1 post tagged “cod4”

I started playing Call of Duty 4 a little while before the launch, I was lucky to get into the Beta with a few friends and we had a hoot playing. The multiplayer action was fast and furious, but more importantly to me, rewarding on the long term basis. When the game finally hit the market I was excited to play the single player campaign as well, as Call of Duty has some great immersive environments and is always exciting to participate in the grand scale battles. Infinity Ward did not disappoint, as both the single and multiplayer aspects of the game are fantastic.

I originally picked up an Xbox360 version of the game; the same few friends in the beta had all vowed to play regularly. We were online nightly for several weeks, but interest waned a bit and some dropped off the bandwagon. Though I stuck through I found myself getting frustrated by the controller (CoD4 and Halo3 being the two big shooters I've played on a console in a long time) and wanted to switch to the PC version. After some hardware updating and a lucky sale at a local retailer, I had picked up COD4 for PC (at $30!) and was ready to start playing again.

The multiplayer experience is a blast. The few problems exist solely in the explosives; and some will argue that point. Being able to shell out 3 Stun/Flash grenades, a Frag grenade, then drop another Frag when you die is a bit much in my books. However even when you die, its only a few seconds and you're back in the game.

The game employs a ranking system, when you kill an enemy, complete objectives or win a match you receive experience which goes towards your next rank. Every rank unlocks some new goodies, be it guns or parts or even skills that can provide more health, better stamina, extra grenades to name a few. These skills stick with your character forever (much like a role playing game) - extra skills like UAV Radar, airstrikes and assault helicopters are available when on a kill streak in a round.

The few things I noticed that differ between 360 and PC versions: the PC servers accomodate a lot more players! This can be an even more frantic gameplay, especially on Free For All servers. I perfer the 32 players myself, even 16 players is nice from time to time. However the extra accuracy from having the mouse instead of the gamepad is much preferred in my opinion.

The singleplayer campaign, clocks in at around 10 hours, is not a long game but has that classic COD feel, the Chernobyl sniper mission being one of the best examples of the game's immersive feel. Unfortunately the game still uses the "Bad Guy Portals" that tend to spit out enemies until you've reached a specific area or accomplished an objective. When you watch 50 terrorists run out of an alley that ends 10 feet down as a dead end, you wonder what kind of technology is really working under the sand!

That being said, Call of Duty 4 is one of the best games I played in 2007 and continue to play in 2008. With a Game of the Year edition coming out soon, I suggest if you haven't picked it up yet, that you do so!

Overall Score: 90%

Pros: Great Visuals and Sounds. Lasting Multiplayer, Immersive Singleplayer

Cons: Grenade Spam, Short Singleplayer