Rock_On's Full Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Xbox 360
As important that World War II is/was to our country, there are only so many times that a first-person shooter series can use that era in time before gameplay gets stale and loses momentum. The Call of Duty series has been around for a few years winning numerous Game of the Year awards, but it wasn't until I got an Xbox 360 and played COD 4: Modern Warfare that I ever played a game in the series. As the original COD was one of the most popular FPS war games that came out on the PC, the series has slowly migrated to consoles and opened up a new level for console shooters to follow.
As if the subtitle "Modern War" didn't already give it away, COD4 takes place in the present day where terrorism rules the world. This fight definitley isn't what your grandfather remembers. You play the game through the eyes of a US Marine and British SAS soldier, alternating between the two as both teams work to suppress some middle eastern extremists who have been linked to some stolen Russian missiles. As advanced that weapons have become, the modern middle east setting is perfect for a first-person shooter of this magnitude.
The realism in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is phenomenal. I was an avid fan of the SOCOM series and since then I have yet to play a realistic shooter that drew me in. Unlike SOCOM though, COD4 actually has a single player campaign that drags you in with adrenaline pumping action. The gameplay mechanics in COD4 are very realistic feeling with bombs going off everywhere, enemies pouring out of buildings, and your comrades shouting at commands as you move in on each objective. You fight alongside your fellow squadron who have exceptionally smart artificial intelligence and never have to be told what to do, they just do it and they will do it well. There is a slight linear progression in each mission that's marked by a greyed out checkpoint at the top of the screen to let you know you're going the right way. However, there are multiple ways to make it to each checkpoint. On the hardest difficulty Veteran, you'll find out numerous times in different gun fights exactly which tactic NOT to use.
Modern times call for modern weapons, and COD doesn't fail in that department. Most missions start you out with some kind of assault rifle such as the M4 and a sidearm pistol (occasionally a shotgun), but you can pick up weapons that are dropped by enemies whenever you want. The Xbox 360 controller excels in the shooter genre with functionality (I've tried shooters on the PC but still prefer the close proximity of buttons on a controller), and doesn't fail in COD. Fire your weapon with the right trigger, zoom in on a scope with the left, and the left and right shoulder buttons throw your available special grenades (flash, stun, smoke) and standard grenades respectively. The amount of realism in COD has me in constant shock with "what the f*uck" moments coming about every few feet. I've only played the veteran difficulty and I wouldn't call myself a shooter expert (I'm far to inconsistent), but playing on that difficulty is a B*TCH. Aside from the thousands of bullets zooming by your head as you try to find an opening to shoot, there are often times two and three grenades that land around you. Thankfully when a grenade is thrown in close enough proximity to hurt you a grenade symbol comes up in the middle of the screen, and if you're close enough you can actually throw the hot grenade back at your enemies with the right shoulder button.
Call Of Duty isn't known for it's single player campaign, however it's nice to have an engaging story to get you ready for none other than multiplayer. There's really no other way of saying what's already been said by numerous sources, the Modern Warfare is one of the deepest online shooters that I have ever played. I grew up on Delta Force, got sucked into the Counter-Strike craze, became addicted to SOCOM, and I have yet to come across the customization and incentives that Modern Warfare has to keep players coming back.
Modern Warfare has multiple game types like the standard team deathmatch, free for all, domination (king of the hill), etc. The normal play modes support up to 12 players, while ground war has a maximum 18 players for some crazy a** matches. I'm not really a big fan of specialty game types like sabotage and the like, so I generally play in team deathmatch and ground war. Getting into a match usually only takes a couple minutes, though lately I've waited over ten minutes for a game to be found in team deathmatch which isn't necessary.
Once a game is found you'll be at the lobby screen or if a game is already in progress you choose your class and join in. There are five classes that you can choose to play including Assault, Spec Ops, Light Gunner, Demolitions (shotgun), and my personal favorite, Sniper. Which class you choose to play with is up to your personal style of play. You can switch anytime though and will change the next time you're killed and respawn. Personally, I tend to revert back to crazy Halo antics when I'm in a close quarters gunfight, so I stick with the sniper rifle. Like in single player though you can pick up weapons from downed enemies.
Modern Warfare uses a rank system up to 55 that players achieve through playing well (and often) that works as if it were a role-playing game. After every kill, assist, airstrike, flag capture, etc., a point value pops up in yellow letters. You also receive a match bonus after each game. These points are equal to experience points that when you reach so many you rank up. Fighting classes, gametypes, weapons, and accessories and such can only be unlocked after reaching certain ranks. This ranking system adds so much replayability, and it's not even what gives the game such an incredible depth. Starting out with the basic classes can really only take you so far, so you have the option to create up to five of your own classes with customizable weapons, accessories, and even "perks" to give your class a fighting edge such as dropping a grenade after you're killed as a last resort or longer breath capabilities when sniping.
Each weapon has a "weapon challenge" where you're rewarded for the amount of kills you score with each one as well as headshots which unlocks accessories for that weapon as you reach each goal. With two sets of challenges and multiple phases to complete for each, there's plenty to do on your way up to rank 55. Aside from weapon challenges there are a ton of objective challenges that reward you with some pretty substantial experience points. These challenges involve calling in an enemy UAV (shows enemies as a red dot on radar) so many times, calling in a helicoptor, getting so many kills in the prone position or while crouching, and so on. Even after obtaining the maximum 55 rank, a new mode called Prestige opens up, allowing persistent players to keep improving their rank. In prestige players are taken back to rank 1 and all challenge progression is wiped clear, but will have a new insignia next to their rank to show that it's not their first rodeo. Modern Warfare is not the game for itchy finger frag fests. The point is to play with a bit of realism, so running and gunning will land you with a very high death count. You may get lucky sometimes, but the kickback on weapons widen the crosshair, causing you to take tactical approaches to kills. The game tracks your stats like accuracy, kill/death ratio, wins/losses, etc., which ranks you among the millions of other players and even your friends list.
As near perfection that Modern Warfare has reached, there is a small quirk with the matching system. I already mentioned that I've waited up to, if not longer than 10 minutes to find a match. On top of that, the player matching is nowhere near the consistency that Halo is. Granted, while the two are about as different from each other that shooters can be and ranking up in Halo is a little bit more difficult, rank differences are usually within 5 in Halo. In my first online match I was the only player below 20, and was playing against three or four 55's. Needless to say, my Call Of Duty stats started with a negative kill/death ratio ( unfortunately I've yet to break even).
Modern Warfare is about as close to a battlefield that most people are ever going to be and the game is ruthless in that respect. The visuals and attention to detail are so realistic with sand and smoke being blown into the air and bullets shot at you from every direction. On the Veteran difficulty especially, fights get so ridiculously busy that when you think progressing through one checkpoint is hard enough, the next thing you know you're in an even crazier frenzy and the framerate keeps up with it at an incredibly smooth pace. The sound fits with the visuals and action as well. Even without surround sound I felt like I was in a real warzone with massive explosions, gunfire, and men screaming in my ear. I can only imagine the kind of immersion with an actual surround sound and hi-definition setup combination.
Overall With a single player campaign that will have the most hardcore gamers crying and multiplayer with seemingly endless hours of gameplay, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare is everything a realistic shooter should be. It's the wet dream of first-person shooters. With the next COD returning to the Workd War setting, it will be interesting to see how gamers transition back.
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