Boom-shaka-laka: Call of Duty’s new “Gunfight” mode is like NBA Jam with guns

Enlarge / Coming October 25. And today, we know more about one cool, new multiplayer twist to the series. (credit: Activision / Infinity Ward)

LOS ANGELES—This spring, I visited game studio Infinity Ward to learn about its upcoming “reimagining” of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. During the reveal event, the studio’s reps mentioned multiple “pillars” of the upcoming CoD game, set to launch October 25, then focused on the game’s single-player missions.

Shortly after that, someone walked into the room and said, “the rest of this event is indefinitely embargoed,” then took the wraps off of arguably the best thing I’ve seen in a CoD game in years: a two-on-two “Gunfight” versus mode.

That embargo is finally up, following an official Gunfight gameplay reveal on Twitch this morning, so now I can finally tell you about a first-person versus mode that combines the original frantic action of 2007’s CoD4:MW and the utter tension of Counter-Strike. In a gaming landscape forever altered by battle royale modes, Gunfight makes the case that sometimes, less is more.