Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release: November 5, 2007
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PC

Reviewer: Dan

I think I need to send a Thank You note to the guy at Best Buy. I'll be honest, I didn't even realize that this game came out until Eric posted about it on the homepage. After work I drove to the nearest Gamestop, only to find out that they only had enough PS3 copies for the people who reserved the game. So I then drove to what I thought was another game store only to find out that it is now a Pizza shop. So, the last place I was going to look was my big blue and yellow home away from home. I almost cried when I saw the two spots where copies of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare should have been. I almost went home until I found someone nice enough to look in the back for me, and boy, did he ever find me a treasure.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare COD4 is a departure from the time period the game was made famous for. No longer are we playing as the Greatest Generation, running around shooting Nazis. I'm glad that Activision realized that storming the beaches of Normandy can get old, unlike other games they develop. No, COD4 is set in modern times, with modern weapons and modern gadgets. No more bolt-action rifles and the occasional submachine gun; Everyone in this game runs around with fully automatic assault rifles. This, needless to say, raises the intensity of the battles you'll have in this game to an entirely new level.

Much like previous Call of Duties, COD4's single player story mode takes you back and forth between characters and settings. This time you play as a member of the elite British S.A.S. and a member of the United States Marines. I'm not going to get too involved with the story on this one because it has a lot of twists and I don't want to ruin anything with this one. I will say though that there is a sequence in the beginning of the game right after you fight your first battle that will probably blow your mind.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare The gameplay in this one is top notch, but that's something gamers have come to expect from the COD series. What I would like to comment on is the little details they added in this game that really highten the realism. There are a few nifty little contorl aspects that I liked. If you're aming close to someone, quickly looking down the sights will "autoaim" at what you were looking near. It was a bit hard to get correct when I first started out, but I was soon relying on this to aim effectively. But to be good at this technique, you need to be fast, because it doesn't "lock on" to a target, so when they keep running past your sights, the sights won't follow.

I also liked how you can actually toss grenades back at the enemy. Once you get the contols down, you'll no longer fear the grenade icon in the middle of your screen. You'll be happy to run towards in and chuck the grenade back at the guy who threw it. I will, however, advise against this tactic unless you actually saw the grenade thrown at you to begin with. I've had grenades explode in my face a few times because of this. Another neat little thing they decided to allow happen is that you can shoot through things that a bullet would normally go through. This may be an obvious part of real life, but it's something that was woefully lacking in a lot of games. It's fun to (finally be able to) take out enemies that thought they were safe behind that thin piece of particle board.

The AI in this one is pretty good too, although it's been good for pretty much all of the COD games. They duck for cover when necessary and don't just run at you with wreckless abandon. They'll also do some spray and pray firing, which is them just sticking their gun up and firing from behind cover without aiming or looking at any targets. I noticed that they'll do this on occasion while trying to aim at the spot you think they'll pop up from.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Probably the most stunning thing about this game would have to be the audio and video. It's one of the first few games for the PS3 to be developed in full 1080p, which is making me very happy I spent the money on my HDTV. Like in the gameplay, there are sooooo many tiny little details that come together to form an amazing image to look at. The noncombat parts when you're just looking around are so full of details that you'll have to play through a few times to catch them all. But probably the coolest thing I've seen so far from the game is when you have to go to turn on your nightvision goggles and suddenly see all of the laser dot sights in use. The audio keeps up with the visuals quite well in terms of putting you right there in the action. The AV, at times, can be a bit overwhelming, but a battlefield can have that effect.

There is a pretty expansive multiplayer mode in this one, but I haven't been able to explore all of it yet. That's simply because my level isn't high enough to unlock and explore all of the modes. There is somewhat of a RPG element to this one. You start out with the basics of the basics as far as weapon sets go, but the more experience you gain, the more you can unlock. You also unlock different game modes as you go along, which seems to make the multiplayer replay value pretty high. I also like the fact that everyone's custom weapons remain on the battlefield after they die. As a n00b to the multiplayer, it's almost vital to take advantage of this since the starter weapons leave a lot to be desired. Another little random good thing about the online mode is how well the voicechat came through. If you go from Warhawk to this game, you'll realize what I'm talking about.

Final Verdict

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is easily the frontrunner for game of the year in my book. I don't care what you have to say about Halo 3 or Bioshock, this one has both of them beat. It looks better than Halo 3 and has the online play Bioshock is lacking. If you own a PS3, XBox 360, or a PC (that can handle it), go out and get this one as soon as you can. There's a reason it's hard to find some places. 10 out of 10.


Call of Duty 4 Trailer

#27 waxximis wrote:
sorry dan, but halo 3 is better than cod 4, (no not visually just with everything else) and bioshock was never suppose to have online play....

but i will agree, its a very great game! its pretty crazy this year how many top notch games are out!



Orange box rules all of them of course, definitely pick it up when it comes out, or better yet marry Christmas dan! i know what your getting for Christmas from me!!!



bye the way did you ever get ratchet and clank? its pretty amazing!

#28 jakebonz wrote:
I knew I'd get a rise out of someone with the Halo 3 remark. Here are my thoughts on Halo 3: It hasn't really changed as a game since 1. I'm not saying 1 was bad. It's a great game with a good story. The enemies in Halo are also only 2 levels above retarded and make noises that you would typically find in a Wii game for 5 year-olds. The biggest dissapointment with Halo 3 is the graphics. It's supposed to be THE game to own. Why couldn't they make it beautiful? It actually displays in LESS than 720p. Such a letdown.

I also don't see any reason Bioshock can't have online play. Who wouldn't want to levitate the bodies of your friends and fire them at other people. My point is, if Stanglehold can have online play, why not Bioshock?

Orange Box, haven't played it, but I really want that Portal game.

No, did not get Ratchet and Clank yet.

#30 Amalgamut00 wrote:
1. The enemies in Halo 3 are retarded? Have you really played the game that much? Halo 3's AI is terrible with your allies, but the enemies have the best AI in any FPS game. Ask anybody that's played the game on legendary, the AI there is amazing.

2. Halo 3 has noises that are heard on a Wii game? I guess we should account all the games with aliens/non-human characters in them then, BlackSite: Area 51 (11/12/07), Clive Barkers Jericho, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, etc. Did the voice acting annoy you in Halo 3? Whenever a real person talked it sounded life like to me...

3. The game still looks good, graphics are not always everything. How come Sony only has a handful of their games display on 1080p when Microsoft has almost all their games display on 1080p? If I remember correctly COD2 had much better graphics than COD3, the third one took a nose dive into the ocean. Halo 3 might not be the most beautiful game out there, but it looks damn good.

4. Why do all FPS games have to be online to be any good? Yes Stranglehold did have online play and it was the worst online experience I've played. Bioshock was always meant to be a single player game only. If 2K Games put a multiplayer mode on Bioshock it would have ended up like Stranglehold holds. If you've played Bioshock all the way through then you'd easily forget about the lack of online play, the story is much better than half the movies that come out in Hollywood and the game play is top notch.