Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

"Doubt I'll ever play Resistance again, a review from a nonshooter fan"

Resistance: Fall of Man was definitely a great game and perhaps the best online game the PS3 had for a long time. That day has come to an end with Call of Duty 4. I thought the game looked good in previews, but never really thought to buy it until I played it at a friends house one night. Needless to say, I owned that game the next day. While many reviews also go on about this game's greatness, few if any are written by people who wouldn't normally play this kind of game. Well I have rarely played shooters with the exception of a few notable franchises like Halo and Half-life, so allow me to review this game for the casual shooter.

Graphics and Sound: 10

This game really shows what this current generation of consoles can do. From the beautiful weapons, detailed faces, straight to the extremely detailed levels, this game will blow you away. Perhaps the best game produced graphically in this generation of games so far. It is also filled with nice little touches that really immerse you into the world. Individual blades of grass, particle effects, even the ability to shoot through walls is taken into account and the game shows excellent real time damage within structures and places you would use for cover.

The sound of this game is excellent. Definitely among the best voice acted games in history. Each character sounds excellent and puts on a great performance that makes many of the characters stand out. The guns sound amazing and the explosions are believable and rather well done. Even the music (what little there is) is generally excellent though you will rarely hear any which I feel adds to the realism of the game.

Gameplay: 9

Controlling this game is never an issue and by the end of the training mission it will feel quite natural. If you've played other shooters like Halo or Resistance alot than this control scheme will take a little while to get used to, but once you do you'll find yourself quite at home.

Story mode: The single player campaign is excellent. Filled with great characters as well as an excellent story. Once you step into your first firefight, the campaign never stops moving. Each mission seems unique and rather refreshing, you never have to do the same thing twice. The game is divided into three excellent acts with several playable characters, though you spend a majority of the game as member of the British SAS and his team, this is never a hassle as the team is excellent with several rather memorable characters. Most notably Captain Price. Some missions are just fantastic, if you get to the end of act two during the Cheronobyl mission, you'll know what I'm talking about. You'll probably want to play this campaign again and again as once the prologue is over the game picks up and gets really fast paced filled with twists and turns as well as a rather memorable and emotional end if you ask me. Fair warning though, the game is rather short and for someone who is not too into shooters like me, it only took me about six and a half hours on the default setting.

Online: 10

Simply put this is the best shooter I have played online. The game has a huge variety of maps and death match modes. Some even switch the gameplay from normal COD style to old school shooters with weapon pick ups and health power ups. The game also has a rather cool level up system. As you progress in multiplayer you unlock new and better weapons, as well as new perks and weapon attachments I really like the perk system since it enables to you pick one ability from each of three categories. You can add anything to from more health to having stronger guns. Some even let you carry RPGS and one of the most memorable in my opinion, the Last Stand. Last Stand allows you to take out your pistol after you've been killed and gives you the opportunity to kill the person who just shot you, though you are easily finished off in this state. The game is also rather balanced. I first started playing online after the game had been out for over two months and I never felt truly outclassed. While there were many excellent players out there the checks and balances within the game made me feel like I held my own against most of them and within 2 hours of gameplay I found myself in the top 3 each match. Once you start online you will have a hard time stopping.

Closing.

This game is one of the best games I have ever played, with its memorable campaign filled with a great story, intense firefights, and excellent characters straight to the online portion of the game which many will be discussing and playing for a long long time. In a year where many were let down by games such as Assassin's Creed and other Hype machines, Infinity Ward has set the benchmark for living up to hype. Let's just hope Call of Duty 5 manages to keep up the pace even if it is going back to World War II

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/08

Game Release: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (US, 11/05/07)