Review: Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360)
We seem to be kind of migrating away from the traditional format of reviews and so I think I'll just go with this one as it flows. Call of Duty 4 is the latest installment from Activision's popular war-based FPS series. Deciding that they've done enough of World War II, they have moved to a modern, current day setting. Rather than fighting around Europe, you'll be shooting people in Generic Middle Eastern Country.
Full review after the jump.
Sitting down to write this review, I realize that I've actually followed along the whole Call of Duty series from the beginning. In fact, the original Call of Duty was one of our first mega-huge giveaways back in the ol' college radio days, since our buddies at Activision had sent us a big box of them rather than just a review copy. And not only have I played along the series the whole way, each one I've played has been on a different system. I played the original on my PC. CoD2: Big Red 1 was on the old (lol huge) Xbox. I played Call of Duty 3 on the Wii last year. And now I've got CoD 4: Modern Warfare on the shiny Xbox 360. And it appears that the Wii didn't hold to the standards they wanted, since #4 didn't come out for it.
The biggest noticeable change in the series is quite obviously the setting. Instead of fighting at real historical events and places such as the Battle of the Bulge, you'll be part of a Special Ops team that is fighting terrorism. The dialog and slang has been updated, you'll see a lot more modern surroundings instead of just rubble and tiny French villas everywhere, and all of your equipment is completely different. This is Modern Warfare after all. Now, I'm not some big gun nut, so I can't rave about all the awesome firepower and such, but even I can see that a laser scope is a much different piece of hardware than anything you'd get back in the 1940s.
You've got fancy night vision goggles and Javelin shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, but other than the equipment updating, this is still solid, fun Call of Duty game play. It is squad-based, but you're just a dude in the squad rather than commanding it. Your AI-controlled teammates are actually useful and not just there for show. Most of the challenge is going to be on you, of course, but they've still got your back most of the time. You might even be surprised that they take some guys out before you get a chance.
The visuals have been cranked up to be something befitting the power of the Xbox 360. This is one of the few types of games where increased focus on realism is important to make the environment of the game feel right. Faces and lip movements are going to be full of uncanny valley for years to come, just by the nature of it, but you won't really be looking at people's faces talking to you very much. So just having passable facial animation here is okay, though I must admit that they do a better job than just passable. But the motion of people walking, running, crouching, and ducking behind cover is very well done.
The audio is great as well. In particular, the the flash and purposeful ghosting on the screen combined with the loud bang and then ringing of a flashbang grenade really gives you a good idea what it might feel light to encounter such a device when it explodes. And your squad leader and mates are always constantly shouting out directions and other helpful information. "Tangos to the left." "Watch your fire, friendlies on your 6." "Room clear, move out." It's actually pretty nice because it can be a bit tricky to know for sure where you're going based on sight alone.
As for game play, if you've played a CoD game before, you know it's a different style of FPS. It's about as opposite from a game like Halo as you can get, but still be a first-person shooter. If you play run'n'gun, spray'n'pray, you'll end up dead'n'red quite frequently. You've got to really take your time and use cover to your advantage. Rely on your squad mates to back you up as you move forward. Know that just because a guy falls on the ground, he's not necessarily not a threat any more. And because your enemies aren't brightly colored aliens, the aren't going to be as easy to see. That's where the new snap-to type of controls come in handy. If you pop the left trigger quickly instead of holding it down to use the sight on your gun, it will automatically center on an enemy if there happens to be one close to your crosshairs. Now, it's not gonna be all "BOOM, HEADSHOT" all the time, but it gives you a good way to quickly focus on a particular target. There's also a nice grenade icon that flashes on your screen that tells you when a grenade has landed near you, in which direction it lies, and if you're likely within the blast radius. You can even run over to it and toss it back, if you're feeling brave or if it happens to land right at your feet.
The single-player campaign gives you plenty of opportunity for combat in lots of different types of missions and settings. You'll be in heavy fire fights, infiltrating tankers, supporting a large squadron from far off with a sniper rifle, etc. Though I have to say that the modern setting of the game gives the singer-player missions a bit too much realism. It's a bit too much like current events sometimes that it's almost kinda creepy.
The online multi-player mode is pretty fun. You still have to be careful and not just run'n'gun. You can choose from different class types to start with different weapons and different, uh, let's call them "bonus feats". You can have bullets that penetrate through thicker walls, you can take a bit more damage than the next guy, and so on. It gives it a bit more variety than previous versions. By getting a succession of kills without dying yourself, you can call in an air strike or get other bonuses. It's also got a weird experience system where you gain access to different weapons and classes as well as the ability to make your own class when you increase your EXP. I say it's weird in the way that you level up. Obviously, you get EXP for killing opponents, but it feels odd when you drop a guy who looks like another human being and you get a big announcement on screen that goes "Congratulations! You've been promoted!" Just something about it doesn't quite sit right with me.
But anyway, Call of Duty 4 is a quality, solid, FPS that is a great addition to the series. If you're a fan of the series, you should really pick it up. If you like FPS games in general but haven't tried CoD yet, why not? It'll give you a different type of experience than other games in the genre.
Score: 4/5 Get it!
What say you?!