Call of Duty 4 does it even better.
I've been playing the Call of Duty series since the beginning, the original PC release. I've enjoyed every single one and actually have played them through more than a few times. The multiplayer in all of them have been extremely impressive. I'm probably one of the few minor people that aren't sick of the WWII games. I love them. I just hate that they all are the same exact thing. At least Return to Castle Wolfenstein took a different approach. However, Call of Duty has always been fun because it's not you, storming the beach or covering D-Day each time. They put you through many different eras and civilizations that battled in the war. I mean, it's not WWII because Germany fought America, right? It's a world war meaning there were Russians, Brits, and the cowardly French (sorry about that). Call of Duty pits you with all of them, even the forgotten Canadians. Each of the games have had the same "feel" and the same cinematic storyline. However, when Call of Duty 4's first big trailer hit the scene, I knew we'd moved onto bigger and better things. Modern warfare.
Call of Duty 4 pits you against our current "Nazis" of the world: terrorist. While fighting, you take the lead of two soldiers in a more 'at-home' war in Iraq. One soldier is America and one is British. Both are in for a world of hurt. As far as the single player, there's always that sort of "Aww, it's over..." that I've had with the games. Mainly because I hate anything to end if it's really good. It's only a really bad thing when the thing you never want to end ends quicker than hoped or expected. Call of Duty 4 manages to keep your attention with it's quick gameplay and great story, but before you know it, it's all over after around 6-8 hours, even on Veteran mode. As far as the missions, they're very well designed but from a standpoint of what the Call of Duty series used to be, the missions seem shorter and more linear than before. There's a few missions that break away from the 'spray and pray' gameplay from the first few missions. For instance, one mission pits you in the seat of a gunship miles above the sky while you watch your team to safety, pepper spraying enemies with heavy machine guns and bombs. It's fun but with the constant commentary, the mission becomes a bore after a short time. One of the best missions is found in the middle of the game, where you are a very well disguised sniper following another sniper through a wooded area, taking our guard post and even laying perfectly still through a patrol of tanks and guards while they walk and roll right around/over you. It's the juice of the game. Don't get me wrong, the single player is something to be played, it's just you'll want more game after it's over, more than ever. It's probably a perfect experience for console gamers, but for some of us PC gamers out there, the game will feel more arcade-y than some of the previous Call of Duty games we're used to. I'd wished they had made the game for PC and ported it to console myself.
Once you beat the game (or if you don't even want to beat it) you can load up the multiplayer, which in my opinion, is the meat and potatoes of the game. It's not only fun and addictive because of the gameplay, it's because the maps are so well put together and the ranking system. It's an amazing unique multiplayer. It's familiar, yet tweaked enough to be entirely new to some. The ranks go to level 55, which would take a good while to get to unless you play for a week straight. For the console owners, you get the option to cash in your level 55 badge for a special badge next to your name, however, sacrificing your rank and guns collected. But hey, that gives you a week more of gameplay to get all that stuff back. Unfortunately, this feature was left out for PC users. Why, I just don't know. The unique thing about the multiplayer is the rewards you get for getting kill streaks. A 3 kill streak will give you a radar scanner for 30 seconds. A 5 kill streak gives you a jet call-in to drop bombs on a selected area. A 6 kill streak gives you a personal helicopter that will just go around blowing everyone away. It's a new take on an old formula. Each gun is customizable in the Create-a-Class mode. You pick your weapons, weapons attachments, grenades, and then your perks. People familiar with Fallout already know what perks are but for those who haven't played one of the best RPG's ever, let me explain. A perk would be something benefiting you during combat. For instance, one perk is the ability to have more health, or have extra clips. There's a good list of perks you get to unlock, giving your multiplayer character it's own special ability. My personal favorite is Martyrdom, which when you die, you drop a grenade. It's the perfect revenge solution to the guy who just knifed you in the back while you were try to get a head shot with your rifle.
Overall, I think Call of Duty 4 is one of the best games of 2007 hands-down. It's a great story, a great multiplayer game, and well worth the money. The guys did a terrific job, yet again.
Verdict: Buy
