On top of featuring all the game modes you expect from a Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 4 is courting the competitive scene with something entirely new for the series: a game mode called Collateral.
Collateral is a more restrictive take on the series’ classic Search and Destroy mode, aligning its rules more closely with those of the Bomb Defusal mode in Counter-Strike and Valorant. Search and Destroy was already seen as Call of Duty’s version of that, but Collateral looks to be a more authentic recreation that strips away typical COD mechanics.
Collateral operates on an in-game cash economy where pre-made loadouts are disabled, and all players start with the same amount of money and a pistol. Teams alternate between attacking and defending two bomb sites, earning cash each round to spend on a standard set of weapons and equipment.
Just like in Counter-Strike, weapons and equipment are lost on death, but earned cash is kept. Collateral also disables automatic health regeneration, respawning and Killstreaks – except for the UAV, which is only available as a team buy and not for individual purchase. Perks are available, but they’re limited and must also be acquired using cash, forcing players to make tough choices.
The list of what you can spend cash on should feel familiar to anyone who played a Counter-Strike game before. You’ll also notice a lot of non-descript weapons designed to fill certain roles. Here’s what you can purchase between rounds in Collateral:
- Armor and Perks: Armor Vest, Battle Hardened, Lethal Reach, Fast Hands, Ghost.
- Equipment: Flash Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Frag Grenade, Stim, Smoke Wall, Riot Shield.
- Pistols: Silenced Pistol, Revolver, Akimbo Pistols, Power Pistol.
- Standard Issue: Shotgun, Light Machine Gun, Marksman Rifle, Silenced SMG, Agile SMG.
- Tier 1: Semi Auto Rifle, High Damage Rifle, Burst Rifle, Silenced Rifle, Sniper Rifle.
- Team Buy: UAV.
Collateral’s announcement was strangely tucked away near the end of a blog post about the technology and features of Modern Warfare 4’s PC version, though there’s no indication the mode is exclusive to PC.
This latest reveal comes in a week where Activision has seemingly been saying all the right things to entice lapsed players to buy Modern Warfare 4. The company announced a silly skin off toggle for Warzone, and is finally changing double XP tokens so they count down in match and not in real-time.
Modern Warfare 4 is set for release on 23rd October on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch 2.