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| Review - Call Of Duty 4 |
| Written by Marco Fiori | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Before Call of Duty 4 was revealed to the gaming world, if I ever heard the franchise’s name it would always gave me a small pang of disappointment within my heart. I always stand by the fact that there hasn’t been a decent WWII FPS since the original Call of Duty (COD). Nothing has ever come close to the epic feel of battle portrayed in the original. There have been five sequels / games based on the COD universe and it seemed that the series was well and truly dead. The games offered nothing which hadn’t been Infinity Ward, the developers of the original had been working on a new COD game, one that brought the series into the modern day. Gone was the M1 Garand and in was the M4 Assault Rifle. The Germans had been put to bed and a new, more relevant enemy have been created. The developers have had the aim to bring the series back to its roots and I can safely say that what they have achieved is a masterpiece. But how exactly is it a masterpiece and where should I start? Well, the game never stagnates as it grants the player control of three playable characters, constantly shifting your location and weapons. As a result, you never get bored of the settings or experience. The game takes you around the globe to various modern combat hot spots. You will find that the Nazis are well and truly dead and it’s all about the Middle East, Ultranationalist Russians and Terrorist Dictators. It’s a highly pertinent idea which brings the game home to the player. It makes it more realistic, less cheesy and quite harrowing. From the opening training levels to the game’s conclusion, any gamer of slight intelligence will find themselves thinking about the state of the world. It’s obvious that the developers are not intentionally being moralistic, but it seems to come across that way. It’s beneficial to the game as it seems like the creators are being mature and professional. They aren’t only being mature in the personality sense. The game has been stamped with an ‘M’ rating and thank god it was. Call of Duty 4 is probably one of the most adult games you will ever see, but it does it in a tasteful, non expressive way. The game requires it and it never seems to directly draw attention towards it, bar the opening sequence. From executions, beatings and deaths, the game constantly produces an accurate representation of the world around us. After all, while the game has a fictional Middle Eastern country, it’s obvious to notice the parallels to real life countries and the treatment of people that occur there. From the moment the game starts to the closing credits, the game is a rollercoaster of human suffering, war and emotion.
And I can safely say that COD4 will be one the best rollercoaster rides of your life. It’s quite scary as to how solid the game is. You can tell it’s been worked on over and over, never rushed once. Every single level is balanced correctly. Even from the beginning training exercise, the attention to detail of magnificent. You run a mock scenario under the control of a SAS soldier called ‘Soap’ and depending on your time taken, accuracy and all round performance; the game recommends a difficulty level. Therefore I played the game though on Hard and I found it exactly that. It is unrelenting, and teaches you to be a soldier. You can’t stay out of cover for a few seconds or sprint up smacking people in the face. You will simply die. Take a couple bullets to the body, you die. Fall off a building, you die. Fail to throw a grenade back or get out the way, you die. It’s punishing, a steep learning curves but ever so fun. Gone are the quick save dependencies of the past and in are careful aim, planning and manoeuvring. I can’t speak for the lower difficulties, but I presume they are as balanced as the hard mode I played through. There are several set pieces that I got stuck on, but the feeling of reward when you accomplished them was greater than the annoyance I was feeling when I was playing. The game is a hair-raising experience that never stops pounding your heart with a mallet. The frantic rushing to cover while all hell breaks loose around you is exhilarating. You feel your heart pumping as you scarper to safety. The guns aren’t too powerful or too weak. A headshot will kill instantly and careful aim is rewarded. The weapons look, sound and handle realistically and it’s extremely gratifying when you become adept at the game. The single player campaign may not be a long one but it packs so much excitement into it that it’s worth every penny. The positives don’t just stop at the gameplay, but lead on to its visuals. They are superb no matter what system you are playing on. It is as stable as rock and never slows down, crashes or freezes. It’s a welcome release after games like Crysis. It runs like a dream and looks like one as well. Smoke effects, explosions and lighting are all immersive and realistic. The soldiers looks the real deal and their facial emotions are second to only Half Life 2. They move, sound and look like they should, carrying out military exercises as they should. The environments are gritty, moody and well modelled. If I were to ever go to Iraq on service, I’d expect for it to look like COD4. Whether you be sneaking through the undergrowth in a gilly suit or hightailing it through the Middle Eastern streets it looks inspirational.
I continually try and find fault with the game, but it is so hard to. Even after the single player game, arcade mode is unlocked where you can string together kills for points and you have a certain amount of lives. It’s a new step for the FPS but it works ever so well. It is so easy to play through the game on Arcade mode straight after you’ve finished it. But most people know it’s not the single player that counts when you speak the name Call of Duty. COD was the best FPS multiplayer I have ever played (bar the recent TF2) and COD4 has a lot to live up to. With 12 multiplayer modes, the fun isn’t really going to end anytime soon. What is really interesting about the multiplayer is the Create a Class feature and the perks that come with it. Every kill you gain in COD4 grants the player XP, which then unlocks new levels and new perks. With the perks you can completely customize your play style and gaming tactics. The great thing is it works perfectly. There are so many options that you can choose from and it keeps you coming back for more and more. Sadly it does mean if you were to play multiplayer in a couple months, most people would be extremely strong and accustomed to the game and make it hard for you to level up, but perseverance and practice will pay off.
I hate giving games 10/10s because it indicates that they are the perfect game. There are some minor gripes. The enemy has the ability to throw a grenade through a window a mile. It is often unrealistic and annoying as you often can’t scramble out of the way quickly enough. Your AI counterparts while mostly intelligent sometimes wish to block you and it is frustrating when you get killed. Some sections are sparse of auto-save and will get you repeating them several times and the game in essence (single player wise) is extremely linear, barely ever taking you off the track, keeping you on path with scripted events and swarms of enemies. Despite this, its nit-picking and it should safely be said that you should honour your call of duty as soon as possible as its going to be a hell of a ride. Score: 9/10
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