Wow! Call of Duty 4 really grabs you by the short hairs and doesn’t let go. From the first SAS training mission (that I suspect you’ll go back to again and again to improve your record time) it’s straight on to an assault on a cargo ship being tossed around in the Bering Sea… It’s an awesome start and although the graphics may not blow you away initially, they soon start doing so damn much that you can’t help but become immersed completely by Infinity Ward’s scarily believable contemporary story of the war on terror.
The Call of Duty series has always been a high quality, believable World War 2 FPS, and always did a better job of “doing a Spielberg” (emulating Ryan’s Privates or Band of Brothers) than the series he was supposedly involved in - EA’s Medal of Honor. Well, now war has been dragged screaming right up to date and Call of Duty 4: Advanced Warfare plays more like a Bruckheimer action movie – think The Rock (the movie,not the wrestler) meets Black Hawk Down and you won’t be far from the mark. The game’s presentation is faultless, and atmospheric and rousing music by renowned composer Harry Gregson Williams just puts the cherry on the top of a very well-produced cake.
Something that was brought to the gaming table by GRAW (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter) is CoD4’s major new feature - the ability to shoot (and be shot) through insubstantial cover with certain weapons – a wooden fence or wall is no longer bullet proof, and shootouts are enhanced hugely by this fact - assisted by tons of slick lighting and particle effects, without drops in frame rate or any horrible screen tearing that so many 360 games seem to have. The action is so intense at times that I found myself literally sighing - or gasping even - with relief at the end of some missions – it’s that darned good.
COD4’s campaign isn’t the longest around, but still has too many high points to really pick any out, however the AC-130 gunship mission stunned me, both with its amazing imagery and how violent it felt, despite being relatively remote from the action. Viewed from a thermal (black & white) camera from the circling gunship thousands of feet above the action, this is a very different kind of COD level. Other modern weapons such as the Javelin missile launcher (that kills any armoured vehicle in one hit) well and truly ram home the clinical nature of Modern Warfare. It's a personal thing I'm sure, but most of the other more standard firearms also seem to be more fun to use than WW2 ones CoD fans will be used to.
Halo 3 has barely hit the shelves and already it has a clear and present danger of losing its multiplayer crown. COD4’s multiplayer mode was built from the ground up and it really shows. 16 tight, clever maps with every little nook, cranny and object placed for a reason, and a new feature, tuner-like “Perks” to add RPG-esque experience points to the mix. The more you play the more goodies you unlock, and with Perks you can customize your multiplayer character to suit your own style. Perks include things like the UAV jammer (which allows you to remain invisible on the radar) and ‘extreme condition’ (you can sprint further) as well as weapon upgrades and new game modes. You’ll even get a strafing run in a gunship for a streak of kills! It’s a massively appealing setup that will be popular for ages. Clans will lap it up, die hard "lone wolves" will too.
Naturally enough, mixed in with the fabulous action, visuals and atmosphere there are a few bad boys too. Although the enemy AI is generally believable and highly combative every now and then I’d see something happen that drained away some of the game’s amazing immersive qualities. Guys on your side are frequently invulnerable to bullets and grenades (for obvious plot purposes), but when they ignore enemies that are just six feet away, that then kill you, it can lead to exasperation. Also as you crank up the difficulty to the max, another cheap trick happens, this seems to encourage what is frankly, a ridiculous amount of grenade usage by the enemy. There’s a cheat mode on Halo 3 to make the enemy throw more grenades, and they don’t use as many as COD4’s tangos on ‘Veteran’. This made one particular mission quite comically unfair, and evoked many a swear word from me, and a new military term - “blanket grenading” - may have to enter your vocabulary should you try it. I honestly felt that rather than a being equipped with a sniper rifle and a machine gun, a tennis racquet and a large umbrella would have been more use…
Despite some flaws, and a campaign that maybe should have lasted longer, COD4 is a top drawer game with a multiplayer setup to equal just about anything out there. The fact that it lacks two of my favourite things in a shooter (no, not boobs and beer); usable vehicles and a co-op mode, means it’s not quite a 10 for me, but if you don’t play it, you’ll regret it.
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
