Xbox 360 - Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare Review

I stole that joke from the Simpsons so if you didn't get it blame them. Enough goofing around here because it is time to talk about war. The Call of Duty series has been around for awhile now and it is famous for its realistic take on the World War II era. As good as those previous games were Ubisoft decides take the award winning series in a bold new direction as they to jump ahead to the year 2000 something so you get a whole new take on this aging series. It was a smart move because even though killing Nazis is fun there are just too many WWII themed games out on the market (like Metal of Honor, Hour of Victory, and Bionic Commando). So did the big change pay off or did they make a big mistake?

The game's main single player mode uses a great story where you play the roles both of US or British forces trying to find a Middle Eastern terrorist. The story telling is absolutely incredible as you see an amazing level of detail in the war ravaged environments and sometimes the game throws a curve ball. For example: as you and your team explore a cargo ship you suddenly get attacked and the vessel starts to sink and you have to escape quickly while everything is coming apart around you. It's very tense and that's just one of the early exciting scenes in the game.

The game isn't too difficult on the easily levels but it's still a great chance to learn the controls here. There are always teammates or commanders that will guide you along too so you never feel struck or frustrated. Of course moving this to a modern era (I guess 2007 is modern for now at least) means you have a wider range of more advance weapons and computer Intel that really speed up the game play from the older games in the series. There is even a cool Arcade mode where you can go for the best score on certain maps but you only get a few lives so it's not as easy as it sounds.

Call of Duty 4 doesn't really do anything too groundbreaking in terms of First Person Shooters; it just does it better then everyone else. The graphics are also some of the best you'll see in 2007 with very realistic stages, explosion effects, and great action that rivals a lot of Hollywood movies out there. The music is tense and the voice is very believable plus the new multi-player mode is better then ever with a great range of maps, bonuses for kills, and modes to play plus you may be able to fire off another shot after you were taken out. Yeah, COD 4 is linear and short but there is still a ton of game here for the buck.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare overall rating: 88/100

For 1 to 16 players
Rated (M) for Mature
graphics: 9/19
sound: 9/10
gameplay: 9/10
replay: 10/10

-StarSoldier1 2008
(Ryan Genno)