Review
Release Date: 11.05.2007
Platform:
Xbox 360Developer:
Infinity WardPublisher:
Activision, Inc.Reviewed by
Mikey Dowling on 1.13.2008
| Review Rating: 10/10 | User Rating: 9.29/10 |
Today in the gaming industry, you'd be hard pressed to not have at least three current first-person shooters taking place in World War II. The
Call of Duty franchise was known to be one of the few that excelled in the field. Yet, they fell short of that glory with their third installment as it was no where near the critical darling that the previous two were. Most would attribute this to the original developer,
Infinity Ward not being in charge of the development. So when
Activision announced that Infinity Ward would not only be back on board for the fourth installment of the series, but that the game would jump into the modern time, there was much rejoicing.
Assuredly, the rejoicing was well-founded.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, is the prime example of how to do an FPS correctly. The story has you stopping a Russian power struggle, along with the disasters that come out of it. Although that doesn't seem incredibly original (how often have you had to stop any kind of power struggle in a video game?), the way events unfold during the course of the game is akin to a Hollywood blockbuster. The most amazing thing: there are times where events of the game actually play out more spectacularly than about 80% of the high budget scenes in any movie released within the past 10 years. Yes. It's that good.
The story isn't the only thread that holds this wonderful piece of interactive entertainment together. Infinity Ward has set a new bar in terms of photo-realistic graphics. It captures that uncanny valley piece of realism where you know it is not a real person, but you're still left jaw-dropped by how they've been able to make their models look. Yet although the models are near photo-realistic, it's good that they didn't go closer to the realm of realism as it would be disconcerting to shoot people who are too lifelike. The backgrounds, vehicles, and weapons have all been given the same treatment.
Where
CoD4 will last the longest is in its multiplayer. Although not too inviting for those just jumping in, it offers a sort of RPG character building that will allow you to have guns that shoot through walls, the ability to get some last shots with a pistol in when you're taken down by an enemy, and various other cool things. Not only that, but streaks are rewarded with the likes of air strikes, helicopter assistance, and more. Again, multiplayer is tough for beginners, but is ultimately rewarding and offers a great amount of competition and, more importantly, fun.
Call of Duty 4 isn't without its faults. The enemies are still of the shooting gallery variety where they'll keep popping up in the same places. Not only that, but on the higher difficulties you'll hit near-non-stop amounts of enemy forces that won't disperse until you take the initiative and press forward. Though even then, it takes some time and a lot of deaths to make it through. Also, some guns aren't given the power that they have in the real world (the shotguns being the biggest victim). Then of course there are the usual clipping errors and such, but taking into account the scale of what's going on, this is easily forgiven.
So although the campaign mode isn't the longest ever, it still has a story that can rival some of the other AAA titles that were released in the previous year (along with one of the greatest endings in FPS history) and multiplayer that will last until at least the next Infinity Ward-developed
CoD comes about.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare not only takes the franchise out of the tired WWII era, but does so with such a grandiose flair that it would be a crime to pass it up.
