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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 Xbox 360. The game was released in North America, Australia, and Europe in November 2007 for video game consoles and Windows, and it was released for the Mac in September 2008. It is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty video game series, excluding expansion packs, and is followed by a direct sequel, Modern Warfare 2. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous games in the series and is instead set in modern times.
There's a description of COD4. What that description doesn't tell you, is that COD4 may be the greatest game ever created, from a single player and multiplayer standpoint. People will argue that Halo is the better franchise, and better for online gaming, but when it comes down to it, you just can't beat COD4.
The plot for the single player game is on the same level as any movie you could see.
On a mission in the Bering Sea, Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, Captain Price, "Gaz", and several SAS members find a nuclear device onboard a cargo ship. Suddenly, the ship is attacked, and the team evacuate with the cargo manifest, which provides evidence of ties between the Russian Ultranationalist Party and a rebel faction in the Middle East. Russian Ultranationalist Imran Zakhaev, who plans to return his homeland to the times of the Soviet Union, draws international attention away from his plans by funding a coup d'état in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, organized by a local separatist leader named Khaled Al-Asad. The British and American governments, who discover the plot, initiate a police action to stop the uprisings in both regions. After President Al-Fulani of the Middle Eastern country is executed on live television and Al-Asad takes control, the SAS rescue their compromised informant in the Russian Ultranationalist Party, Nikolai.
In an American invasion of the Middle Eastern country, a platoon from the USMC 1st Force Recon, led by Lieutenant Vasquez and Sergeant Paul Jackson, searches for Al-Asad, but only manages to secure a television station broadcasting Al-Asad's propaganda. During the final stages of the operation, United States Central Command is notified by Seal Team Six of a Russian nuclear weapon nearby, and sends the NEST to disarm it. However, the nuclear device suddenly detonates, leveling most of the city and killing everyone in the area, including Vasquez's squad, whose helicopter had not left the blast radius after coming to the last-minute rescue of the pilot of a downed AH-1 Cobra helicopter.
The British learn that Al-Asad fled the country before the USMC's invasion. With the help of their informant Nikolai, the SAS finds and interrogates Al-Asad. After learning from him that Zakhaev supplied the nuclear bomb, Captain Price executes Al-Asad. Price then has a flashback of his mission to eliminate Zakhaev in Prypiat, Ukraine, 15 years earlier. In the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zakhaev took advantage of the turmoil to profit from nuclear proliferation and used his new wealth to lure soldiers from the Soviet Army to form his Ultranationalist Party. Price was paired with Captain MacMillan to carry out the black op assassination of Zakhaev. After stealthily sneaking into Prypiat and taking up a position in the top room of an abandoned hotel, MacMillan spotted Zakhaev while Price fired a .50 BMG sniper rifle, but Zakhaev survived, losing only an arm. Price and MacMillan were pursued from the scene and narrowly escaped.
Back in the present, a joint operation, by the SAS regiment under the command of Captain Price, a USMC Force Recon unit led by Staff Sergeant Griggs, and forces from the Russian military led by Sgt. Kamarov, is undertaken to stop Zakhaev. They capture his son Victor to learn of Zakhaev's whereabouts, but before they can question him, Zakhaev's son commits suicide. Zakhaev becomes enraged, blaming Western nations for the death of his son, and plans to retaliate by launching ballistic missiles armed with warheads at the United States. When SAS/USMC operatives arrive at the facility, Zakhaev manages to launch two missiles towards the United States. However, the squad successfully deactivates the missiles and escapes the facility in military trucks, Zakhaev's forces in hot pursuit.
Before the squad can escape across a nearby bridge, it is destroyed by a gunship, leaving them trapped. Zakhaev's forces arrive and engage the remaining members of the strike force. Suddenly, Gaz receives a call from Sergeant Kamarov, informing him that his forces are on their way to help the American and British forces. On the bridge, a gas tanker explodes, incapacitating most soldiers nearby except Griggs, who is shot while trying to pull MacTavish to safety. Zakhaev, along with two of his soldiers, finish off Gaz and other surviving members of the strike force. He then begins to walk towards Soap and Price, but is distracted by the destruction of his gunship and the arrival of a Russian military helicopter. As Zakhaev looks away, Price slides his pistol to Soap, who shoots and kills Zakhaev and his two guards.
The single player games stands out for a number of reasons. One level in peticular has you playing the role of the president, who's been kidnapped and driven through the city. From this perspective, you can look around the car and out the windows (you can't move). Outside the windows you can see people being beaten by the militant forces, some killed and bodies are laid about on the streets. After a bumpy car ride you're pulled out, tied up to a stake in the middle of a courtyard while a camera films everything, then a gun is placed to your head, with the screen going black during the gun shot.
Another level comes straight out of what you can see on CNN, as you sit in a helicopter and gun the enemy down, while trying to protect a ground based squad. It's a frieghtening level in that it's based on very very real events.
The best level comes in the form of a flashback, in which you are put into a black op mission to assassinate Zakhaev. You're forced to use only a sniper rifle and silenced pistol. The action is slowed for much of the level, bringing the games pace down. It's a great change from levels where bullets are firing and you're outnumbered and out gunned. It's been called one of the best sniper missions in a video game, by Gameinformer.
Also of mention is the ending of the level where your helicopter is blown up thanks to a Russian nuclear bomb. The player awakens to find the city in ruins, climbing slowly out of the helicopter you fall to the ground, your life escaping you as you can see bodies that are on fire, melting from the explosion. The player has a few seconds to look around the city, to see what the destruction is like before the levels ends. It's a harrowing end to a level, one this reviewer has never seen in a game before.
The cut scenes in the single player game are some of the best, the graphics also provide a great boost to the realism of it all. You have to give Infinty Ward credit for building this game so well, considering they could have went back to the over used WW2 setting from games past. Some games cutscenes tend to go on forever, but COD4's cut scenes are short and to the point, making the player want to watch them. It's never a dull ride on this trip.
Of course there are varying difficulty levels for playing, the objectives stay the same regardless, but on the veteran difficulty you're sure to have a lot of problems in the later levels. This doesn't detract from the over all game though, as you can still experience the greatness on the lower levels of play.
The multiplayer is the saving grace of the game, I say that because the single player game can be completed in maybe five hours, so while it's short you can get your fix online. You start out using set weapons for the first few levels, gaining experience points for kills gets you leveling up, and soon enough you're unlocking new weapons, add ons for weapons, and new game variations. The only drawback to playing online for the first time is that high level players will be able to tear you a new one, until you learn the level layouts and the tricks some players use you won't make much of a dent in the game. If you press on and keep playing, obviously you'll get better and keep catching onto new tricks people come up with. Once you max out your players stats, you can prestige, starting over again with a new icon representing the hard work you put into the online, and you can do this ten times, which keeps players coming back. The only problem with playing online is that when the host for the match drops out, the game ends, but games start constantly, with thousands of players always online and playing it's never hard to find a new game. Also, get ready for some trash talking in the game lobbies.
The achievements are varied for the game, with some being easy like beating the training level, and others being ball busting hard, like beating the extra level on veteran difficulty.
Call of Duty 4 is a big step up from 1-3, and all the extra side games. It's the best of them all, including World at War. Coming in November will be Modern Warfare 2, and how Infinity Ward can improve on the first game is beyond me, but from the trailers and screen shots, they have.
You owe it to yourself to put some long time into Call of Duty 4, and it's safe to say people will still be playing it even after it's sequel hits the streets.
Rating: 4/5
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