Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

It has taken a couple of iterations by Infinity Ward and Treyarch; but this time Infinity Ward finally got the hit. After several weeks of the Beta back in August and September, Call of Duty 4 has finally come, and for the most part, has stayed in many consoles. The ever-so popular World War II franchise has shifted away from that setting, into a Modern setting. It proves to be a fresh, new, and exciting setting to play in. A good, yet short, single player prepares you for the oh-so addicting and fantastic multiplayer experience, that continues to bring gamers back to the game.

The first thing you will notice about Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is probably the fact it is what it says: Modern Warfare. The trend of World War II games finally stopped, at least, for one game, and now you get to play the very good Call of Duty formula in a Modern setting. The first mission you play in single player introduces you to several major events going on. You begin the game as Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, and you immediately begin by learning how to fire your weapons. Once you pass this training mission, you are introduced to your Captain...Captain Price, who is alongside pretty much throughout the game. The first time you truly get to shoot somebody is in the , where you infiltrate a cargo ship and try to extract some evidence that proves there is a nuclear device onboard.

Throughout the whole game you are introduced to your enemy: Russian ultranationalists and their leader Imran Zakhaev, who is rebelling against his government and seizing nuclear weapons. The whole time you attempt to try and track down this man, and try and stop him from launching nuclear weapons, that would subsequently, begin another World War.

You are also introduced to another character, Sergeant Paul Jackson of the Marine Corps. You will normally alternate between characters for a brief period, and at times will have missions where both the characters from Soap's team and 's team will be involved. While you play as Sgt. Jackson, you are searching for another Russian ultranationalist; Khaled Al-Asad.

One of the biggest gripes about the single player is the fact that it gets repetitive. Most of the missions require you to go to Point A to Point B, and at times you feel like you are just doing the same thing, just packaged differently. This is true for the most part, however, in one mission in an AC-130 gunship. Variety like this makes the single player worth going through, but for the most part, it will get quite repetitive.

With that being said, Call of Duty 4 is a very good looking game overall. The guns, the characters, all animate very well. Buildings look good, explosions, all look the way they should, and packages well into the game. It is certainly not the best looking game out there, but it is far from average. With that being said, it also sounds very well. Your guns all sound the way they should, and the explosions are extremely realistic, you will hear the sounds of the enemy barking out orders, and will be up to you to react to them the best you can.

Continuing on with the single player, it can be quite difficult at times. When you play on the hardest setting, Veteran, you will want to pummel your head into your wall, because at times it is simply impossible, especially the ultra-hard Epilogue: Mile High Club. When you finally get the achievement on the Veteran setting, you will feel like you are best video gamer alive. With that being said, the sheer difficulty is one I don't recommend.

Call of Duty 4 also controls very good. Your grenades are mapped to your bumpers, and to aim you pull back the left trigger, and to shoot, you pull back the right trigger. You have the ability to run, to sprint away from people, or to get into cover, to get the perfect shot to cripple your enemy. The ability to knife people is also satisfying, as it is a one hit kill. As you take damage, your screen will begin to flash red, similar to Gears of War, you need to get out of the action for a few seconds for it to recover, while it does not sound very realistic, it is a pretty good mechanic overall. The single player campaign will run you probably 5-6 hours at the very most on the difficulty, but even more on the Veteran difficulty.

With the quite disappointing single player, opens up the multiplayer. And boy, it delivers it. You have the ability to customize (to an extent), your weapons, and "perks" you have. Perks are basically power ups that can range from more ammo to more health; you acquire these perks by leveling up. You also acquire weapons by leveling up. You can acquire scopes, but they acquire certain goals to be met, which can get surprisingly hard.

You level up by winning matches, killing people, and a whole sort of other things. All of these points accumulate to your level, and the higher you are, the more things open up to you. At a certain level, you can join or create a clan. Even though it is a very basic, it gives you a sense of being more different, and less common. You go through levels 1-55, and then you gain access to the "Prestige Mode." This strips you of all your weapons you unlocked, and perks, but you keep your stats and XP. You get a new icon and you start all over again. You can do this several times.

There are several modes in multiplayer. One is being Team Deathmatch, which is pretty much what it says. Another is Search and Destroy, where you are either defending a specific location or you have a bomb, and need to detonate that location with the bomb. If the bomb is armed, the defending team needs to disarm it, or they will lose the round. There are several modes that either branch off of this, or are branched off the other modes.

Some other ones are considered "Hardcore", which basically means you are stripped off certain things, making it a bit harder to play, but also more challenging, and fun. While playing in a match, you have certain abilities when you hit certain kill streaks. 3 kills in a row is activating a UAV, which gives a location on all of your enemies. 5 kills in a row activates an air strike, hopefully crippling your enemies and adding some kills. 7 kills in a row is a helicopter, which can only be stopped by a rocket launcher.

With all of this being said, there are some gripes with the multiplayer. At times, you may be spawned during a firefight, and will probably end up dying right when you spawn. This also happens when you will spawn right in front of an enemy or behind them, which provides an unfair advantage. At times you will probably be trying to figure out why the fuck this actually happens. This problem springs up almost every match, and it seems like you cannot get around it. Also, the obvious campers and other people are always there, always using such tactics that will probably make you scream into your TV.

Overall, Call of Duty 4 is a very good game. A great multiplayer manages to help out the short and disappointing single player. You will probably spend most of your time on the multiplayer portion; however, going back and playing the single player on the Veteran difficulty could be even more challenging and rewarding than playing the multiplayer portion. At the end of the day, you probably will not be surprised when you have Call of Duty 4 in your console, day in, and day out. The phenomenal multiplayer will have you coming back to level up, and try and get as high as you can in the prestige mode, and trying to unlock each challenge you can. Call of Duty 4 is a solid game all around.