(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Joo-hwan = "We upgraded the overall gameplay based on the lessons learned from 'DMZ', which was released as a beta four years ago."
Geoffrey Smith, creative director of Infinity Ward's multiplayer development for 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4', met with Yonhap News at the Microsoft (MS) office in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo ahead of the opening of the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) on the 16th and made this statement.
DMZ is content first introduced by the production team in 2022's 'Modern Warfare 2'. It is a game mode of the extraction shooter genre in which players enter a wide danger zone, defeat other players and AI enemies, find valuable items, and escape.
At the time, DMZ was ignored by users due to completion issues and was not inherited in the sequel, but it returned four years later in 'Modern Warfare 4' with much improved gameplay and rewards.
As players play DMZ mode, their separate 'DMZ level' increases, and they can strengthen their characters by raising the levels of various 'traits' divided into three stems.
Unlike the previous work, where the currency earned during gameplay was simply converted into experience points, in this work the money can be used to purchase items at the store or revive dead operators.
The weather changes in real time during the game, so some days are clear, but sometimes it rains, snows, or is foggy.
Director Smith explained, “The weather not only changes the visual appearance, but also affects the vision and hearing of AI enemies.”
Additionally, a 'bounty' system has been introduced, so the more you kill other users in the DMZ without dying, the more bounties you will receive, and you can compete in real time through the leaderboard. Conversely, if you kill an enemy with a large bounty, you will receive a bonus reward.
The content of the single-player campaign that was partially introduced in the last open beta was also mentioned.
The number of missions confirmed in this work is 13 in total, and will be unfolded not only in North and South Korea, but also around the world, including New York, Paris, and Mumbai.
Captain Price, the main character of the series, leaves his unit, Task Force 141, and takes on independent action as a dark hero for the crime of assassinating the corrupt U.S. military general, General Shepard, in the previous work.
Comrades from the past chase after Price, who crosses the 'line', and Price tracks down his archenemy Makarov and the mysterious character 'Archer'.
Director Jeffrey Negus, who oversaw the single-player story, explained, "It is a story that examines the negative consequences of having power that is not under anyone's control, and what it means to draw a 'line' in one's actions and cross it."
The production team explained that the reason for choosing Korea as the main stage was the global popularity of Korean Wave content such as K-pop and dramas.
Director Negus said, “At a time when many people around the world are immersed in Korean culture, I thought it would be a stage where we could show a story from a new perspective.”
“The Modern Warfare series has always been a game with a provocative DNA,” he explained. “It has nothing to do with political views, and I want to emphasize how the characters fight against the challenges they face.”
