One of the highest praised titles of this generation is Call of Duty 4. After Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3, the folks at Infinity Ward picked up the renowned World War II series to give it a modern makeover as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Gone are the days or Nazis and Garand rifles, instead you are given terrorists and M4’s. The good news is that new focus has done nothing to tarnish the reputation of the series and has created a behemoth of a game that will be played for years and remembered for its quality even longer.

Gameplay

While the story in most FPS games is often forgettable, especially in war games (SPOILER: The Allies won), Call of Duty 4 goes to great lengths to create an engaging story. While the terrorist plot may be clichéd and more solidly developed in other titles and mediums, keeping the terrorists Russian helps add a unique flair, and the presentation of the story what really shines. You take control of both a United States Marines officer and the British Special Air Service officer, although most of the game has you playing with the cheeky funsters of the S.A.S. You will find yourself in many different locales throughout the game, and there is a very nice pacing of the art direction in the levels while still allowing for them to feel interconnected. There are some very interesting twists in the plot, and they are really made by the presentation. I won’t ruin it, but there’s a bit with a helicopter that is just top notch.

Veterans of Call of Duty 2 will find some new touches in Call of Duty 4, but the basic concept is the same. The single player has you following various objectives and offers many difficulties to accommodate every possible taste, and there are also unlockable cheats from collecting hidden intelligence that are just a blast to turn on and play the game with. Being quite removed from the war of the 1940’s, there is a lot more equipment available to you in Call of Duty 4, ranging from night vision goggles, laser sights on guns, and airstrikes. Your squad mates are not complete powerhouses, but they will kill enemies and do have a noticeable effect. The checkpoints seem better spaced out than in previous entries, and the pacing of the gameplay is kept just right, although the Veteran difficulty can be a bit on the hectic side.

The game’s multiplayer is where it truly stands out. The system is given a unique, RPG inspired twist, in which you get experience for killing players and completing certain objectives, like calling in an airstrike or getting 50 headshots with a gun. When you level up, you get some sort of reward, either a new weapon to use online, or a new perk. The perks are, essentially, latent abilities that allow you to customize your own class, with perks ranging from increased bullet damage, to being able to listen in on the enemy team’s conversations. They add a real unique feel to the game and the reward system adds a strong motivation to always keep playing, but the higher level weapons aren’t so powerful that they keep lower leveled players from progressing. The game modes offered range from free-for-alls, to team deathmatches, to team objective based games. There really is something for every type of player. To reward good habits such as using cover, you get special abilities if you keep a kill streak going. If you get 3 kills, you can call in a U.A.V. that scans for enemy players and makes them visible on the map. For 5 kills you get to call in an airstrike that drops bombs on an area of your choosing, and 7 kills will let you bring out a helicopter to rain down the fury. As much as I like to joke about which map with the tan and the sand and cars that we’re playing on, there is a wide variety of maps to choose from, and all of them are pretty well balanced. I do dislike Bloc, but that’s only because the map facilitates sniper’s so well that it pretty much degrades into nothing but sniper fights, but it is still a solid map (Unlike the downloadable content map, Creek, of which the best thing I can say about it is that it looks pretty). There are no vehicles, which is a bit of a step down from Call of Duty 3, but the game is done such that you are never left lamenting over the lack of tanks and jeeps. There really is plenty for everyone in the online mode; you would have to be a real stickler to not find anything enjoyable.

Graphics

Graphically, what Call of Duty 4 presents is not just good for all the action that is happening on screen, it is good for this generation. The graphics are very crisp and the art design is top notch on the levels, making them feel different enough to warrant interest, but similar enough to never draw you out of the theme of the game. The player models and guns are realistic, and the only real awkward moments can come from the physics engine tossing you a bit too much because of a grenade.

Sound

One of the rising trends in the FPS genre is an epic score to accompany an epic game, and Modern Warfare certainly provides a wonderful bit of music throughout the game. The ambient noise and gunfire are also very well done. The voice acting, often one of the weakest areas of any game, is very well done and each character feels unique and real.

Controls

As mentioned earlier, fans of Call of Duty 2 will find a very similar control scheme, with the only real difference being that the directional pad is mapped to your equipment and kill streak perks, and a click of the right stick allows for some nice knifing. Other than that, the controls are largely unchanged, but it is purely a case of not “fixing” what isn’t broken.

Conclusion

I’m not exactly a tough person to please, but I’m not the sort of person that gives away perfect scores, as it’s normally quite easy to come up with an aspect of a game that was legitimately a poor choice and not just a difference between your preferences and those of a developer. That being said, I really am at a loss for what to fault Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on. It offers a very engaging and well done single player experience that can be tailored to a difficulty level that is right for you, and the online mode is compelling and allows for you to fine tune the sort of character you want to be with your equipment and perks, as well as giving you a wide variety of game modes and balanced maps to play on. This is simply one of those games that everyone needs to try.