Beebom Score
The DMZ Mode, first introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, didn’t become as popular as the campaign and multiplayer among CoD players. Following the DMZ Beta, Infinity Ward gave the DMZ mode a much-needed evolution in Modern Warfare 4, turning it into a thrilling Extraction Shooter experience players can’t get enough of.
As I’m an ardent fan of this genre, I often found myself taking an intriguing ride to the new Hajin map, and here is my review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode.
Welcome Back DMZ 2.0!
Extraction Shooter fans who have already played games like Arc Raiders, Marathon, or Escape from Tarkov don’t need an introduction to CoD’s DMZ mode. However, if you are someone new to this game mode, you can easily grasp the essence of CoD’s definitive Extraction Shooter experience.
Call of Duty’s DMZ mode works very similarly to other Extraction Shooters out there. It’s a PvPvE mode, where you can deploy to the new Hajin map either solo or with your squad. Your main goal is to drop in, explore, obtain valuable items, and exfil.
In between, you can complete story missions, take on Dynamic Operations, side objectives, and clash with both human and AI enemies. This is how the extraction loop plays out in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode. If you are confused after what I just said, don’t worry. The new DMZ mode features a good tutorial that brings you up to speed in no time.
But you should always make it out alive by extracting to progress and safeguard all the valuable loot you risked your life getting. Otherwise, all the collected resources and your operator are gone for good. But this is also where the developers added their own spin to the well-known Extraction Shooter formula.
Unlike other Extraction Shooter titles, you can actually rescue your operator who failed to extract, but you need to pay a large sum of money. The amount of cash you need to save your operator is directly tied to the operator’s level and how many times you have recovered them. If you somehow lost a high-level operator, prepare to deposit a mountain of cash, or just accept the loss and start a new operator journey.
The newly established ‘Forward Operating Base’ (FOB) is your main hub in the DMZ mode. Before deployment, you can prepare your loadouts, manage your operator, unlock traits in the skill tree, etc. After extraction, you can use the valuable blueprint you found in the 3D Printer crafting station to craft better gear. Basically, the FOB evolves as you level up, and I found it a rewarding journey.
Hajin Is the Real Deal
The Al Mazrah map in the previous Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 2, fell short in many ways. Thankfully, Infinity Ward ditched it and introduced Hajin, which is easily one of the best Call of Duty maps ever in my book. First of all, the Hajin map is MASSIVE, and I still haven’t managed to cover all the different points of interest.
Hajin is home to a variety of regions, and each environment differs greatly from the others. The 14th Political Prison, Mirae General Hospital, Haneul Nuclear Reactor, and more regions offer deep exploration and also the perfect arena to clash at the same time.
The new Dynamic Weather system lets dense fog swoop in, sudden downpours, and more. Don’t consider the weather just a visual effect; it does have a great impact on gameplay and enhances immersion simultaneously.
During my time, I also found mini puzzles involving doors. There are many secrets tucked away in every corner of the map, and when you uncover them, you are rewarded with rare loot, as you might have guessed already.
Before you dive into the Hajin, you are given the option to choose the objective you want to focus on. So, you can engage in story missions or take a crack at the multi-step Dynamic Operations. The story missions expand the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s campaign in a good way. On the other hand, Dynamic Operations offers players a randomized set of missions on the go.
In addition, you can also complete the regular optional objectives called Side Ops now. The missions are varied and don’t feel repetitive during your runs. You might have already heard it, but just as the others claim, the story missions in DMZ mode are thrilling rides. I thoroughly enjoyed rescuing the doctor in Operation Critical Extraction and infiltrating a casino in Money Heist-style in Operation Silent Ledger.
PvE Falls Flat but PvP Shines
When the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare DMZ reveal trailer dropped, everyone, including me, was excited for a revamped PvE challenge. As opposed to everyone’s expectations, the PvE gameplay in Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode feels lacking on all front. There is an absurd number of AI enemies scattered across the different regions on the map.
You can find them patrolling a location or carrying out their duties at the base. Although there is enough variety of enemies, including normal North Korean soldiers, Combat Drones, and Boss Commanders, the enemy AI felt underdeveloped in all my runs. As someone who has sunk countless hours into Arc Raiders, the game’s AI ARC enemies have skewed my perception by setting the bar very high.
In contrast, the PvP is as fun as it can be, much like the multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Initially, I avoided confrontation and tried to team up with other squads. I mean, ARC Raiders has really changed me after all. However, CoD players aren’t like ARC Raiders players, so it resulted in a lot more fighting than I expected.
The upgraded gunplay and precise movements, which are some of the new features in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, elevate the PvP fights. I faced too many defeats at the hands of other players rather than the AI enemies, and that should explain how unbalanced the PvPvE experience is at the moment.
Performance: Demanding Like Its Battlefield
Just like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 main campaign’s performance, the new DMZ mode is pretty demanding, especially when I’m pushing 4K. Even though I struggled to hit a constant 60 FPS in DLAA settings, things turned smooth when I enabled DLSS 4.5.
My Setup:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
CPU Cooler: Lian Li Galahad II Trinity 360mm
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus Wifi
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070Ti Super 16 GB
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 32GB 6000Mhz
SSD: Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB
Monitor: Alienware AW3225QF 4K OLED
Switching to DLSS Performance pushed the FPS to around the 80-90 FPS mark. I could have enabled Frame Gen to smooth out the output, but I didn’t want to face latency issues or be distracted by artefacts while playing.
Fortunately, my GPU temperatures remained relatively cool between 60 and 65. Infinity Ward has optimized all the game modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 very well. Therefore, you can enjoy CoD’s definitive Extraction Shooter experience without any hassle, provided you have a good setup.
Verdict: A Promising DMZ Evolution
The DMZ mode wasn’t an interesting mode that CoD players were keenly interested in back then. Now the developers obviously took inspiration from popular Extraction Shooters, and they put their own twist on the familiar extraction loop at the same time to make it an incredible experience that every CoD player would definitely want to try.
For example, aggressively engaging in PvP fights has its own consequences. You will be placed number one on the bounty board. Players who actively hunt others become the hunted, which makes the PvP fights even more intriguing to me.
In addition to the well-detailed Hajin map and engaging objectives, the mode also features an evolving Forward Operating Base, a tailored trait tree for operators, and a fine-tuned progression and crafting system. This clearly shows that Infinity Ward has come a long way with the DMZ mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
Although the PvE experience feels lackluster, the team has made meaningful additions to make it a definitive Call of Duty Extraction Shooter experience. If Infinity Ward continues to support the mode with regular updates and refines its formula, there is no doubt that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode could become a major contender in the Extraction Shooter scene.
