Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

Post Written for DAVE

Name = Call of duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Genre = FPS
Platform= PC,X360, PS3, DS (Tested on PC)
Developer = Infinity Ward
Publisher = Electronic Arts, Valve Software
Players = 1
Online = Yes
Age = 16+
Released = Out Now!

==HISTORY/BACKGROUND==
Call of duty is a well established long running series of war games, this being the 4Th incarnation of the series, they typically a hero, shooting and killing bad guys (normally the Germans in WWII) However this latest title takes a dramatic turn by not setting its story in WWII and more in the modern day

==STORY==
Unlike every other Call of duty title this game is set in the modern day. The single player story line has the player controlling a variety of characters ranging from the fantastically named SAS newbie Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, to an airship gunner all the way to Soaps American counterpart Sergeant Paul Jackson, part of the USMC 1st Force Recon.

Our new willing heroes are sent on very realistic campaign missions, gone are the times of the lone ranger in FPS game play, this game See's your character working in strict squad based action - at all times during your missions you are in contact or working directly with a full squad of trained soldiers.

So you and your squads are sent around the world responding to various terrorist activities chasing after a henchman, evil enough to have his own superhero rival. With this being set in the modern world the story line had to of course feature the theft of nuclear weapons by either a Islamic extremist or a Russian dictator. In this case it is both, although this is very predictable the story is pulled off in a very compelling way and you will find yourself speeding through missions just to see where the story will turn next.

==SOUND/MUSIC==
The music of the game fits the scenarios rather well but that isn't where the sound of the game really excels, i quickly turned the games music off in favour of the rather excellent ambiance, this is most evident in the multi player - unlike most war games whereas the ambiance is created by randomly fired shots, in this game the shots you can hear the most prominent are that of the players on your battle field while normal ambiance exists it is easily distinguishable from that of players, every shot you fire echos around the maps in the most realistic manner i have ever experienced, when played in surround sound this means that each and every shot gives away your position to everyone on the map - not something you want. Each gun sounds almost exactly how i would have imagined them too, and after straying too far near a grenade or 2 with full volume you will quickly learn how best to avoid them

There are a few selected music tracks from the soundtrack available on Infinity Ward's "7 Days of Modern Warfare" website

==GAMEPLAY==
unlike most games whereas you cannot rely on your AI squad to do anything but look pretty, In Call of duty each one of your squad members is fully trained and ready, The AI works well for your colleagues and they seem to react very well to changing situations, making them valuable members of the team.

However this excellent squad AI is matched by equally good Enemy AI, All through out the single player you see enemies reacting to how your squad is positioned and will take cover if fired upon, they regularly will hide out behind crates and boxes while waiting for more members of their squad before firing upon you.

Team play in a single player game - who would have thought it?

The multi player game play isn't the fastest paced game play in the world but the realism from the single player isn't lost - each gun works exactly the same way as single player, this makes the game play a little slow, but good fun all the same you need to keep your wits about you when taking cover and making well aimed shots. There is little to be gained picking the biggest guns available to you and charging at your enemies, heck in some servers you will barely make it 10 feet.

The biggest difference to the multi player from the prequels to this game is that the guns are now acquired from leveling your profile up. (Oh No i hear you cry, an RPG!) Well yes, it has an RPG element to it, but its not as bad as it sounds the guns that become available are really only options to the guns you start with, the actual firepower you gain from unlocking these guns is not a great deal - but its still a good enough reason to go through and put in the hours to make yourself a rank 55 general of war.

The levels themselves are gained by earning XP - this comes from participating in games with a bonus for winning. Most of the XP you earn though will be earned by completing the challenges set to you.

The challenges- These are many and varied, they add tons of replay value and range from mundane task (e.g. Kill 150 people with an AK47) to the more fun Base jumping (fall 30 feet or more to your death). There are literally hundreds of these tasks to complete, each earning you both XP rewards and new parts for the guns that are used for the task - allowing for customisation of the guns that you use.

==GRAPHICS==
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a proprietary engine, this engine allows for some of the most up-to-date graphic techniques to be used, for example true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects(that annoying bloom stuff), dynamic shadows(moving shadows) and depth of field (bluryness around your scope when zoomed in). All of this combined gives a very very pretty looking game that on high settings will melt a lot of computers, a lot of the more fancy features will have to be turned off by most gamers, i was privileged enough to see the game in its full glory and i will tell you it was quite a sight...Not quite Crysis but not very far off either.

The game also makes use of a physics engine that allows players shooting guns of enough caliber to shoot straight through almost any wall in game, this can add an interesting dynamic to multi player game play if enough players shoot straight through the walls of the building your stood in, but is more commonly used to shoot players who you spotted recently ducking behind cover.

==REPLAY-VALUE==
It has to be said the single player section of the game, while good, does not hold much in the terms of replay value, players will probably not run through it more than once or twice before becoming bored. The games real replay value comes from its multi player, with its many many achievements, unlockables and (for the more serious gamers) Up-coming tournaments, Call of duty 4 has what it takes to be the next Counter Strike (until the next counter strike of course).

==BUY OR NOT TO BUY==
Buy!

==SCORE==

Graphics - 8/10 - (impressive, but it ain't Crysis)
Sound/Music - 8/10 - (get past the music, ambiance all the way)
Controls - 7/10 - (Simple, easy to use, bog standard fps controls)
Game play - 9/10 - (impressive single player AI on both sides, and a wide variety of game play types in multi player)
Replay Value - 6/10 - (single player not so good, but the multi player will appeal to most)


I give Call of duty 4 - Modern Warfare a FINAL RATING of 8/10, Definatly worth the money, run on over to steam and buy a copy now.