Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is an FPS game from Treyarch (2007) while Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is an FPS game from Treyarch (2023).
Quick answer: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has the higher Metacritic, 92 to 76.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
What each one is
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is filed under FPS. In contrast, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War under FPS.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the Call of Duty series. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous entries and is instead set in modern times. Developed over two years, Modern Warfare was released in November 2007 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. A Wii port, developed by Treyarch and subtitled Reflex Edition, was released in 2009. It was followed by two sequels that continue the storyline: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Modern Warfare 3 (2011).
Black Ops Cold War, the direct sequel to Call of Duty®: Black Ops, will drop fans into the depths of the Cold War’s volatile geopolitical battle of the early 1980s.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
The mission " All Ghillied Up " is set in the abandoned city of Pripyat , Ukraine. In 2011, civil war breaks out in Russia between the government and Ultranationalists who seek to restore the country's Soviet-era influence. At the same time, Khaled Al-Asad leads a coup in an unnamed Middle Eastern country and executes its president, Yasir Al-Fulani. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Critical response Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received "universal acclaim" for its Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions, and "generally favorable reviews" for its Wii version, according to review aggregator Metacritic . Critics praised the game's move from World War II to a contemporary military setting, its set-piece-driven campaign, production values, and multiplayer mode. GameSpot s Jeff Gerstmann described the campaign as brief, but… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Campaign In January 1981, CIA operatives Russell Adler ( Bruce Thomas ), Alex Mason ( Chris Payne Gilbert ), and Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen) are sent to Amsterdam to target Qasim Javadi (Farshad Farahat) and Arash Kadivar ( Navid Negahban ) for their roles in the Iran hostage crisis . With intelligence gained from interrogating Qasim, the trio tracks Arash to an airfield in Turkey, where they witness him executing everyone in the vehicle he arrived… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Black Ops Cold War received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic , which calculated a weighted average rating of 76/100 across all platforms, based on 42 reviews for the PlayStation 5 version, 31 reviews for the Windows version, and 21 reviews for the Xbox Series X/S version. OpenCritic determined that 61% of critics recommended the game. The single-player campaign received a… (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | — | 7.0/10 |
| Steam rating | — | Very Positive (80%, 23,046) |
| Critic aggregate | 92/100 | 76/100 |
| Price | Unknown | $59.99 |
| Install size | — | 175 GB |
| Steam Deck | Untested | unsupported |
| Released | 2007 | 2023 |
| Developer | Treyarch | Treyarch |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareFPS gameCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarFPS gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareNo descriptive tagsCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarFPS, Action, ZombiesThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ✓Metacritic 92Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarMetacritic 76Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare—Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War23,046 reviews · 10 add-ons · 175 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareUnknownCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War$59.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Metacritic 92)
Where they differ
SingleplayerFPSMultiplayerActionZombiesCold War
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel® Core™ i3-4340 |
| Minimum RAM | — | 8 GB |
| Install size | — | 175 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare · Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and 1 for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in scope?
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare lists little scope data. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has drawn 23,046 Steam reviews, ships 10 add-ons and installs in 175 GB.
Is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War?
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has the higher Metacritic, 92 to 76. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.