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There’s a lot riding on this year’s Call of Duty, the inescapable first-person shootfest that’s been lobbing a grenade into the autumn release schedule since 2003. Previous instalment, Black Ops 7, performed poorly compared to previous titles, forcing Activision to post a semi-apology to fans. And that’s not the only challenge Modern Warfare 4 is facing: there’s a new indie shooter, Wardogs, promising a feel somewhere between classic CoD and Classic Battlefield. Then, lurking on the horizon, in mirror shades and an exotic sports car, is Grand Theft Auto 6, which is surely going to smash and grab all the attention (and money) from the market in mid-November.

The good news is that, judging by the early access beta test that ran over the penultimate August weekend, we’re definitely getting what we expect from a Modern Warfare title: quasi-authentic boots-on-the-ground military action with a slight tactical edge. The weapons and general gunplay are highly effective, from default assault rifle, the Han 86 – a classic CoD beginner’s gun with decent fire rate and handling – to the bullet-spraying Nightshade SMG and the absolutely lethal KG-7 Vulcan sniper rifle. They all feel good to hold and fire, and there’s enough balance to let you experiment with slightly more offbeat numbers like the burst-fire Hyeon AR and the possibly overpowered Mar-9 marksman rifle.

Also joining the refreshed armoury are an interesting array of field upgrades, the useful gadgets you open up as you play I tried the smoke wall which creates, well, a wall of smoke, hiding your movements (in theory) and I saw a few people deploying the razor-wire trap which slows enemies down while sapping their health. There are also new kill streaks (the special attacks you can trigger when you earn enough points in a match). Artillery Beacon lets you throw a beacon at a specific point which is then bombarded with missiles, and Wheelson is a remote control mini tank that clatters around the place firing a grenade launcher.

A modest selection of small-ish maps was available for the weekend. Silkworm is a slab of South Korean cityscape, all minimarts and alleyways, while Transit 213 is a public transport depot with two parked buses at its centre and lots of generous sightlines for snipers. I found Cachette, a labyrinth of farm buildings, workshops and courtyards a little over-familiar, but Lotus, a larger harbourside map, brought in some interesting long-range combat. My favourite though, was the self-explanatory Rooftops, which takes place on the connected summits of two ageing New York high rises. Here, you fight through multi-levelled maintenance rooms and industrial laundries as well as out into open areas where water towers, exhaust fans and service ramps provide useful cover and mantling opportunities. There’s even a section of wooden scaffolding that offers a narrow shortcut over a vertigo-inducing chasm.

There are a bunch of new modes to accompany classics such as Team Deathmatch, Domination and Kill Confirmed. The key example is Kill Block, a ten v 10 gun fight taking place in a training camp that is reconfigured between rounds, providing hundreds of different layouts. There are trenches to crawl along, shipping containers to lie on and windows to camp behind. Like Search and Destroy, there are no respawns so it’s a fight to the death. The result is absolute carnage.

How does it feel? Well, after the first day of the early access beta, gaming content creator Farzam referred to MW4 as the Tikok of gaming and it’s a good analogy. Everything happens fast and it just doesn’t stop happening; time-to-engagement (how long it takes from spawning to meeting your first enemy) is counted in microseconds, and if you blink, you’re dead. On every stretch of every map there is something to catch your attention, from exploding oxygen tanks to flickering video screens, and if you’re killed, hit a button and you’re instantaneously back in the game – no pause for breath, no time to think. You aren’t playing so much as doomscrolling an inescapable cognitive cacophony.

Meanwhile, the omni-movement system introduced in Black Ops 6, which lets you jump, dive and skid along the floor in any direction, has been removed in favour of an ostensibly more naturalistic and controlled alternative. Is it really? Um, no. There is no friction at all in the landscape, so you can skid round corners and scale walls with superhero abandon. It’s fun and fluid, but it’s open to abuse: some players leap and twirl about the place as though performing in a particularly harrowing production of Swan Lake.

For the first time in a CoD beta test, there’s a Campaign mission to try. Named Entrenched, it starts with … a trench, which you have to battle your way through against North Korean troops until you reach a power station. Then it’s a battle against time as you look to flood the reactor to prevent a catastrophic meltdown, before indulging in some parkour to escape the collapsing infrastructure. An average day at work for the CoD crew.

I’m sure this beta test is going to give both the development team and the community plenty to think about. Ultimately, the game feels like what it is – a very modern Modern Warfare where your most effective weapons are lightning reflexes and superhuman concentration. I am too old for this shit, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it; diving round a corner and taking out two enemies in one burst remains as thrilling now as it was when the original Modern Warfare came out in 2007. There is a lot more competition out there now, though, and Call of Duty itself is starting to creak at the joints. The beta is yelling “I’ve still got it!” – but have the players? Money will tight this autumn, and GTA 6 is standing at the bar, winking suggestively, beckoning us over.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 is released on PC, PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox on 23 October