whole video, nice that ActMan recognized the Black Hawk Down influence as well.