Game Review: Call of Duty 4
System: PS3
System: PS3
Introduction/General Comments:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Windows, and the Xbox 360. The game was released in North America, Australia, and Europe in November 2007 for video game consoles .
It seemed Infinity Ward finally gave players more of what they wanted. The last few Call of Duty’s have been about history wars, World War II mainly, and its been getting old. With Call of Duty 4 released, as it says on the title, it’s now Modern Warfare. The game is different then the recent Call of Duty games, and brings us back to what we really loved about the first Call of Duty.
Storyline:
In campaign mode, similar to the previous Call of Duty games and other first-person shooter games, you play as various different characters. Each characters actions overlap eventually which brings this story together. In most missions you will have NPC’s on your team that will guide and help you threw each mission. As you go threw the campaign mode, you can collect items that will unlock rewards as well. Some objectives require that the player arrives at a checkpoint, while some of them require you to eliminate enemies in a specified location or stand their ground to defend an objective. The story is about a group of soldiers from the SAS who go on missions that you must do for them.
8/10. The Storyline was interesting but it was far too short and It was only single campaign. They should have made a coop mode like they have in the new COD.
Characters:
In the campaign mode, you get to control six different characters throughout the game. You control “Soap” MacTavish for most of the story, Sergeant Paul Jackson, who is part of the USMC, Captain/Lieutenant Price who you can play in the flashbacks that occur throughout the story, Yasir Al-Fulani is the president of the unnamed Middle Eastern country, and he is playable before he is executed, You also take the role of an American thermal-imaging TV operator aboard an AC-130 gunship during one of the levels, and a British SAS counter-terrorist operative infiltrating a hijacked airliner to save a VIP in the final level. Each character has there own personality which makes them each unique. There are also a lot of non-playable characters that help you threw each area as well.
7/10. You don’t learn much about them and there not very interesting.
Gameplay:
Call of Duty 4 is a first-person shooter similar to previous games in the Call of Duty series but set in the present day instead of World War II. The Call of Duty 4 gameplay uses several features from other franchises. You fight along computer controlled characters which help you by clearing the rooms, killing the enemies and watching your back as you run into mayhem. Seeing as it was Modern Warfare, there were new guns added as well as many other features such as night goggles. The player can crawl, crotch or be standing well in combat, each having a different stealth and speed. If you got hit by a bullet, the screen would go red all around the edges. Instead of health powerups like in other games, the player can regenerate health by avoiding fire long enough.
The multiplayer gameplay in Call of Duty 4 is amazing. You can play up to 4 friends offline, and lots more online. There are various different deathmatch modes you can play in from Free for All to Capture the Flag or even Defending an area. There are tons of areas as well you can play in and you can also unlock bonus maps as well. There is also a variety of different classes you can choose from, each with a unique gun and powerup with it. There is close range, grenadier, and even snipers. There are some really cool modes such as Old School mode which can be enabled to make you jump really high, makes it so everyone starts with the same gun and you need to find the guns and grenades and powerups all over the maps, and it changes a lot of the other settings as well. Also Hardcore mode can be used which changes things such as your health to miniscule. One of my favourite things to do is to do knife wars on a small map (Shipment) where you only use knives. You can have lots of fun creating your own games with friends such as playing tag.
9.5/10. Very cool features and effects in the game and I love the options in the multiplayer section.
Controls:
The controls are very easy to learn in this game even for people that don’t own the system or its there first time playing it. The shooting trigger (R1) is right close to the grenade feature (R2) which is great to have. Also aiming is simple. It’s right across from the shooting trigger (L1) and another type of grenades (Flash or Smoke) is right by the aim (L2). Moving is straight forward. You move the left analog stick to move and the right one to look around. The directional buttons are used to change to night vision and also, if your weapon has it, you can switch it to your secondary shot. Triangle changes your gun, circle crotches, holding it makes you lay down, and x is jump, square is reload. The controls are easy to follow and I find them much easier then any other first person shooters I’ve played.
9/10. Very easy to understand. There very straight forward to where everything would be and it makes to have the controls where each one is.
Graphics:
The graphics are really well done for the PS3 version of Call of Duty 4. The characters look very life like and the environments are so well detailed its like being there. The actions that the characters do, such as opening and closing a door, or twisting the door wheel, seems as though its an actual person that’s doing it. I haven’t seen any problems involving the graphics and they are really 3rd generation material.
9/10. Very good background graphics and the people graphics are quite well done as well. The environments are so well detailed.
Sound:
The music for Call of Duty 4 was written by a British composer named Stephen Barton. Gregson-Williams also composed music for the game, such as the main theme. The sound effects of the shooting and the talking of people and screaming is very realistic and it makes you feel as though you were there. The music selection for the game is just amazing. You can hear everything from the footsteps of your character to the sound of the helicopter over top firing at you. You can even know when someone is close by you because there footsteps are louder.
8/10. Good sound effects. Sound as if you were actually in the war. Gun firing effects for all different guns and screaming from people dieing are great. Also the music gets you really into it.
Replay value:
I wouldn’t recommend replaying the campaign mode. To me it was a one time play through since some of it was repetitive but it was still kept interesting. The multiplayer with friends I would definitely recommend playing over and over again. There is so many different ways to play and areas to visit. You can also create your own style of playing such as tag perhaps where your friends hide and you turn off the radar and you try to find them. Multiplayer online is also a thing you would want to play over and over again because of the multiple things you can do and rewards you can get. Its also good to get your ranking high to be able to be one of the better players.
9/10. This would be 10/10 if I was just talking about the multiplayer option. 9/10 because I wouldn’t replay the campaign mode a lot since its so short and repetitive.
Overall Rating:
My overall rating for this game would be a 9.5/10. The game has great graphics, sound, gameplay, and I love the multiplayer mode, but I would love to have seen a better playable campaign mode, and even perhaps a coop campaign mode would have made it that much better. I definitely recommend checking this game out. Its 10x better then Call of Duty 5.