In the recent years, games such as Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, Day of Defeat and the first Call of Duty games had all slipped into a bland amalgamation of World War II battles that became one big blur of olive and grey. Sure the games had their differences, but they all helped to contribute to the mind numbing and oh so tiring trend of FPS games based on the second Great War. Thankfully, Infinity Ward realized this after the release of Call of Duty 2 and decided to bring something fresh to the franchise and started work to revise the series with the brilliant Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Throughout the game, you will find yourself in the role of two modern day soldiers from two very different parts of the globe. Soap MacTavish is a new recruit for the British Special forces, while Sgt. Paul Jackson is a seasoned roughneck with the United States Marine Corps and although the two teams take on separate storylines during the game, they do cross paths eventually to contribute to the overall premise. The story is told in the opening cut scene, and unravels during loading screens –which makes the level changes feel almost seamless – and through conversations with your teammates while in the thick of battle. As it turns out some not so nice fellows from the Middle East and Russia have teamed up and managed to get a hold of some nuclear weapons. Being the typical terrorists they are, they have no qualms unleashing the weapons upon the United States, much less their own countries and it’s up to the combined strength of the two military forces to put a stop to them by any means necessary – which is fancy talk for killing them.
Once you get laced up and head into the field, each of the twelve levels begin at an insertion point where you will be given a short briefing on the current objective of the mission. If you happen to gaze off at something shiny while being told what to do, have no fear as there will always be a yellow objective marker that will show you where you need to make your way to, or at least, the general direction you should be heading. It may not be the most intuitive compass ever devised, but it’s not nearly as demeaning as having a giant blue arrow showing you the exact turn by turn directions to follow. Some of the objectives aren’t all that clear at first but thankfully the other players in your squad will yell at you – repeatedly - and tell you what to do when you dawdle too long.
In almost every mission, you will have a squad with you to help draw some of the enemy fire you encounter - and let’s not have any doubts here - you are going to encounter a lot of it. Although having a gaggle of soldiers around you is comforting and a savior in the heat of battle, it can sometimes get a little frustrating when they decide to walk directly into your line of fire. There will be more than one time where you be ready to pull a shot off and suddenly find an ally’s enormous melon appear in your scope. Much like the previous Call of Duty games, the gun play requires you to use the sights on your weapons to fire accurately and not using them, firing from the hip as they say, will cause stray shots and your death an obscene amount of times. There are plenty of weapons to use throughout the game and although you don’t get to choose which weapon you want to use at the beginning of each level, you are always equipped with the most suited for the environment or you will pick them up when they are needed.
The gameplay in Modern Warfare is one hell of a rollercoaster ride to say the very least. Mission difficulties go up and down in the blink of an eye. They will start slowly and then ramp up increasingly until you find yourself pinned down in a bottleneck of oncoming enemies. Staying your ground and using cover is the only way to survive these fights – and most of the game for that matter - as well as watching your surroundings and keeping an eye out for the all too familiar grenade icon. Grenades will be showered on you like the enemies are tossing explosive confetti at your wedding and sometimes it just seems ridiculous how many are thrown at you at any given time. The grenade icon that appears on screen is a useful feature at times to warn you there is one nearby, however it would be much better if it indicated what the distance of the grenade was, not just the direction of where it was and if the icon was visible while you have your scope up to your eyeball.
Once you are done with the single player campaign, there is still a lot more in store for you with the multiplayer player aspect of the game. Although there are only a few game modes to choose from, the real treat of multiplayer is the perk system. As you gain points for completing tasks and getting kills, you gain levels. For each level you gain, weapons, accessories and perks become available to you. The higher your level, the more interesting the perks become. Examples of some perks that add to the game play are Last Stand and Martyr. Last Stand allows the player to sit up and take pot shots at the person who killed him, where as the Martyr perk allows the player to drop a live grenade when he is taken out. Although the Perks may seem like everyone will use the same one, you only have three slots to use them and it is a strategy in itself deciding which ones to play with.
Infinity Ward may have taken a chance by modernizing the franchise, but the gamble paid off in spades. The game is one of the most gorgeous available for the 360 to date and the gameplay is absolutely fantastic, although it can be frustratingly difficult at times. Throw in the highly addicting and superb multiplayer to the package and you should be playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for a long time to come.
