History VideoGame / CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019

Players play as a CIA agent codenamed Alex, SAS Sergeant Kyle Garrick, and local resistance leader Farah Karim as their missions to expose Barkov's oppression of the Urzikstani people and stop Al-Qatala's attacks intertwine and escalate, and eventually becomes a mission to stop the world from collapsing into WorldWarIII.

[[PresentDay The year is 2019]]. In UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast, the Russian-occupied country of Urzikstan enters another turbulent year in its endless CivilWar. Radical Russian general Roman Barkov rules the country with an iron fist and maintains a supply of poison gas to strike down the rebelling locals. A Urzikstani terrorist group called Al-Qatala is formed in response, who aims to launch attacks on foreign soil and kill foreigners indiscriminately until all outsiders leave Urzikstan. As Urzikstan falls deeper and deeper into senseless violence, the world around it becomes more violent as well day by day.

[[PresentDay The year is 2019]]. In UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast, the Russian-occupied country of Urzikstan enters another turbulent year in its endless civil war. Radical Russian general Roman Barkov rules the country with an iron fist and maintains a supply of poison gas to strike down the rebelling locals. A Urzikstani terrorist group called Al-Qatala is formed in response, who aims to launch attacks on foreign soil and kill foreigners indiscriminately until all outsiders leave Urzikstan. As Urzikstan falls deeper and deeper into senseless violence, the world around it becomes more violent as well day by day.

[[PresentDay The year is 2019]]. In the Middle East, the Russian-occupied country of Urzikstan enters another turbulent year in its endless civil war. Radical Russian general Roman Barkov rules the country with an iron fist and maintains a supply of poison gas to strike down the rebelling locals. A Urzikstani terrorist group called Al-Qatala is formed in response, who aims to launch attacks on foreign soil and kill foreigners indiscriminately until all outsiders leave Urzikstan. As Urzikstan falls deeper and deeper into senseless violence, the world around it becomes more violent as well day by day.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Let's just say that the Russian military under Barkov isn't portrayed in a positive light (though, admittedly, they have gone rogue at this point). They are shown commiting war crime after war crime, gems such as; beating innocent civilians begging for mercy, forcing civilians to watch the public executions of their neighbors, executing unarmed and surrendering civilians en masse, attacking children with intent to kill, nonchalantly executing wounded civilians, torturing helpless and innocent prisoners.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Farah's Arabic Urzikstan Liberation Force on the other hand is unambiguously good, as they only want to liberate their country from Barkov's army and do not commit any war crimes. There is a good reason for that stance though...

** Barkov repeatedly insists his goal is to protect his country from terrorists. He's certainly [[VillainHasAPoint not wrong about the threat Al-Qatala poses]], but he commits numerous atrocities and war crimes during his occupation of Urzikstan, including using chemical weapons on innocent civilians and killing children. Upson seeing him execute people (sans trial and in front of other civilians), Alex outright says "This is a goddamn war crime". His actions are bad enough for Farah to say that he and his forces are terrorists as well.

* ActorAllusion: Creator/LaMonicaGarrett previously portrayed a marine in the episode "Engaged" (part 1 and 2) of Series/{{NCIS}}.

** Taking up after ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4'', players are sometimes waived a loss that would have otherwise affected their win rate if they join a match after it has already started. The session must have been going for some time before this would register, though, as joining too early counts as a normal match and a loss will be recorded. This is to address the frustration many players get when joining a game in progress only to be shunted over to the side that's been getting steamrolled.

** The reboot did away with the Prestige system entirely, in favor of the "seasonal rank" model, which is unlocked once the player has reached the soft level cap of 55. As such, players will no longer lose all unlocked gear and have to regrind from scratch and will get to keep everything they've unlocked so as to be competitively viable come the next season, though MW levels past 55 have to be regained all over again. This also unfortunately meant that up until the update in January 2020, there was no way to unlock additional loadout slots past the five that are automatically unlocked at Rank 4. Now with 5 additional slots for a total of 10, that is no longer an issue.

** Field Upgrade Pro. Sure, having two Field Upgrades at hand can help you deal with many types of situations, such as a Munitions Box for team resupplying, and then Dead Silence when things go sour and you need to beat feet fast. But the fact that it requires two separate button presses to activate Field Upgrade and ''then'' choose between which one you want takes up precious time, time that in most cases you likely won't have considering the game you're playing. This is less of an issue on consoles, where the Field Upgrades are picked by pressing the tactical/lethal buttons that are immediately opposite to each other, while PC has it better or worse depending on which keys you've bound to those functions. Not to mention [[DamnYouMuscleMemory muscle memory]] issues for players who were used to pressing one button and having their Field Upgrade usable immediately, who would press it and think they've activated it, then try to throw a grenade and get killed because they pulled out a trophy system instead.

* BrokenAesop: The game's narrative is designed to push the idea that WarIsHell, as explicitly pointed out in one conversation where Price says that his and Garrick's role is to get themselves dirty to keep the world clean - it's the mean ol' ugly and inevitable reality of war that, sometimes, good soldiers have to be the bad guys to get the job done and protect their people. The problem arises in that the game never adequately demonstrates this, especially any of the tough, morally-ambiguous decisions the developers hyped up pre-release. Farah's playable sections entirely consist of her fighting for survival, never putting her in any sort of situation where her actions could be called into question, and the closest Garrick gets to a tough choice to make is [[spoiler:leaving a child held hostage by the Butcher to be killed, rather than opening the door to try to save him (which results in the Butcher and his assorted militants storming the building and killing everyone)]] - every other time any sort of morally-ambiguous decision is placed at his or Alex's feet, picking any option other than the most morally-clean one [[NonStandardGameOver immediately sends you back to a checkpoint]]. Even the less-than-favorable decisions you ''are'' allowed to make are undercut primarily because whatever individual bad things Price and company do for good reasons are wholly overshadowed by Al-Qatala and the Russian forces both being so ludicrously evil in comparison - most immediately obvious is that ''both'' sides regularly target civilians on principle - that [[CardCarryingVillainy they may as well have nametags announcing themselves as the villains]].

* BrokenAesop: The game's narrative is designed to push the idea that WarIsHell, as explicitly pointed out in one conversation where Price says that his and Garrick's role is to get themselves dirty to keep the world clean - it's the mean ol' ugly and inevitable reality of war that, sometimes, good soldiers have to be the bad guys to get the job done and protect their people. The problem arises in that the game never adequately demonstrates this, especially any of the tough, morally-ambiguous decisions the developers hyped up pre-release. Farah's playable sections entirely consist of her fighting for survival, never putting her in any sort of situation where her actions could be called into question, and the closest Garrick gets to a tough choice to make is [[spoiler:leaving a child held hostage by the Butcher to be killed, rather than opening the door to try to save him (which results in the Butcher and his assorted militants storming the building and killing everyone)]] - every other time any sort of morally-ambiguous decision is placed at his or Alex's feet, picking any option other than the most morally-clean one [[NonStandardGameOver immediately sends you back to a checkpoint]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The handheld drones with explosives strapped-on and improvised mortars firing propane canisters are real weapons used by militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
** As silly as it may seem to most players, using an oil filter as an improvised suppressor is a real thing and it does work, though you typically can't just screw one right onto your gun without needing an adapter for the different threading. They also tend to only last a few rounds, as, unlike purpose-made suppressors, oil filters aren't really designed to handle the stresses of firing bullets through them.

* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: This exchange between Soap and Ghost:
--> '''Soap''': Did you see the caged dog?
--> '''Ghost''': Big geezer. [[ShootTheDog If he barks, shoot him and repo quickly.]] Don't get compromised.
--> '''Soap''': [[WhatTheHellHero You are stone cold, Simon...]]
--> '''Ghost''': What has two legs and bleeds?
--> '''Soap''': What?/Don't tell me...
--> '''Ghost''': Half a dog.
--> '''Soap''': Sorry I asked.../I asked you not to tell me!

* TheAlliance: The Armistice, a combined forces of Russia's [[TheEmpire Allegiance]] and NATO's [[TheFederation Coalition]]. They're the group both sides form in order to [[EnemyMine combat Al-Qatala]] [[spoiler: after they take over Verdansk with the help of the Ascendant,]] and are the player faction in Spec Ops.

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The game includes sections where you lead a helpless innocent bystander (Stacy) to safety around armed guards. It also includes a section where you play as a little girl (Farah) trying to survive the Russian occupation. [[spoiler: And finally in the last mission you take control of Farah as she gets her revenge on Barkov]].

* FinalBoss: Quite unusually for the series, especially the Infinity Ward games, the game actually has a full-on in-game final boss fight [[spoiler: against a Juggernaut]] at the very end, which is followed by a more typical-for-the-series CutsceneBoss confrontation with [[spoiler: General Barkov]].

** The Juggernaut who shows up [[spoiler: as the FinalBoss of the main campaign]]. He's about 10% tankier than his ''Modern Warfare 2''[=/=]''Modern Warfare 3'' Spec Ops[=/=]Survival Mode counterparts, is noticeably ''faster'', and is fought in a room specifically designed as a boss arena, with lots of exploding barrels, triggerable steam pipes to hide you, etc.

* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: The level "Captive". [[spoiler: Although it's less injured and more "weakened by 10+ days without food and water". Your reloads are slower than usual and you stumble when you move.]]

** [[spoiler: As young Farah, you have to fight Russian trooper J-12 when he breaks into your house and fatally wounds your father. Since he's a huge ox of a man, and you're a small child, the fight is a full-on boss fight in which you have to sneak around the house evading him and stab him in the back 3 times with improvised weapons.]]
** [[spoiler: The Russian Juggernaut under Barkov's command in the last mission is essentially this, being a unique small boss fight that isn't seen a lot in ''Call of Duty'' games.]]

** Averted with the [[spoiler: abandoning of Farah's resistance group. That was just coincidence.]]

* ShutUpHannibal: You have the option of shooting and[=/=]or stabbing both [[spoiler: the Wolf]] and [[spoiler: Barkov]] in the face immediately instead of letting them get through their last stand villain speech.

* TheStinger: Thanks to the EvilPowerVacuum in Urzikstan created by the deaths of [[spoiler: Omar Sulaman and General Barkov]], a new face has emerged as the commander of Al-Qatala and taken an aggressive stance against Russia: a bearded man with sunglasses who is heavily implied to be [[spoiler:Khaled Al-Asad from ''Call of Duty 4'']]. Price, Laswell, Nikolai, and new face [[spoiler: Kamarov]] gear up to engage in a joint NATO-Russian op, based on intel received from Laswell's FSB counterpart in Russia.

* WhamShot: Near the end of "Highway of Death", the player is prompted to open the trunk of a truck so Hadir can utilize some "powerful explosives", which turns out to be [[spoiler: the toxic gas that was stolen back in Kastovia.]]
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: You have the option of opting out of interrogating the Butcher [[spoiler: by threatening his wife and child]].

** [[spoiler: The Multiplayer mode complicates this even further when ULF-affiliated operators (including Farah herself) were added as playable characters for the Allegiance side. Implying that after the U.S. cuts ties with them, the ULF turned to ''Russia'', or at least the Chimera, for assistance against the reborn Al-Qatala. Much like how Syrian Kurds were forced to cooperate with Russia and Assad's Syria in the wake of Turkish incursion of northern Syria.]]

** Each Spec Ops mission includes a "Collateral Damage Assessment" stat, and civilian deaths at the hands of the player negatively affect the ranking the player receives for the stat upon mission completion.

** In the campaign, most ''Call of Duty'' games generally give you some leeway in regards to collateral damage, as long as it's not obvious you're targeting civilians deliberately (such as shooting them in a complete noncombat situation). ''Modern Warfare'', on the other hand, ''immediately'' fails you and kicks you back to the last checkpoint if you waste a noncombatant, even by accident during a hectic firefight.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: There are a number of hostages who are actually TheMole and operatives of Al-Qatala. Identifying which one of these are real and which aren't is impossible until they draw a gun on you for killing their "captor."

* GangstaStyle: During night-time operations in both single and multiplayer modes, any guns equipped with IR laser sights will be aimed in such a manner (only turned 45 degrees rather than the full 90), as most optical attachments are not compatible with [=NVGs=] (either the reticule doesn't show up in night vision or their combined bulk simply prevents the user from actually lining them up while still having the stock secured against their shoulder).

* MiniBoss: [[spoiler:The Russian Juggernaut under Barkov's command in the last mission is essentially this, being a unique small boss fight that isn't seen a lot in ''Call of Duty'' games.]]

** Each mission includes a "Collateral Damage Assessment" stat, and civilian deaths at the hands of the player negatively affect the ranking the player receives for the stat upon mission completion.

On May 25th, 2022, Infinity Ward announced a sequel, ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII Modern Warfare II]]'', set to release on October 28th, 2022.

* RareGuns: The AN-94 shows up as the higher-tier Season 5 Battle Pass weapon and even averts AKA47. It also retains its unique burst fire feature where the gun fires the first two rounds in a burst so fast that the recoil of the second round doesn't occur until the third round has been fired.

** Averted for once in the series with the TropeNamer, in that this is the first installment to feature an "AK-47" and have it be an ''actual'' AK-47, with the correct milled receiver, flat top, gas block, and muzzle. That being said, due to the game's increased pool of attachments, it is perfectly possible to modify the AK-47 into another variant and still retain the "AK-47" name, with possibly the most egregious case being one converted to use 5.45x39mm ammunition, which ''should'' rename it to an AK-74, but doesn't. Strangely, in the beta, converting it to 5.45mm ''did'' rename it - but it did so to "AKS-74U", even if you otherwise didn't attach any of the other parts that would actually make it an AKS-74U.

* AmazonBrigade: Farah is a severely starved and dehydrated teenage girl with zero combat experience, having spent the last 10 of her 18 years in prison enduring various abuses and tortures. She and a few other female prisoners (who are almost certainly in simular condition) are able to pick up rifles and fight their way through the Russian army to escape prison.

* AdaptedOut: [[spoiler:The end of the Campaign reveals the existence of Imran Zakhaev, his son Victor, and Khaled Al-Asad. But Vladimir Makarov, who was a major character in the original timeline, doesn't exist in this continuity. [[ParanoiaFuel At least, he hasn’t yet been confirmed]]]].

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Let's just say that the Russian military isn't portrayed in a positive light (though admittedly, they have gone rogue at this point). They are shown commiting war crime after war crime, gems such as; beating innocent civilians begging for mercy, forcing civilians to watch the public executions of their neighbors, executing unarmed and surrendering civilians en masse, attacking children with intent to kill, nonchalantly executing wounded civilians, torturing helpless and innocent prisoners.
* AmazonBrigade: Farah is a severely starved and dehydrated teenage girl with zero combat experience, having spent the last 10 of her 18 years in prison enduring various abuses and tortures. She and a few other female prisoners (who are almost certainly in simular condition) are able to pick up rifles and fight their way through the Russian army to escape prison.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The game includes sections where you lead a helpless innocent bystander (Stacy) to safety around armed guards. It also includes a section where you play as a little girl (Farah) trying to survive the Russian occupation. [[spoiler: And finally in the last mission you take control of Farah as she gets her revenge on Barkov]].
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:General Barkov is dead and his actions are disowned by the Russian government in the face of his gas factory being destroyed, but an Ultranationalist named Victor Zakhaev is aiming to take Barkov's seat in the military. Price tells Laswell he intends to form Task Force 141 to go after Zakhaev. Meanwhile, Al-Qatala has grown in numbers and is using tanks and armored vehicles against Russian forces, having rallied around a new leader that is heavily implied to be the reboot's version of Khaled Al-Asad, which leads directly into the events of the co-op missions.]]

*** Strangely, while the .50 Action Express round is bland-named as ".50 Pistol", the .41 Action Express round, which is an available ammo conversion for the Uzi, is not, being simply shortened to ".41 AE". This is taken in an even stranger direction with the Sykov (Makarov PM with PMM magazine), as not only is the weapon's actual name is clearly shown in the ammunition being chambered ([=9mm=] '''Makarov'''), it isn't the only weapon in the game that chambers that round, the other being the Bizon.

* ArmiesAreEvil: ZigZagged, as Barkov’s rogue detachment of the Russian military is never shown as anything but complete, total evil. The US military command classifies Farah's Urzikstan Liberation Force as terrorists, though there are arguments to be made that it may have been somewhat justified (see AlternateCharacterInterpretation on the YMMV page). British operatives are willing to kidnap and violently threaten a young boy and are largely unsympathetic to civilians being killed, though they still fight to protect innocent lives. Only Farah's irregular group of Arabic freedom fighters resisting their evil Russian oppressors is consistently moral.

** While Al-Qatala and Barkov's forces are clearly morally reprehensible, the Western protagonists (particularly Price and possibly Garrick) are shown in a much more morally questionable light than before, being willing to threaten a man's family in front of him for information, allowing innocents to die in order to complete the mission, and gunning down terrorists in front of their children.
** Nikolai who, while technically on Price's side is shown to be no better and helps Price and Garrick to capture the butcher... by kidnapping his family consisting of his wife and son. He is also implied to be part of the Russian mafia, a brutal criminal organization.

** Certain missions have the player conducting a SAS raid on suspected AQ houses. In a certain instance, an AQ sympathizer can be found clutching her baby as the player breaches the room she's in, and much later in the campaign one can be found comforting her son in the back room as the player is doing the rounds on the men outside. The latter woman will shoot back in self-defense, [[spoiler:and unlike the first one, [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption cannot be left alive otherwise the objective won't advance]].]]

* InNameOnly: Although it is stated that Urzikstan is in the midst of a civil war, we do not see any Urzikstans that support General Barkov's occupation forces and instead has his army contend with the moderate Liberation Force and the extremist Al-Qatala.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
** Anyone familiar with small unit organization in the Marine Corps will immediately see that the Raider team in "Fog of War" makes no sense. First of all, there would be no Lance Corporals, let alone Privates, in a Raider team; Marines normally have to be at least the rank of Corporal just to volunteer for Raider selection and would be at least the rank of Sergeant by the time they were qualified to operate in the field. The presence of Specialist Gonzavi deserves special mention because that rank does not even exist in the Marine Corps; it's possible he was borrowed from the Army for having some special skillset critical to the mission, but no mention of this is ever made. Lastly the complete absence of a corpsman or any staff NCO's sticks out, as any Raider element would have at least one of each.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: While Al-Qatala and Barkov's forces are clearly the evil villains, the Western protagonists are shown in a much more morally questionable light than before, being willing to threaten a man's family in front of him for information, allowing innocents to die in order to complete the mission, and gunning down terrorists in front of their children.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Farah's Arabic Urzikstan Liberation Force is 100% complete, total good, and the Russian military is 100% complete, total evil.

* {{Demonization}}: Russians in ''Modern Warfare'' are evil, weak, cowardly, and stupid.
** The Russian military is portrayed as monsters who commit war crime after war crime. Evil Russians beating innocent civilians begging for mercy. Evil Russians forcing civilians to watch the public executions of their neighbors. Evil Russians executing unarmed and surrendering civilians en masse. Evil Russians attacking children with intent to kill. Evil Russians nonchalantly executing wounded civilians. Evil Russians torturing helpless and innocent prisoners. Even Nikolai, the one Russian character allied with the protagonists, shows no qualms in kidnapping an innocent woman and child so the protagonists can threaten to execute them in order to psychologically torture the child's father.
** The Russian participation in the conflict in Urzikstan is never shown with an ounce more nuance than "Evil invading Russians are massacring innocent Arabs for no other reason than insane paranoia or outright sadism." Despite the conflict being explicitly called a ''Civil'' War, not once do we ever see any actual 'Urzikstanic' natives fighting alongside or cooperating with the Russians. Additionally, the Russians are producing the chemical weapons which are the basis of the plot, which is portrayed as an act of irredeemable evil that automatically qualifies the perpetrator as a terrorist.
** Additionally, Russians are not only shown to be pure evil but absurdly ''[[StupidEvil incompetent]]''. The only successes the Russians have in the story are against completely helpless civilians and children. This is seen most strikingly on a mission where the Russian military is defeated by a group of starving, abused teenage girls with zero combat training. We see this again at the end: in most Call of Duty games the campaign ends with a climatic struggle against an antagonist who is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking usually able to put up a fight]] and often expresses [[WorthyAdversary some reluctant respect for the protagonist.]] In ''Modern Warfare'', [[spoiler:Farah sneaks up behind the evil Russian general, stabs him, he grabs her and struggles with her a bit, she grabs the knife and stabs him some more while he begs and pleads for his life.]]

--->'''Price:''' Good call on the door, Garrick.

--->'''Price:''' Would be a shame if that was loaded, wouldn't it?

** All of the ammo/magazine conversion options for specific weapons are actually possible in real life. The [=MP5=]'s 10mm conversion is one of several available for the platform, turning it into an [=MP5=]/10 with a straight magazine. The AUG is designed to be extremely versatile and adaptable, and can easily be converted from an assault rifle to an SMG through the use of a different barrel, bolt, and magazine well adapter.
*** This isn't entirely perfect, however, as "converting" a weapon to use new ammo only changes the magazine model, while the rest of the gun still remains the same for the most part. This effect is most visible with the AUG, which retains its 9x19mm barrel even when rechambered into 5.56x45mm.

** The Season 4 cinematic takes it UpToEleven, showing Verdansk (an Eastern European city) to be located southeast of Urzikstan, and Urzikstan itself being a coastal country, presumably on the Eastern coast of Azov Sea.

* BraggingRightsReward: As ever, the [[BlingOfWar Golden camos]] for your weapons. They represent the fact that a player has completely mastered a given weapon by unlocking every other unlockable camos available to it. The game takes it UpToEleven, however, with Platinum and Damascus skins, the former of which is unlocked by achieving Gold camos for all weapons in a single class, and the latter for getting Platinum on all classes, including the Combat Knife and Riot Shield, making it basically HundredPercentCompletion.

On March 10th 2020, ''Call of Duty: Warzone'', a free-to-play standalone release of the two Battle Royale modes, the titular Warzone and the heist-inspired Plunder, also added in the main game, was released.

On May 25th 2022, Infinity Ward announced a sequel, ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII Modern Warfare II]]'', set to release on October 28th, 2022.

* ActionGirl: More than all previous ''Call of Duty'' games combined. In addition to LaResistance leader Farah, she also has an AmazonBrigade who help her escape from a Russian prison, and there's also a number of Al-Qatala fighters that are women. This is in addition to two female officers on the American side of things. And in the Multiplayer mode, seven of the total twenty nine playable operators are also female (Charly, Domino, Alice & Mara for the Coalition and Syd, Iskra & Roze for the Allegiance)

* AmazonBrigade: Farah is a severely starved and dehydrated teenage girl with zero combat experience, having spent the last 10 of her 18 years in prison enduring various abuses and tortures. She and a few other female prisoners (who are almost certainly in simular condition) are able to pick up rifles and fight their way though the Russian army to escape prison.

** The SIG Sauer P320 RX Compact is referred to as the "M19", which is one off from its actual military designation of M18, while the M17 is the full size P320.

** The SIG Sauer MCX VIRTUS SBR is known in game as the "M13", suggesting it has been adopted in formal military service.

** Averted for once in the series with the TropeNamer, in that this is the first installment to feature an "AK-47" and have it be an ''actual'' AK-47, with the correct milled receiver, flat top, gas block and muzzle. That being said, due to the game's increased pool of attachments, it is perfectly possible to modify the AK-47 into another variant and still retain the "AK-47" name, with possibly the most egregious case being one converted to use 5.45x39mm ammunition, which ''should'' rename it to an AK-74, but doesn't. Strangely, in the beta, converting it to 5.45mm ''did'' rename it - but it did so to "AKS-74U", even if you otherwise didn't attach any of the other parts that would actually make it an AKS-74U.
** The "AK-12" only found in the campaign. It is very obviously an AK-47, which also spawns in the same mission. Both weapons look identical in every way except for their attachment loadouts, as the "AK-12" is just an AK-47 fitted with a "Spetsnaz Elite" barrel and a "[=FORGE TAC=] Ultralight" stock. Neither of these mods make it a true AK-12 - the only authentic AK-12 part is the pistol grip.

** Season 4's new weapons, the Fennec SMG, CR-56 AMAX assault rifle and Rytec AMR sniper rifle are, respectively, Kriss Vector (although the weapon is also visually modified significantly, shortening the receiver to the point it could look like a different weapon), Galil ACE and Barrett [=XM109=].
** While the ISO is based off the Brugger & Thomet [=APC9=] (of the [=MP9=] fame), this is averted for the AN-94, which not only was already adopted by the Russian special forces groups, but was also discontinued in 2006.
** Season 6 plays it straight with the "SP-R 208" (an M24), but averts it with the AS VAL (mostly, the real weapon's name isn't in all-capitals). Like the AK, though, it's possible to modify the Val into a VSS Vintorez or an approximation of the SR-3, without changing the name. The later Season 6 weapon, the AA-12 shotgun, also goes with the pseudonym route by being presented as the "JAK-12".

** As silly as it may seem to most players, using an oil filter as an improvised suppressor is a real thing and it does work, though you typically can't just screw one right onto your gun without needing an adapter for the different threading. They also tend to only last a few rounds, as unlike purpose-made suppressors, oil filters aren't really designed to handle the stresses of firing bullets through them.
* {{Antepiece}}: Several levels have an [[GimmickLevel additional gameplay mechanic]], but you're given information on the needed controls and often you're walked through with how to work with the gimmick before the heavy action starts. For example, "Highway of Death" has you [[SnipingMission operate a long-range rifle]] and dealing with both bullet drop and wind effects. You're given the opportunity to practice on some dummy targets before you're expected to pop heads.

** The reboot did away with the Prestige system entirely, in favor of the "seasonal rank" model, which is unlocked once the player has reached the soft level cap of 55. As such, players will no longer lose all unlocked gear and have to regrind from scratch, and will get to keep everything they've unlocked so as to be competitively viable come the next season, though MW levels past 55 have to be regained all over again. This also unfortunately meant that up until the update in January 2020, there was no way to unlock additional loadout slots past the five that are automatically unlocked at Rank 4. Now with 5 additional slots for a total of 10, that is no longer an issue.
** Warzone handles respawns rather uniquely: When you go down the first time, you'll be sent over to the Gulag as a "[[{{Pun}} Prisoner of Warzone]]", where you'll have to partake in a 1v1 duel against anyone who's also a [=PoW=]. Succeed, and you'll be sent right back in the action, giving a incentive to keep your skills sharp in the event of a Gulag trip.

** Anyone familiar with small unit organization in the Marine Corps will immediately see that the Raider team in "Fog of War" makes no sense. First of all, there would be no Lance Corporals, much less Privates, in a Raider team; Marines normally have to be at least the rank of Corporal just to volunteer for Raider selection, and would be at least the rank of Sergeant by the time they were qualified to operate in the field. The presence of Specialist Gonzavi deserves special mention because that rank does not even exist in the Marine Corps; it's possible he was borrowed from the Army for having some special skillset critical to the mission, but no mention of this is ever made. Lastly the complete absence of a corpsman or any staff NCO's sticks out, as any Raider element would have at least one of each.

* BattleRoyaleGame: ''Call of Duty: Warzone'' was added as a new game mode and a stand-alone free to play title. It features up to 150 players in teams of three or solos dropping onto a large map and fighting to be the last team alive while a ring of toxic gas closes in. Downed players are sent to the Gulag and fight in a 1 v. 1 match with the chance to redeploy.

** While not on the same level of Treyarch's ''Black Ops'' series, this game is certainly more violent than previous Infinity Ward entries at least, as the game isn't afraid to perforate skulls and show you dead citizens or people being slaughtered with more gruesome detail than any of their prior titles. You even bash a Russian soldier's skull in with a cinderblock early on, caking the screen with blood briefly. In the campaign, high-powered weapons and explosives can [[AnArmAndALeg dismember limbs]] and [[YourHeadAsplode remove heads]]. Of course, all of this is optional, and can be toggled on or off in the options menu.
** This also carries over in multiplayer, as of Title Update 1.14. Certain powerful killstreaks such as VTOL Jet have the ability to shred enemy players into pieces with its machine gun. Even some Legendary blueprints also capable to do this, as long as there is the word "Dismemberment" included in its FlavorText description.

** Additionally, Russians are not only shown to be pure evil, but absurdly ''[[StupidEvil incompetent]]''. The only successes the Russians have in the story are against completely helpless civilians and children. This is seen most strikingly on a mission where the Russian military is defeated by a group of starving, abused teenage girls with zero combat training. We see this again at the end: in most Call of Duty games the campaign ends with a climatic struggle against an antagonist who is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking usually able to put up a fight]] and often expresses [[WorthyAdversary some reluctant respect for the protagonist.]] In ''Modern Warfare'', [[spoiler:Farah sneaks up behind the evil Russian general, stabs him, he grabs her and struggles with her a bit, she grabs the knife and stabs him some more while he begs and pleads for his life.]]

---> '''Price:''' Would be a shame if that was loaded, wouldn't it?

* TheEmpire: Known in-game as the Allegiance. They are headed by the Russian Federation, and are represented by their Spetsnaz along with various militant and [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenaries groups]] that are allied with them (Jackals, Chimera and later Shadow Company). Oddly enough, this is also the faction that Farah and other ULF fighters, who are the pinnacle of goodness in the Campaign, ended up joined with in Multiplayer mode, making the entire faction more morally ambiguous rather than outright evil.

** Certain missions have the player conducting a SAS raid on suspected AQ houses. In a certain instance, an AQ sympathizer can be found clutching her baby as the player breaches the room she's in, and much later in the campaign one can be found comforting her son in the back room as the player is doing the rounds on the men outside. The latter woman will shoot back in self defense, [[spoiler:and unlike the first one, [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption cannot be left alive otherwise the objective won't advance]].]]

* TheFaceless: Ghost and the multiplayer-only characters Nikto, Mace and Kreuger. Nikto wears an odd balaclava/ballistic mask hybrid (after being disfigured by Al-Qatala), Kreuger has a sniper veil similar to the Danish Frogmen, whom players might recognize from ''Rainbow Six Siege'''s Nokk, Ghost and Mace wear almost identical balaclavas with a skull motif.

* GangstaStyle: During night-time operations in both single and multi-player modes, any guns equipped with IR laser sights will be aimed in such a manner (only turned 45 degrees rather than the full 90), as most optical attachments are not compatible with [=NVGs=] (either the reticule doesn't show up in night vision or their combined bulk simply prevents the user from actually lining them up while still having the stock secured against their shoulder).
* TheGlovesComeOff: After the Piccadilly terrorist attack, Garrick rages to Price that the attack could have been prevented. His team had actionable intel on the terrorists, but procedure and bureaucracy kept them from acting. Price is able to recruit Garrick largely by promising if he joins Price's squad, the gloves will come off. Later however, [[EveryoneHasStandards even Garrick is disturbed]] [[spoiler:by threatening the Butcher's wife and child to get him to cooperate]] and questions Price [[HeWhoFightsMonsters how far they're willing to go]]. Price replies that Garrick wanted the gloves off, and now that they're off, they get blood on their hands.

** Barkov repeatedly insists his goal is to protect his country from terrorists. He's certainly [[VillainHasAPoint not wrong about the threat Al-Qatala poses]], but he commits numerous atrocities and war crimes during his occupation of Urzikstan, including using chemical weapons on innocent civilians and killing children. Upson seeing him execute people (sans trial and in front of other civilians), Alex outright says "This is a goddamn war crime". His actions are bad enough for Farah say that he and forces are terrorists as well.
** Al-Qatala fight the Russian invaders, and they are right to. However, they use terrorists tactics such as bombing civilians, including those in Britain who ''aren't'' occupying Urzikstan. They also attack their own citizens. Their actions ultimately just make the situation worse, and harder for genuine freedom fighters like Farah. Omar 'the Wolf' Sulaman used to be a genuine freedom fighter, but his anger against foreign powers (and sadism and blood lust) lead him to becoming a terrorist. He even believes this is the only way to fight.
-->"We fight without sorrow. We wage war without sympathy. This is the only way to live....and die."
** [[spoiler:Hadir believes there is no reason not to use their enemies own weapons and methods against them. He leads a group of men in stealing the Russian gas and ultimately uses it against the Russian forces. He gives the remaining gas to Al-Qatala (who plan to use it on Russian civilians). He then participates in a raid on Barkov's home estate, with Al-Qatala forces killing and torturing members of Barkov's family. Hadir himself however, is never shown attacking anyone other enemy combatants, so he hasn't fallen all the way yet]].

* HeroicMime: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], unlike in the original ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''; Kyle, Alex and [[spoiler:Farah]] are quite talkative even when they're being played.
* HitboxDissonance: Vehicles in the ''Warzone'' battle royale mode are afflicted with this, as they have different hitboxes depending on the type of object it's interacting with (ie Is it colliding with level geometry/destructables, or another player?). While there is no dissonance if the vehicle hits the former, there is if it's hitting a player, as its player damage hitbox actually extends well beyond the vehicle model itself, to the point where [[https://www.reddit.com/r/modernwarfare/comments/fqwvm1/a_truck_ran_me_over_while_i_was_in_a_house/ not even hard, indestructible cover can keep a player safe from a roadkill.]]
* HollywoodSilencer: A bit downplayed compared to prior titles, as suppressed firearms can still be rather loud and audible when fired. Then there are also the oft-memed oil filter silencers found in Embedded, which are yoinked out of unused cars or motorbikes. They're universal, "one size fits all" baffles that can be snapped onto every gun you could find in the level, including the hidden .357 magnum revolver which shouldn't logically work[[note]]You can’t suppress a typical revolver because the gas discharge, which is what creates the “bang”, comes from a part of the weapon that is not sealed off; the cylinder[[/note]]. Regardless of whether you're firing a weapon chambered in .45 ACP or .50 AE, the gunshots are never louder than a simple cough. This type of suppressor is available to select pistols in multiplayer as well.

* HyperactiveMetabolism: The Combat Stim tactical equipment somehow near-instantly [[RegeneratingHealth heals all wounds when used]], regardless of severity, and returns the user to tip top shape in mere moments. It can even revive players in bleedout instantly when used as the Medic class' skill in co-op, healing all manners of injury in less than three seconds. A self-revive version of the Combat Stim is available in the ''Warzone'' game mode.

* InkSuitActor: The campaign characters look exactly like their actors, especially Farah. For the multiplayer operators, this is an exception - only a few (Mara, Talon and Otter) do.

* InterserviceRivalry: There seems to be a lighthearted example of this going on between the two Russian Allegiance factions, Spetsnaz and Chimera, judging from the begrudged interactions between their leaders. Nevertheless, they are still amicable enough with each others to work together.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: The game's file size was only 61 GB at launch, but has its Campaign, Multiplayer, and Spec Ops modes all in separate downloading files (with the Campaign requiring ''two'' separate downloads. The game is expected to have as much as [[https://www.gamerevolution.com/guides/607671-modern-warfare-download-size-install-space 175 GB in storage space]] by the time game support dies down, and well before that's even happened it's more than surpassed that on several occasions. And that's not getting into the shaders that the game seems to be constantly installing somehow. Almost every time the game is booted up, it has to install something, preventing the player from actually playing it until it's done, which could take anywhere from a few seconds to ''ten'' minutes. Trying to play anyway will cause the game to be very wonky for a few minutes after starting a match or campaign level.

** In "Piccadilly", you encounter suicide bombers which explode into nothing but a pile of meat chunks and a large pool of blood.

** The game does lack a lot of gibs and bodily damage that would happen in real life. In real life even 9mm Parabellum can do some serious damage. This also would be the case with larger cartridges, even intermediate ones like 5.56 NATO or 7.62x39mm, which will put holes the size of a medium pipe in a person and even explode their head. The shield turret, a .50 BMG Browning M2, also doesn’t blow subjects in half or put massive holes in them like it would in real life.

** As Price drives headlong at a police roadblock, he mentions his gameplan is "shock and awe", namedropping the infamous mission from ''Call of Duty 4'' that saw the American forces get trapped in a nuclear explosion.

* OneHitKill: While there are a handful of weapons that can one-shot player in both core multiplayer and in Warzone (even with full health and armor), all but one of them can't actually one-shot kill (only one-shot ''down'') enemy players in Warzone unless it's a free-or-all Warzone match, or the target was the last member of their squad that's up/alive. Enter the Crossbow, whose bolts can one-body a full-health player if they have less than 25 points of armor, or one-hit them in the head regardless of health/armor (Does exactly 250 damage, equal to a player with full health and armor). While that's still not a one-hit kill, we're instead going to look at the '''explosive'' bolts. While they deal the same amount of damage on impact as a regular bolt, it's the timed explosive charge on it that makes it a one-hit ''kill'', as the explosive charge does enough damage to a downed player to kill. Long story short, if a player gets downed by the impact of an explosive bolt, [[YouAreAlreadyDead the explosive charge will immediately finish them off with no chance of revival.]]

* PresentDay: The game released on October 25th, 2019 - its story begins just one day earlier on October 24th.

** All of the ammo/magazine conversion options for specific weapons are actually possible in real life. The [=MP5=]'s 10mm conversion is one of several available for the platform, turning it into an [=MP5=]/10 with a straight magazine. The AUG is designed to be extremely versatile and adaptable, and can easily be converted from an assault rifle to an SMG through the use of a different barrel, bolt and magazine well adapter.

** Most doors are now dynamic parts of the maps they are on, and can be opened and closed at will to gain or deny passage. They can be opened in either direction, which could help with ambushing one's enemies, or setting up traps for the would-be intruders. How quickly they are opened is left entirely at the player's discretion, who could slowly creak them open to get a drop on the enemy hiding in the next room. Or, if they player so choose, they could always pull a DynamicEntry by smashing the door in and taking whoever is hiding behind them by surprise.

* TookALevelInBadass: Juggernauts in Multiplayer are ''considerably'' tougher than they were in previous ''Call of Duty'' games. It takes a good 150 rounds of automatic weapons fire to bring one down (compared to about 25 rounds in ''Ghosts'' and 35 rounds in ''Modern Warfare 3'', or several dozen rounds to kill a NPC Juggernaut in [=MW2=] or [=MW3=]), and even heavy weapons like sniper rifles and explosives take ''way'' more hits to kill one than in previous games. Overall they have between 4 to 5 times the amount of health they had in previous games. They were noticeably toned down for ''Call of Duty: Warzone''.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In the mission "Embedded", the player as Alex is required at certain points to bring around a cinderblock with them to get past guard checkpoints, or they would be gunned down otherwise. What's unusually uninteresting about this is that Russian soldiers standing guard don't seem to notice anything wrong with a worker lugging a bloodied brick around, going into random rooms and taking paths into places he would have no business carrying one into, such as the areas underneath the helipads. They also cannot hear the sound of bricks thudding against the ground whenever the player has to drop them to do anything. TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, indeed.

** The content of the three "classic" operator packs (War Pigs, Crew Expendable, and All Ghillied Up) can only be obtained by pre-ordering certain editions of the game, or buying at least the Operator Edition at launch. As of November 2019, the packs have still not been made available for individual purchase as DLC, and will likely continue to stay that way for some time.
* VillainHasAPoint: Despite his iron fist rule on Urzikstani people, Barkov does have a point in wanting to eliminate Al-Qatala, who are arguably even more dangerous than he is. They've already proven capable and completely willing to stage terrorist attacks against foreign countries including America, Western Europe and Russia. In addition, [[spoiler:the moment Barkov is finally eliminated, Al-Qatala seizes on the EvilPowerVacuum to take control of Urzikstan and eventually launch an invasion on Russia itself, further validating the point of his reasoning on invading Urzikstan.]]

** CIA and SAS team up with Farah's Urzikstani rebels against the Al-Qatala and rogue Russian forces. Meanwhile Al-Qalata call themselves freedom fighters against foreign oppression but their actions are just plain terroristic (particularly since they also launch attacks against NATO countries, which has nothing to do with the Russian occupation of Urzikstan) and no one but themselves agree with their methods, including their own countrymen. Barkov's forces simply call everyone in Urzikstan a terrorist regardless of what, if anything, they did. This trope starts swinging around when [[spoiler:the U.S. military labels Farah's forces as a terrorist organization after Hadir goes rogue.]]
** The inverse also occurs in Multiplayer mode with Jackals subfaction, a Russian backed African militant forces who like Farah's own ULF also call themselves freedom fighters against Al-Qatala extremism, but while ULF were fully backed by NATO, the Jackals were labeled as terrorist group instead, which is not unlike Russia's own treatment to the Urzikstani freedom fighters.

* ArmiesAreEvil: ZigZagged, as Barkov’s rouge detachment of the Russian military is never shown as anything but complete, total evil. The US military command classifies Farah's Urzikstan Liberation Force as terrorists, though there are arguments to be made that it may have been somewhat justified (see AlternateCharacterInterpretation on the YMMV page). British operatives are willing to kidnap and violently threaten a young boy and are largely unsympathetic to civilians being killed, though they still fight to protect innocent lives. Only Farah's irregular group of Arabic freedom fighters resisting their evil Russian oppressors is consistently moral.