Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare review
T3HDX

Review

A new setting for the popular franchise

A leap in time


Infinity ward, the makers of the infamous World War II FPS franchise, bring you their latest instalment in the Call of Duty series. However, Call of Duty 4 does not follow in the footsteps of the previous games, but changes the traditional WWII setting into the modern age of war. This is a drastic change in this popular franchise. With so many World War II games out there, there are also other FPS games, including modern and futuristic combat. It’s not that often we see a series change the line of where it’s headed, which leads us to ask how the fans of the series will react to this new style?

Same story, two points of view


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has quite an involving storyline for being just another shoot‘em up. Although you follow a single plotline, you follow it along multiple pathways. First, you start off as ‘Soap’ Mactavish, a new recruit to the 22nd SAS regiment, following them on their missions, which are set mainly in Russia. The second side of the story you follow is in the perspective of Paul Jackson, a member of the 1st Recon Force in the United States Marine Corps.

The general story starts with a brief training course which teaches you the basics of the game, but quickly moves on into the action. The first real mission you start sees you on a freighter with the 22nd SAS regiment, looking for a “package”. The soldiers reach the lower decks of the ship and find what they’ve been searching for, only for the freighter to be fired upon by Mig-22s, forcing the soldiers to abandon the ship.

This first mission gives the background for the main objective. Both the SAS and 1st Recon Force are looking for the same target, Kahled Al-Asad, who is causing an uprising in an unknown Middle Eastern Country. However, this is just a distraction, covering the true intentions of the man Kahled Al-Asad works for, Imran Zakhaev. In the end, both sides team up in joint operations, to take out their target and complete the mission once and for all. The story is very dramatic, and will certainly have you stuck in front of your monitor throughout the game, always making you think what’s going to happen next.

Has the gameplay survived the transition?


The main feature of Call of Duty 4 is definitely the ability to shoot through the thinner walls and fences. This gives a nice, realistic effect. Although you may think it’s not the greatest feature for multiplayer, it adds a lot of strategy to it. I think it’s quite a nice feature and adds more realism, as well as tactical cover to the game.

Seeing as it is now modern warfare instead of WWII, it certainly adds a fresh feel to the series, and invites both the old fans as well as the newcomers. The main theme of the game is of course war. Call of Duty 4 doesn’t fail to give you one of the most action packed games of this year.

The starting gameplay is moderately slow, which helps those new to the series, as well as out of practice FPS veterans. However, I found myself taking a backseat in the first mission due to getting used to the settings and sensitivity, while having the computer AI actually being useful at this early stage. This doesn’t last for long though. The difficulty settings of the single player campaign are spot on, giving the right challenge for each setting.

9.0

fun score

No Pros and Cons at this time