Modern Warfare’s “Gunfight” mode is the FPS in its purest form.

Four players. Two teams. One life. Nowhere to hide. Welcome to Gunfight, one of several new multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Gunfight is the ultimate test for a Call of Duty player. Here you won’t be able to rely on your preferred perks or weapons. Instead, you’ll need to act in the moment, making split-second decisions and using whatever weapons you’re given to your advantage.

Gunfight is designed for four players split into teams of two. Rounds last just forty seconds, during which your goal is to eliminate both players on the opposing team. If after forty seconds the round is not over, the round goes into Overtime, where the remaining players must defend a control point at the centre of the map for three seconds in order to emerge victorious. The first team to five rounds wins the match.

Levelling the playing field is a crucial element of Gunfight. Instead of players choosing their loadouts and perks, weapons are randomly allocated to each player at the start of every round. You could find yourself equipped with a silenced pistol and a sniper rifle, or fighting with a shotgun and a rocket launcher. You’ll never know exactly what’s coming next. Consequently, you’ll need to approach each round differently, taking into account the benefits and drawbacks of your current equipment and responding accordingly.

Speaking of maps, Gunfight’s arenas are tight and twisting mazes, designed to let players approach them tactically and enable them to get the best out of any weapon, but without allowing them to eke out the round in some distant corner. There are a wide variety of available maps, including Pine, a woodland backlot where players can take cover behind abandoned cars or snipe from an elevated log cabin. King, on the other hand, is an indoor warehouse converted into a combat training zone, while Docks sets the action at an old shipping depot on the side of the Thames, featuring both indoor and outdoor areas.

Success in a Gunfight match is all about adaptability and precision, using cover to your advantage and attempting to engage enemies at the appropriate distance. It’s not necessarily about having the fastest trigger finger, however. Gunfight is designed to showcases the strength of Modern Warfare’s refined and updated combat mechanics, how weapons have authentic weight and feedback, and where lining up your shot is more likely to take out an opponent than running in guns blazing. 

Indeed, the small maps, short rounds and randomised loadouts are designed to enhance your tactical thinking rather than detract from it. For example, if you find yourself equipped with smoke grenades and claymore mines, you could combine them to create a trap, planting the mines and then using the smoke to obscure their location. Similarly, players who work as a coordinated team will have a greater chance of survival than those who play as lone wolves.

Gunfight represents the ultimate challenge for Call of Duty players, testing their skill, reflexes, adaptability, and teamwork as well as their aim. It is the foundation of Modern Warfare’s reimagining of the multiplayer FPS, the essence of Call of Duty in its purest form.