GAME REVIEW: DMZ (Modern Warfare 4)
When Infinity Ward first tested DMZ alongside Modern Warfare II in 2022, it felt like a promising idea that never got the support it needed. It had the bones of an extraction shooter but was missing too many of the essentials to stand alongside the genre’s best. With Modern Warfare 4, that’s no longer true. This is a complete extraction experience, built with confidence, and after 20 to 30 hours in the Hajin Exclusion Zone, I think it’s one of the best things Call of Duty has done in years.
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Most of my time in DMZ has been with a squad, and that’s the way I’d recommend playing it. The mode gives you three ways to deploy: Story Missions, Dynamic Operations, and Free Roam. My squad mostly lets our current Orders decide. If the Orders point us toward a Dynamic Op, we drop straight into it. If they call for scavenging or exploring, we go into Free Roam and let Hajin show us what it has. We’ve been saving Story Missions for when they come up naturally through the Orders, and that has made them feel like events rather than a checklist.
Hajin itself does a lot of the work. It’s a ruined, irradiated border region full of collapsed infrastructure, guarded compounds, and places you only find by exploring. Every deployment feels like it could go a dozen different ways, and that unpredictability keeps it fresh after dozens of hours.
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Call of Duty’s gunplay has always been its strongest asset, and it fits naturally into an extraction format. Weapons feel sharp, responsive, and satisfying, and the faster pace of a Call of Duty firefight gives DMZ a different energy from slower, more methodical games in the genre.
The AI is tuned well. Individual enemies are a reasonable challenge, but they become dangerous when they swarm, and a squad that gets careless in a hot zone can lose an Operator quickly. That pressure feels earned rather than cheap.
The Lieutenants and Commanders are where the balancing really stands out. They hit incredibly hard and demand real coordination, especially with their escorts in the way, but they never become frustrating damage sponges. Bringing one down feels like an accomplishment, not a war of attrition, and that’s a hard balance to get right.
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My squad runs into another team in roughly 60 percent of our deployments, and those encounters are where DMZ is at its most intense. A good PvP fight in Hajin, with both squads flanking, repositioning, and waiting for the other to commit, is as tense as anything in the series.
The other side of that is a fight you never get to have. Sometimes you’re shot in the back with no warning and no chance to respond. Extract campers, players who wait at extraction points for exhausted squads trying to leave, are frustrating in the same way. To be fair, both problems are part of the genre more than flaws specific to DMZ, and there isn’t much a developer can do without undermining the risk that makes extraction shooters work. They still sting when it happens.
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The Operator MIA system is one of my favorite parts of DMZ. When an Operator goes down, they aren’t simply wiped out. They go Missing in Action, and you can bring them back by paying DMZ Cash at the Forward Operating Base. The progress you’ve earned stays intact, but it comes at a price, and that price gets very steep as an Operator levels up.
That’s exactly the tension an extraction shooter needs. A high-level Operator carries real value, and putting them in danger means something. Each deployment becomes a question of how much you’re willing to risk, and the system makes it hurt to lose without making it hopeless.
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Crafting is simple, and I mean that as a compliment. The 3D Printer and its ingredient system are easy to understand and fit the faster style the mode is built around. Some extraction shooters bury players under menus, materials, and upgrade trees before they’ve had a chance to enjoy the game. DMZ doesn’t. It’s approachable without feeling shallow.
The Forward Operating Base is a great addition. Beyond being where you manage your stash, loadouts, and Operators, it’s a social hub where my squad can gather, regroup, and plan the next run. It’s a small touch that adds a lot of personality, and it makes the time between deployments feel like part of the experience instead of a loading screen.
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My biggest complaint is loot. Hajin doesn’t have enough lootable objects, and the scarcity is most noticeable when you’re working through crafting Orders. Some scarcity is healthy in this genre, since it gives loot its value. But when you’re hunting for specific materials and search after search turns up empty, the grind gets tedious. It’s the one area where DMZ’s otherwise strong pacing drags, and it’s the first thing I’d like to see adjusted in future updates.
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What impresses me most is how well DMZ balances accessibility with intensity. It’s simple enough for players who are new to extraction shooters, with clear systems, readable menus, and a manageable learning curve. It’s also much faster paced than most of its competitors, so veterans of the genre will find something that feels distinct rather than familiar. Few games manage both.
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I’m absolutely loving DMZ. It takes everything the 2022 beta hinted at and turns it into a complete, confident extraction shooter, built on Call of Duty’s excellent gunplay, a well-balanced roster of AI threats, and a smart MIA system that gives every deployment real weight. The loot scarcity needs work, and back-shots and extract campers will always test your patience, but neither comes close to outweighing what the mode does well.
Infinity Ward has built a strong foundation here, and I’m excited to see how it expands DMZ and supports it over the long term. For now, it’s the reason I keep coming back to Modern Warfare 4.
Score: 9/10
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