For me, COD4 was one of my most eagerly awaited games, having completed all the previous games in the series.
COD4 is the first in the series to step away from the World War II story line, instead picking up on a fictitious story line based on current day events and weapons. This is a refreshing change as after three episodes already, there’s very little you can really do with the same war.
You follow the story of two soldiers, one a new member of the British SAS, the other a US Marine. Starting with a relatively short training session, which the game uses to work out what level of gamer you are.
I don’t want to talk too much about the games story line as I believe this would spoil it, the game is very short in comparison to other games released recently, in-fact, you’ll probably complete it in around 5 - 6 hours (I did!), but that 6 hours is the most adrenaline filled 6 hours you could ever imagine. With some fantastic maps, at one point you are sent back in time and play as your Sargent when he a new recruit.
Of course, its always possible to change the difficulty, but this doesn’t really change the game, just makes the enemy a bit more deadly.
One of the biggest areas of COD4 is its multi-player section, where there is regularly 15,000 + servers online, with the PC version. This allows you to play against others in some of the scenes from the single player mode. However, some servers allow up to 50 people to be online at a time, which can lead to some great battles. Unlike COD3, don’t expect to find a little hiding place to sit for an hour sniping people, it just doesn’t happen, with so many people and so many bullets flying all over the place, its almost impossible to stay alive for a prolonged time. Which I think adds to the fun. The new game types really work too, losing capture the flag from COD3, this has been replaced by games like sabotage where there’s one bomb and each team has an area to defend, or headquarters, where an HQ pops up somewhere on the map and you have to fight to claim that HQ.
The multi-player also has a ranking system based on the points you pickup in the game, there’s 55 rank levels to get through and at each level, new guns and accessories are unlocked. So there’s a real reason to keep playing.
As for graphics, I personally believe COD4 has one up on Crysis, while still managing very smooth frame rates. The game is very well designed, with areas ranging from a bog to an oil refinery. Although, you’ll never really get lost in the game as theres only ever one route to take.
This stands as my favorite game of all time, taking the place of its sibling. The single player mode is a bit on the short side, which is the only let down, in what has to be one of the best games developed to date. COD5 anyone?
Its a 9.5 out of 10 for this one!
Recent Comments