Call of Duty 4: Hopefully this sets the standard for Modern FPS Video Gaming

Wait, where the hell was I when the other 3 COD's came out?
Anyone tracking my reviewing hiatus(And I pretend that anyone actually did) is probably starting to think that I locked myself in my room and played nothing but shooters for the last 3 years. Since I've already tackled Halo 3 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2, nothing of real importance to the genre was left, save for the latest installment of the Call of Duty Franchise.

Call of Duty franchise? As someone who pretends to be one of those pretentious, know it all video gaming nerd sorts, this is difficult term for me to even to use being as though I had little interaction with Call of Duty 3, and had never played, witnessed, or even heard of the first 2 games, regardless of the fact that they were 2 of the best selling FPS's in video game history. As a matter of fact, up until researching and purchasing Call of Duty 4, I thought that the series was an Electronic Arts product, when in reality, it's Activision's. This fact alone rocked my world and I have since had to come to the conclusion that Activision IS actually capable of making something entertaining that doesn't have the words NBA or Jam in its title.(But thats a different rant) In any event, the point of this particular long, drawn out introduction of mine is to note that I began Call of Duty 4 as a seasoned veteran in terms of FPSs, but essentially as a novice in regards to the COD series. How did Call of Duty 4 compare to the plethora of FPSs that I'd been recently playing? Read in to find out...

Gameplay: Modern Warfare???
Anyone who has played several first person shooters throughout recent years should probably feel qualified to teach a history lecture on the 1940's. What I'm really saying is that World War 2 has been so damn overused in video games of late that every time I pick up a gun with my controller I'm hard wired to find the beach at Normandy and look forward to killing Hitler's minions. That said, the fact that COD4 is based in "modern times"(with the sure to be overused in the future "terrorist" based story line) was a bit refreshing.

Modern Warfare's story is derived from the fact that a terrorist group is stealing Russian Nuclear Weapons. So, as a player, you assume the roles of both a United States Marine and British SAS soldier in hopes of saving the western world from a group of extremist crazies. Even though you frequently switch off and on from character to character, COD4's storyline is contiguous, easy to follow, and highly addicting. As seen in COD3, the single player mode is extremely linear, and is essentially ran by a compass that will lead you to your checkpoints and objectives. Even though there isn't a whole lot of freedom involved in the story, some of the levels and moments of the campaign are particularly memorable. I found it extremely enjoyable taking the helm of a massive gunship and blowing the crap of tanks from the air, getting camouflaged from head to toe in a full ghillie suit, watching enemies pass right next to me as I maned my position, and of course, having to take into account wind factors and the spin of the Earth to aim and pull off a particularly important sniper shot.

Although the premise and storyline are nice, the AI engine is probably Modern Warfare's best asset. When playing as the Marine or the SAS, you do battle alongside several teammates. In contrast to a game like Rainbow Six Vegas 2, your friendlies are extremely smart and extremely independent. You won't have spend half of the gameplay stratting out the actions of your comrades, as they know exactly what to do, and they do it without any orders. The enemy AI is also quite impressive. Your terrorist counterparts have an extensive feel for their surroundings and situations, and employ different strategies in various situations. Examples of this include your enemies flanking you if you don't flank them first, and them taking their positions and sending out blood thirsty dogs to try to force you out into the sights of their guns.

There is certainly some bad to take with the good though when it comes to the single player mode. For one, it's extremely short. I'd go as far as to say that I would be amazed if it took anyone with a 3 digit IQ who had ever previously touched a 360 controller a minute over 8 hours to complete. I'm pretty sure it took me about 6 hours to finish, and I wasn't in any hurry. This is particularly disappointing though only because the campaign was so friggin exciting and enjoyable. Along the same lines, unlike other games in it's genre, Modern Warfare's single player is actually "single player". In most of the other new acclaimed FPS's(Halo 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, ect) you can play the single player mode cooperatively, online or otherwise, but no such function was added in COD4. This could actually be a byproduct of the game's unimpressive length too, but either way, it's certainly a notable omission.

Multiplayer: Turns 6 hour into an eternity
Fortunately for Activision and Infinity Ward(The developer), what the game lacks in replay value in terms of its single player mode, it easily makes up for by having one of the deepest multiplayer modes in the history of FPS gaming. 16 Maps and a lot of game mode variety, supporting up to 18 players at a time, are offered right out of the box.(Which doesn't include downloadable content) Personally, I'd argue that the maps are even more balanced than those of Halo 3, although even the small maps seem quite large.(With 12 or more players at a time, large is still high action) Game modes include your standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, which are more or less comparable to Free for All and Team Slayer, as well Sabotage(blow up your enemies base), and a couple different variants of objective based games, including a couple of different territories modes. Within these different game types gamers can also choose between old school, and hardcore gameplay types. Old school is maybe the most balanced of all of the options, allowing all players to start with the same weapons. The Hardcore options turns the realism way up, toggling off a lot of the HUD features and making many of the weapons essentially one shot kills.

If none of that sounds like fun, you may enjoy taking advantage of Modern Warfare's extremely complex class based experience system. As you gain experience in the game's multiplayer mode, you're able to upgrade your soldier's class, which will range from level 1-4.(1-3 being default classes, and 4 being way more customizable) These levels will allow you the options to upgrade and change your starting weapons, grenades, and give you special abilities such as being able to drop a grenade upon dying.(In hopes of taking your opponent to the grave with you, obviously) This may seem like it would give some players an unfair advantage, and I'll be the first to admit that an enemy with a souped up Sniper Rifle and Claymores pretty much owns, but the matchmaking does a nice job of connecting players with similar skill levels, a la Halo 3, so the games generally turn out to be quite fair.

Another new, notable addition is the ability to unlock power up based on killing sprees. Upon killing 3 enemies without dying, you can call in a UAV drone which upgrades your radar, showing enemy positions for 30 seconds. After 5 kills in a row, you can select a part of the map to be assaulted by an air strike. And if you can make it to 7 kills in a row, you can unleash a helicopter that will fly in and gun down enemy troops. Making this more interesting is the fact that you and your teammates can use these use these power ups concurrently. So with the proper communication, using a UAV drone to calculate where to drop your air strike can be quite deadly. And if you don't want to use your headset for strategy, you can always use it to talk smack, of course.

Graphics and Sound
Graphics, along with its immensely deep multiplayer mode, are probably COD4's strongest suit. The texturing, lighting, player models, and background rendering are all top notch, and as an overall package, these visuals compare very favorably against both Halo 3 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The overall gem of this section is probably Modern Warfare's almost flawless framerate though, which performs at a perfect 60FPS throughout the entire campaign mode, and holds up very well in multiplayer mode, even in sections with as many as 12 players on the screen at once. The multiplayer maps are also properly animated, and show quite a bit of range.

Once again I'm not a huge proponent of sound being a deciding factor in video games, but the audios in Call of Duty 4 stay pretty consistent with the rest of the title, and certainly don't disappoint. The game's soundtrack is fairly typical of any other FPS or war movie, and is a nice addition to the overall mood of the gameplay. The high action battle scenes are loud, featuring a wide variety of booming shots and blasts. A lack of sound, too, can be particularly important in COD4. In some of stealthy, sniper heavy levels, it's essential that the enemy doesn't hear you, and you can also use your ears to gain some information about your counterparts whereabouts.

Overall: Let's compare
Anyone who actually read the review should already realize that I look pretty favorably upon Call of Duty 4. But to simplify, any fan of first person shooters should make it a priority to pick up COD4 ASAP. As far as comparisons are concerned, I think Modern Warfare stacks up pretty well against the "enemies". It's certainly a considerably better shooter than Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and I found it equally as entertaining as Halo 3. Definitely give it a look.

Thanks for reading,
-Pav