Call of Duty 4 is great, both in single player and multiplayer. I finished the single player game last night and it was a fantastic ride. It’s a very linear, scripted experience but for almost all of it that works very well and effectively makes you feel like you’re the star in a blockbuster Hollywood action movie. The graphics are great, controls are tight, audio is superb, technically the engine is rock solid, the pace is frenetic while never overwhelming, the ‘feel’ of the weaponry is just right, and the plot and writing are decent. The end is also great. A lot of times in FPS games you end up fighting some uber cheesey boss battle, but the last level and conclusion in CoD4 are about as good as it gets. About the only criticism I can come up with is that the game is fairly short. I didn’t track exactly how long it took me to finish, but I’d say roughly 6 hours. I didn’t feel cheated because of how engaging the whole experience is, and because the multiplayer is also fantastic.
On the multiplayer side the game reminds me most of an update to the old Urban Terror quake 3 mod I was so fond of, mostly because generally the MP maps are relatively small and feature building to building skirmishes with modern weapons and great weapon physics. There are newish features to the MP though, the quasi role playing system being my favorite. As you play you earn points for killing other players and achieving map objectives. These points allow you rise in level from a lowly private up through the military ranks. Higher ranks entitle you to new weapons, addons to your weapons (things like silencers, laser sites, scopes, better grips and so on), and perks (things like the ability to carry more grenades or shoot through thicker walls). You can also build customized characters , and as you rise in ranks you can have more of them, so you can develop specific character ‘builds’ - a sniper, a heavy weapons guy, a speedy little stealth attacker, and so on, and when you’re in a match you can choose from any of your builds when you respawn, allowing you to adapt to the situation in each match. There are also achievements you can strive for, like, 100 kills with a specific weapon, or 100 headshots, which provide bonus points to your levelling up. All of this adds up to digital crack - every 2-3 matches you play earns you at least 1 or 2 new toys to play around with and means you never want to log out.
Couple this with really great map design, lots of game modes, speedy matchmaking, and a system that rewards kill streaks with in-match abilities (like calling in an attack helicopter to go after the other team, or an airstrike, or a tactical rader that reveals the location of the enemy team’s players) and you have an unbelievably compelling multiplayer FPS. I can’t really think of a criticism - I’m enjoying it as much as I have been enjoying Team Fortress 2, which I also think is a fantastic game.
I should note that I played this on the Xbox 360, where everything is technically solid. I haven’t tried it on the PC, though if the mod scene picks up on this game, which I really hope they do, I will end up buying it for the PC as well - the game is that good and a wealth of additional maps would be fantastic. Anyone who enjoys FPS should consider checking this game out. And for my friends who read this blog - consider getting an xbox 360. The community gaming features, and the ability to ignore the hardware update treadmill you are stuck on with PC gaming, make it a really great value. You have to wrap your head around using a joypad to control things but anyone can adapt (I’m proof of that) and the benefits are outstanding.
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