They have outdone themselves with a powerful mix of neighbor-waking explosions, gunfire, and orchestral music. And, of course, the sound team at the company has been revered for its work over the years. Aesthetic effects, like a tapestry of laser sights seen through the mist with night-vision goggles, are evident everywhere the entire presentation appears to set a new a benchmark. True to Infinity Ward's pedigree, COD4 is a marvel to look at and runs at a seemingly impossible framerate, even with all the action on screen-and believe me, there's a lot of action. Of course, it doesn't hurt that all this goodness plays out with one of the best visual and aural presentations that we've seen. Every gun has a different set of challenges, as do game modes and other various in-game activities.
Kill 25 people with an M16 and you'll be awarded with an "M16 Marksman" rank. The XP system is also a strong addition, offering XP on a per-kill basis with bonuses for assists, wins, team-related objectives, and challenges that award bonus XP for completing a certain goal. You can only select three from specific sets, but mixing and matching proves to be an amazing way of keeping the action fresh and maintains an element of personalization. In addition to choosing weaponry, players select perks which offer different abilities such as faster reloading or more health. The game's excellent class-based customization and experience system add an interesting dynamic to the mix.
Shipping with 16 maps of varying sizes and 13 different game modes for online play, system link, or four-player splitscreen, COD4 offers one of the more expansive multiplayer offerings yet. AdvertisementĬOD4 follows an increasingly-evident trend in that its true draw is the multiplayer action. Plus, once you beat the game, you'll unlock an arcade mode that's not too different from the campaign meta-game of Halo 3. What really makes the single player compelling though is the sheer relentlessness of the gameplay: the action doesn't stop from beginning to end, and, given how different one player's decisions will be from another, there's quite a bit of variation in play experience. Thankfully, there's incentive to go back and play it again, as Infinity Ward has introduced a "cog tag"-like collection mini-game, scattering 30 enemy intel laptops around the campaign. The single player campaign runs a moderate length (roughly 7 hours) at the normal difficulty, though hardcore players will likely return for the signature Veteran difficulty. In another scene, you'll use the white or black-hot heat sensors of an AC130 gunship to wipe the opposition from the skies. In one, you'll need to make a long-distance sniper shot using an extremely powerful rifle: you have to correct for wind, relative humidity, and the Coriolis effect. While your standard equipment operates more or less the same as its WWII counterparts (grunt-level fighting feels as though it's the old game with a new skin), certain missions really play up the modern setting. The advanced weaponry provides some new gameplay elements. It's a visual treat and serves as a moment's respite before you are thrust back into the unrelenting action. High-tech news feeds and video briefings accompanied by grid-based overlays break down the missions, and the transition between narrative and gameplay is extremely smooth: the map-level overview zooms down directly into battle. The story is now told as a single narrative, rather than a collection of campaigns viewed from different perspectives. The biggest changes from the modernization include a more "contemporary" presentation and some advanced weaponry. This is a game where you want to turn the lights down and the sound up. The feeling of being just a single soldier in an all-out war has never been so prominent you'll feel engulfed by danger in nearly every mission. Taking the established war-game formula into the modern era, COD4 not only successfully maintains the trademark frantic gameplay, but also expands on past efforts with an increase in both scale and scope. There needed to be a big change for Call of Duty to recapture gamers' interest. Call of Duty 3, the Treyarch-led travesty of the otherwise stellar series, took some of the steam out of the franchise, and the World War II gaming niche was overpopulated by the time the game came out. There was a time when the Call of Duty franchise was beginning to look a little stale.