Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

I have to say, although I loved Call Of Duty 2 and 3, I had my reservations about 4. Primarily because I love World War Two first-person shooters, and modern-day combat doesn't really float my boat quite as much.

But, given all the good words I heard about it, and the fuckton of awards it sucked in like a bulimic at a cake factory, I could put it off no longer. And I have to admit, I had started to get "the itch" - the little voice saying "Go on, try it, you know you want to".

And as I saw it in a bargain bin at my local Gamestation, rather incredulously for £20 - I think someone screwed up there - I had to dive in. And you know what? I am so glad that I did.

I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can, because it actually has a really good storyline, and I don't want to spoil that if you haven't played it yet.

Call Of Duty 4 is set in the present day, and allows you to play as - as is the Call Of Duty tradition - multiple protagonists, including Sergeant "Soap" McTavish of the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, and USMC 1st Force Recon Sergeant Paul Jackson.

The plot centres around a Russian ultranationalist, Imran Zakhaev, who has been collecting materials for nuclear warheads from the site of Chernobyl over the last 20 years, and now has what weaponry and rogue military force he needs to stage a bloody revolt against the incumbent Russian Government - whom he feels have prostituted the once great nation to the West, and that he should return Russia to its former glory. As part of his plan, he also enlists the help of his ally, Khaled Al-Asad, whom he encourages to stage a coup d'etat in the Middle East and execute President Yasir Al-Fulani on national television (to distract all attention away from the uprising in Russia).

These are Russians. But they are BAD Russians, not GOOD Russians (who are presumably all the Russians who are not actively engaged in shooting your ass off)

However, the British and U.S Governments discover the plan, and act to stop any escalations. McTavish is sent to Russia with the S.A.S., and Jackson to the Middle East with a significantly larger force of Marines.

The story follows both, and switches back and forth as it progresses. Now, it has to be said, to set any game in a modern time will be a headache - someone has to be the bad guy, and whoever you choose, someone is going to resent it. Whilst it is probably not ideal that half the "opposing force" is from the Middle East, to Infinity Ward's credit at least they have tried to show that Al-Asad is anti-establishment, and also to prepared to kill his own people. And the same applies for the Russians - the military forces are "rogue" and not officially sanctioned. Thin, I know, but given current political tensions, it was always going to be a tough call. I think Infinity Ward have done a reasonably good job of getting around it. Although, I can't deny that I did occasionally feel uncomfortable playing as Jackson, fighting in the Middle East. Sometimes I felt like I was playing a U.S. Military sanctioned piece of propaganda, but the story would keep coming in to break that bubble. Just. Anyway, the story, on its own merits, is cracking, and engaging, and almost has a Bond feel to it. And, unusually for a war story, it is also emotional - there were a number of times I felt sadness, and even a lump in my throat. And I am a manly man. Wow.

The visuals within the game are, simply put, breathtaking in places. There is no doubt that this game, even though I say it about others, really is pushing the 360, and making it work for its money. And work it does, very well. The use of lighting and mapping creates a wonderfully immersive, living and breathing world. And testament to its absorbing reality, not once was I confronted with a schlumpy texture that pulled me out of the illusion. Sure, not every texture is high resolution, but the textures have been balanced exceptionally well, so that what needs to look good does, and what doesn't need to look that good doesn't, and you hardly mind or notice. The game uses an entrancing depth-of-field effect that is both understated and ultra-effective. Character models look great, both near and far, and lighting and atmospherics are mesmerising. From a cargo ship on a stormy tumultuous ocean to dust-blown Middle Eastern streets, everything just works

Visuals in the game are simply gorgeous, and suck you in, totally. Like a hoover, or some other sucking device. That sucks.

Audio is also top-notch, with a fitting score that blends in and never becomes obtrusive. I didn't feel compelled to turn the music off at all in-game, which I usually do. Voice acting is very high-quality and blends seamlessly, and weapons effects have the perfect kick and punch. Some audio cues are taken straight from previous Call Of Duty titles, such as the frag explosions and ricochet sounds, but that's fine by me. Also, some voice actors who you may have some to know in Call Of Duty 2 make a return, as new characters. But that's no different to Halo's inimitable marines, and it works just fine. Although, amusingly, I am certain that one of the actors providing voices for the Middle-Eastern insurgents is one who provided a German NPC voice in Call Of Duty 3. Now THAT is talented :)

Animation is what I can only describe as, pretty much, the best I have seen in a game so far. NPC's animate realisitcally, thanks to a ridiculous amount of motion-capture, and transitions from state to state are pretty much seamless. If you hit an enemy, he will react accordingly in a mixture or realistic key-framed animation and rag-doll physics. However, if you hit him again, his animations will change to take account of the new bullet impact. That is just awesome.

Yes, dudes actually look this real. And they animate as good as they look. They's got the looks AND the moves. Oorah!

Cutscenes are provided, for the most part, while loading new levels, and are a joy to watch, a mixture of regular animation and hi-tech wire-frame overpasses mixed with informational pop-ups, and actually make you feel that perhaps you are part of the cutscene, or recalling information on the subject on-screen whilst you watch it.

Gameplay is hard to fault. Movement and flow are very well designed, and play is a nice mixture of linear with a degree of variability as to how you get to your next checkpoint, giving the player a nice feeling of freedom and empowerment. Weapons handling is almost flawless, with the exception of the Russian rocket launcher, which, no matter how you aim it, will throw a dose of pointy death straight at the target up until about 100 metres, when the rocket will just basically veer upwards and piss off across the horizon altogether. I gave up using them, for the most part, and I couldn't hit shit with it. That aside, gunplay and gameplay are thrilling, often tense, and the action is pretty much non-stop. There are no boss battles, and no ridiculous sweeps in the difficulty curve. I'm looking at YOU, BLACK.

AI, for the most part, is very good, although your allies do have that habit of standing right where you are pointing your chosen delivery tube of pointy fast death. But then, we kind of expect that nowadays. Enemy AI is still from the "stand out in the open and shoot" side of the family, but is clever enough when near cover to use it, sort of, and to not appear quite so dumb.

Someone should tell these Marines that the Wendy's they are storming towards en masse to feed their high-fat diet just isn't there. None of that in Nonspecificistan, you know

So all in all, we have a thoroughly engaging plot, moisture-inducing visuals, and kick-ass audio, all mixed with non-stop action and addictive gameplay. But many have criticised the length of the single-player campaign (which is all I am reviewing here, as multiplayer does not really interest me). Now, some have said five hours. On my play through, I would say about ten, but then I like to creep about and act all Navy-Seal and peek round corners, check all rooms, reconnoitre. But however you play, it is short, for a modern game.

Now, see, if you like your multiplayer, that's not so bad, as it could be argued that the single-player campaign is secondary to what many are saying is a great multiplayer package. But, there are lots of gamers like me who are more interested in the solo campaign and not so much in multiplayer. However, for gamers like me, the saving grace is that because the action is non-stop, then when you want to replay or pop in for a quick session, you can start just about anywhere. Unlike most titles, where you may replay two or three of your favourite levels (what I call "Assault On The Control Room" type levels), in Call Of Duty 4 almost every level is replayable. So you could kill a pleasant few hours replaying levels, earning achievements you missed, and so on. And don't forget that if you ramp up the difficulty, boy will you lengthen your play time.

To wrap up, here's a few points of interest you might find interesting about the game.

* Unlike many games, it has an actual cheat mode menu. Some are cheats, but most are fun enhancements, like playing in black and white, or making the screen image a negative. And one, which I shall leave for your discovery, is without a doubt the funniest thing I have ever seen in a videogame, ever, bar none.

* The voice of Captain Price may be recognizeable to players in the UK - that of Billy Murray, who played D.S. Don Beech in ITV's The Bill. Oh, and apparently, some bloke in Eastenders. But I have no idea, you'll have to ask your girlfriends about that. Unless you know because they make you suffer it, in which case I have felt that pain. Anyway, it was quite jarring at first, and didn't fit, but after a while, you think "hey, I'm being ordered about by Don Beech, awesome!"

* The one thing that would have added even more awesomesauce to the game would have been the "aim and lean" mechanic from Medal Of Honor: Airborne. Many people underrate that mechanic, but I think it is an incredible tool - once you have used it to pop and stop, or poke around corners in Airborne, it seems hard to go back to playing a game where you have to move out into the open to get a shot at a bad guy. Just my two cents.

* If you enjoyed BLACK on the original Xbox (or now on Xbox Originals) you will like this game. Many times when playing as "Soap" McTavish, I found myself walking through Russian woodland, humming themes from the BLACK soundtrack. If you strung levels from BLACK and Russian levels from Call Of Duty 4 together, they would probably fit quite well. One can only hope that the rumored next-gen (i.e. curent-gen) incarnation of BLACK turns out as good as this game.

* It is vastly amusing that even Captain Price thinks that "Soap" McTavish is a ridiculous name, saying at the start "Soap? What kind of a name is that?". LOL.

So yes, I love it. I am pleased that I spent the money on it (well, especially as it was maybe mis-labelled as too cheap - heh), but it is a game that I could thoroughly recommend you pay £39 for. Trust me.

dogsounds' verdict - just fucking go and buy it. Even Zero Punctuation liked it. The shortness of the campaign takes it down to a 4 and a smidge stars out of 5.. Oorah!