Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Tired of seeing the same old places and same old things from the beaches of Normandy circa 1942? Well Infinity Ward is right there with you. Feeling that their popular World War II franchise is turning a bit stale, they thought they might take a new approach to that oh so tired out series. Ripped straight from the day's headlines, Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare puts you right in the thick of battle as it is today, not as it was 60 some odd years ago. It is arguably the best representation of a modern day war zone that you can play on a console today. The game has dramatic lighting for a truly realistic feel. The audios and visuals poured through this title are awe-inspiring and make you hard pressed to think of a game that delivers them better. Rolled up with excellent gameplay mechanics and implementation, Call of Duty 4 puts you as close as you can possibly get, or want to get, to the real action.

The dev. team has really gone all out with this one. They have poured detail into this game much as you pour water in a glass. And you know how you can fill it so high that it has a little rounded look at the top? Well that is how you can think of level of attention given to detail they have put into this game. That is they used as much of the power available to support little things that they could without overflowing and making a mess of things. The ability that they have shown in being able to harness the raw power available in the PS3 hardware is first of its kind and hopefully a trend setting as well. You will notice everything from the dialogue during combat from your squad mates to the ricochet of bullets off of your cover, to the casting of shadow though out open levels, there truly is no better first person shooter for this console then this one.

So what about the game itself? Aside from boasting a nice multiplayer package, it does have a single player campaign that delivers a satisfaction unparalleled all be it a short one. The combat spins off of two main characters, the first being a British soldier by the codename Soap. Under the lead of Captain Price, you make your way through the equivalent of a tutorial level to teach you the ropes before being thrown right into some shady business upon a boat. After a bit of action as Soap, you then take the role of Jackson, one of America's finest from the USMC. As you would expect, you see many a combat zone with this guy including many times when you find yourself being shot at from all directions. Even though the story here is shorter then most, it does deliver on a level that surpasses any in the genre. It is no cakewalk either. A lot of times you will find yourself pushing upon a dug in enemy to get to some point before some timer runs out. These timed parts can be extremely frustrating. Throw in an unreliable checkpoint restart mechanic and you've got yourself a recipe for throwing controllers, if you are so inclined to do so. At any rate you can't help but feel like you accomplished something when finally do finish the campaign.

Any way you slice it, this is one intense experience. Whether it's storming through a TV broadcasting station, crawling through tall grass between enemy troops, or jumping across a collapsing bridge, this action packed game will fulfill its promise to deliver modern warfare to you and even though the campaign is short, it is still fun and full of great times worth playing through again, perhaps in arcade mode where you are rewarded with points for your efforts. The only snag in the otherwise solid gameplay is the failure of the game to recognize checkpoints, sometimes you have to start a few checkpoints back from where you should have started, of course if you don't die you won't have to worry about that. All in all the game is good and delivers an experience that is "Above and Beyond" what is expected, making it a 9 on my ten point scale. So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a copy!