Grade: A
Six years ago, the first "Call of Duty" (COD) game struck the market and was an instant success. Appearing at the high point of World War II shooters, the game was lauded for allowing the player to view the war from the sides of all three allies in the European theater. While the subsequent two games were even more viscerally exciting and praised, game developer Infinity Ward realized that making another World War II shooter was beating a dead horse and it needed something else to do with the "COD" franchise.
| CALL OF DUTY 4: HITS AND MISSES | PROS Great graphics Excellent sound Inventive new missions Great variability and control Amazing class-based multiplayer - better than "Halo" | CONS Extremely short Disjointed plot "Veteran" difficulty level is frustratingly hard |
Enter "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," the latest and greatest installment of the "COD" franchise. Instead of taking place 63 years ago, "COD 4" takes place in the fictitious near future, with Russia being torn apart by a civil war between ultranationalists bent on bringing back the hammer and sickle and loyalists who are trying to preserve their government. Several thousand miles away, a dictator named Al-Asad has taken control of an unnamed Middle Eastern country and procured nuclear weapons.
The plot rings of the Hollywood glitz of a Jerry Bruckheimer film, and the game lives up to the reputation by providing the gritty yet delectable view of fictionalized modern combat combined with the flashiness of high technology. Each sequence would fit perfectly into an action movie, starting with a prologue of the player taking a container ship by storm and finding nukes aboard, right before a bomber sinks the ship, forcing the player to dive into a hovering helicopter. The end is no less dramatic, and one of the more innovative aspects is that this occurs in the game without cut scenes.
While many shooters, including all of the previous "COD" games, follow a generic pattern of start-here-move-here-take-objective-defend-objective-yeah!, "COD 4's" sequences are mostly original, or at least seem so. Be it a house-to-house search for a dictator, a foot chase for a nuclear arms dealer's son or sneaking through Chernobyl as an assassin, the game never drags.
The only bad part is that while the game may not drag, it ends rather quickly; I bought it at 2:30 p.m. and finished it by 9 that night, including an hour-long break for dinner. Even for the more casual player, it shouldn't take more than 10 hours to rip through the singleplayer mode.
Part of this is due to the plot. Much like a Jerry Bruckheimer film, the plot is disjointed. At the end of one mission, your only lead is dead, yet, in the next mission you are face-to-face with the bad guy you are hunting.
But if you are left hanging with the short singleplayer mode, there are still plenty of hours to waste on the multiplayer. "COD 4" now has a class-based system. As you gain experience, you can unlock new classes, such as a grenadier class, which give you new weapons. The next step is unlocking your own custom class, which lets you go to battle with whatever you want. Your player can also accommodate three perks, or special abilities, the most popular of which is the ability to drop a grenade when you die for that last laugh on the guy who killed you.
The fast-paced action of "COD 4" is unparalleled by any shooter today. The combination of modern warfare, maniacal dictators, amazing graphics, automatic weapons and plenty of explosions will keep you on the edge of the seat for the duration of the single player campaign. At times, it seems more like an action movie than an actual game. And while the singleplayer campaign is embarrassingly short, the multiplayer action will keep you hooked.
