The Call of Duty series, which dominated the world of WWII shooters with its superb graphics, controls, and multiplayer, did the delightfully unexpected when it announced Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360. Modern Warfare gave the gaming world what it so desperately craved from the Call of Duty series: All of the elements that made the previous games great without the WWII backdrop.
Lets start with the negatives. I was happy to see that the Middle Eastern setting was handled very tastefully and I didn't find myself cringing at any overt racism (The opening credits of this game is one of my favorite parts). But I did cringe when I switched to the multiplayer and heard the non-white characters yelling gibberish, which would have been fine if it wasn't so over the top and unnecessary. The unlimited enemy spawns have always been a controversial feature, but one that I never really minded since it did force you to keep moving. However, there were several choke points throughout the game where the amount of enemies made the game almost impossible on the harder difficulties.
The negatives pale in comparison to the positives (there are a lot so I'll try to be brief with each point). The controls are comfortable and intuitive, nothing feels out of place. The story mode was excellent. There was a good span of difficulty and the plot was engaging and surprising, though not remarkably original. The characters were a good mix of gritty and funny, although the token black marine was a little ridiculous. Though each level was linear, I could tell the designers took great care to make sure it didn't feel that way. There were multiple ways to approach each firefight and progress through each level, adding a degree of strategy. The missions ranged from huge firefights to close-quarters combat to stealth missions, adding refreshing variety. The graphics are superb and utilize the system to its fullest potential.
*Ahem*...MULTIPLAYER IS FREAKING AMAZING. Guns are great. Perks are great. Maps are great. Levels are great. Game types are great. This game is worth buying just for the multiplayer. A vast improvement over Call of Duty 3's online, which, in my opinion, was almost unplayable. Prestige mode had me pouring in countless hours and revisiting the game even when Gears of War 2 came out. Maybe, next time we'll get online co-op *sound of my fingers breaking from crossing them so hard*.
Call of Duty 4 represents a bright future for the series. (I am going to pretend that World at War never existed since it was basically a big step backward. I eagerly await Modern Warfare 2.
(9/10)
Media > Games > Xbox 360 > Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare > All Reviews
A Step in an Awesome Direction - 11 July 2009
overall: 9 fun: 9graphics: 10plot: 7
Call of Duty 4 Review by GameSpace - 28 January 2009
overall: 10 fun: 9graphics: 9plot: 10
The Story is fantastic but exceedingly short, but its full of compact action with out ways the short campaign.
MultiPlayer,
The Multilayer is Awesome,the only bad points are that grenade launchers are over powered and the grenade throw to far and can kill any 1 easily spawning with 3 grenades per player is chaotic, but the online its self is always Fun Rankings and leader boards are included every game is a ranked game. win or loose it doesn't matter the game is just fun to play. there are various game types such as domination and death matches to Bomb games,these games require tactical team play and focus, either way weather your running around or playing seriously the game is always a bundle of fun the higher rank you get the better experience u have with new guns and perks.
the perk system is extremely good and effective this is based on rock paper and scissors each player can choose there own settings to there own guns and player abilities this makes the game UNPREDICTABLE making hours of fun game play.
just a personal Review there From GameSpace - Team
- 12 November 2007
overall: 9
The Call of Duty lineup has never been disappointing. In my opinion, the COD games got better and better as time went by. Now, with all of the ideas for World War II shooters achieving cliche status, we see a shift to the modern era of war. Of course, soldiers versus terrorists is pretty cliche too, if you think about it! In the jump to 21st century combat, I feel that Call of Duty 4 has lost some of what made its predecessors so amazing. I don't wish that we could go back to the World War II genre, I just feel that Call of Duty 4 has turned into another Rainbow Six or Conflict: Desert Storm.
The story was exciting, but hard to understand. The plot was riddled with flashbacks and twists that really lose the effect after the twentieth time. Considering that the plot is just a relatively linear distraction anyways, I guess it's not that big a deal.
The campaign is fun (and literally impossible on veteran), including some nice vehicle operation like it always does. I will quickly mention that you can't operate any vehicles in the multiplayer.
The multiplayer is interesting, but the maps all are fairly forgettable. Most are too repetitive in design, taking on redone forms of the campaign levels.
Another problem with the multiplayer is the matchmaking. There are no longer two modes for getting into games. You now get the option to party up with friends, and then you are quickly thrown into a random game. There is no difference between a custom match or ranked match, and you can't see a list of games to choose from. The rankings are more efficient, now allowing a level for wins and overall experience for everything the player has ever done. This experience is used to determine a ranking for each person like Private, Sergeant, etc. This experience is made more dynamic with the addition of 'challenges', which are little mini-achievements that, when completed, will give you a small bonus in experience points.
The main complaint I have about this online system is that everything is affected by how much you play. A player who plays a lot but doesn't have any real talent at the game can easily beat someone who doesn't play as much but is good at the game. This is because all weapons, gear, special attributes, and game modes are unlocked with high experience and level. A player starting out only gets a couple weapons to choose from in the multiplayer, while a player who has played longer will get a giant arsenal to choose from.
It is cool, once you do have all the different weapons and features unlocked, to be able to fully customize your character to be suited to your playing abilities. You can pick options for hundreds of different combinations, from details as small as your gun camoflage to your spawn grenade. It's funny being able to put a scope on my AK47 (even though spraying makes it virtually useless), and I also like being able to choose between dropping a live grenade when I die and actually getting to pull out my pistol and hang on to life just long enough to shoot the guy that killed me. Those little things add spice to the gameplay and make for some fun surprises, but you shouldn't have to unlock them.
Even the challenges, game modes, and a new campaign mode called Arcade Mode (where you get points based on style and speed) require you to play a lot of multiplayer (for the Arcade Mode, you just have to play the whole campaign). I was sad to see the no Capture the Flag on the playlist, and even the new game modes similar to Halo variants don't make up for it. There is a lapse back to Call of Duty 2 multiplayer with the return of the "kill cam" (getting to watch what the enemy player saw as they killed you while waiting to respawn) and the loss of the time counter for the grenade cooking ability.
The graphics, obviously, are the best yet, and there are fewer glitches than ever before.
Overall, I would say that this is a game worthy of your personal collection, but it is not comparable to the other Call of Duty predecessors.
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farmcoolgames - 10/5/2009 (reply)
i agree