Call of Duty 4
First Glance:
The latest release in the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare lets you see some of the most sophisticated weaponry on the planet… And then you get to use it to put the beat down on the “bad??? guys.
The Short Story:
With a short, intense single player campaign and a robust multiplayer offering, the latest CoD4 has a lot to offer the Busy Gamer. Realistic weapon sounds, high tech weaponry, and a storyline that beats out the other shooters, this is a top notch game all around.
The Score:
A very solid 5. The single player campaign makes you feel like you’re part of the story and the multiplayer is unique with its leveling system. The only downside of the multiplayer is that you’re going to feel like a beginner when you jump in no matter how good you do at the single player mode.
Body of review:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would be a solid first person shooter even without the story line. The story unfolds as you swap between the roles of a British Special Air Service sergeant and a member of the USMC Force Recon. While the story itself is somewhat cliché, bad guys still launch codes for nuclear weapons and attempt to launch them, the integration of the characters and the player make for a unique, and very potent, experience. As you play through the levels, you begin to be immersed in
both your character and the battlefield.
There are several points through the game where you will switch roles and you’ll even play through a flashback of the commander your SAS character serves under. You’ll fight your way through ruined city blocks in an unspecified Middle Eastern country and fight your way through a Russian village. The landscapes are varied and beautifully rendered by CoD4 and each battlefield presents new obstacles to
overcome as well as new tactics to survive enemy attacks.
At one point during the game, the player assumes the role of a gunner aboard an AC-130 gunship. It’s a potent experience and as you level enemies, buildings, and the landscape with the weaponry aboard the gunship, you may even find yourself feeling sorry for the enemies who are desperately trying to avoid the death you are raining down on them.
The sound effects and voice acting in this game are wonderfully done. The weapons you use each have their own distinct feel to them, from the “spit-hiss??? of a silenced pistol to the thunder of the .50 caliber sniper rifle. Add to this mix the very well written and performed soundtrack and the immersion is complete. It’s hard not to feel like you’re playing a role in a very well written movie.
The multiplayer component of the game is yet another achievement for this game. Matches can range from free for all, every man for himself matches to team based death matches. There are objective based matches as well such as Search and Destroy where one team defends objectives while the other attempts to blow them up. The action is fast paced… and a bit rough when you first start out.
The weapons you have access to when you first begin are limited as the multiplayer mode is based on a level system. You gain levels by gaining experience through the various matches and as you level up, you gain access to more powerful weaponry.
The levels don’t determine what weapons you can use within a match, fortunately, so there is always the chance that you can switch out your weapons with something your enemy dropped. At the beginning of a new round or if you’re killed and forced to respawn, your weapons are reset to whatever you had when you started the match.
There are five “class??? slots you can customize, choosing what weaponry you want in your inventory as you begin a match, along with several perks you can choose to help you on the battlefield. As with the weaponry, new perks can be unlocked with levels, which will make gaining those levels all the more worth the time spent.
On both the single player and the multiplayer modes, the Busy Gamer will find that 30 minutes will be more than sufficient to enjoy the game. And the control scheme is such that you can spend a good deal of time away from the game without having to relearn the whole thing from scratch. You can meet with friends online and party up in the lobby so you don’t have to go it alone in the various multiplayer maps.
There’s a lot to like here as a Busy Gamer so you could do much, much worse than to pick up this game if you’re an FPS fan. So go pick up a copy… We’ll snipe… er, see you online.
Grits – End of Line