We had a reader review for Call of Duty 4 for the Xbox 360 sent in by Fragloser. Good review, so read on my friends…

While call of duty 4 has sort of the same feel as the previous ones, let me tell you to start that it is completely different. Unlike its predecessors, Call of Duty 4 is set in the modern day, instead of the previous three games for the PC which were all set during WWII. I played the beta for COD back in September, and let me tell you, it was amazing. The first three multiplayer levels were great, which led to my anticipation for the game. Here is a breakdown of why COD ended up as such a spectacular game.

Presentation and Graphics: Before seeing the game in person, I thought it was going to end up as a game that had alright graphics that were over hyped in previews of the game. While the graphics aren’t perfect, they are pretty damn near it. The first level of the game puts you on a large ship. When I ran outside, I immediately noticed that there was water splashing over the sides of the boat as it rocked side to side in the violent sea. This was a great touch, as more and more games are focusing on environmental effects, which really take you into the experience of the game. The guns, gunfights and explosions on the first level were amazing, hearing bullets whiz past your head, and lying prone while bullets fly through the thin sheet metal that you just took cover behind. Near the end of the level, the boat starts to tip even more violently, causing water to leak in the boat, which really did look great. The only thing that I didn’t like that much in terms of graphics was that the character models didn’t look very different from one another, but this is only a minor thing, which didn’t change the overall experience of game a lot. The way that they present these graphics, and make use of the technology available really gives this game an edge over similar games in its field, including the previous Call of Duty games. 4.5/5

Sound and Music: Let me start off by saying that this game really does not have any music present throughout the game, but that isn’t exactly a bad thing at all. Throughout the game, the lack of music is made up by using a lot of A.I sounds, which makes the game great. The A.I yell things like “GRENADE”, “RPG”, and “Target neutralized”, which really makes the game very enjoyable. In multiplayer, the lack of music helps you hear enemy footsteps and the direction of shots. In terms of footsteps and shots, having these dialed in so well in a game like this makes you feel as if you were actually in the game, because you can use your ears to aid you. The final touch which I really love in this game would probably be the music when you gain a rank. When you gain a rank online, this hard rock music briefly plays, which really amps you up for getting the next level after that. For those of you worrying about the lack of music, you can always hook up your older Ipods up to your Xbox and stream music that way. However, the game sounds great, and will not bore you with the lack of a soundtrack in any way. 4.25/5

Gameplay: The gameplay in Call of Duty is some of the best gameplay I have experienced since Bioshock. To start, the controls in this game are very solid. The only thing I changed control wise is that I changed my layout to “tactical” instead of “normal”, which switches crouch from B to Right Stick Click, and switches melee to B. During the single player, enemies are very realistic, flanking you when you aren’t covering that area, and easily pinning you down in a hard to get out of spot. The A.I is also very intelligent when it comes to taking cover. In most FPS games, you can predict when the A.I will pop out, but in COD this is not the case. I found myself holding my breath with the M21, only to find that the enemy didn’t pop out like he had before. That touch was a very realistic touch that greatly helped the realism of the game. In terms of multiplayer, the gameplay is definitely ahead of Halo. To test this, I played 3 games of COD online and 3 games of Halo online. When I played Halo, it felt like I was on a slippery surface, and that everything felt like you were really floating around, which I did not like at all. In COD, every move I did on my controller directly translated into what I saw on the screen, which was a huge plus. In addition, climbing up onto objects is a breeze, you just double tap A, once to jump, and again to climb onto/over the object that’s in your way. The only thing that I have problems with is that when Press RB to throw back popup comes up to throw back a grenade, I sometimes end up tossing another grenade in panic, which is not what I wanted to do at all, which is frustrating at times. Overall, the gameplay in this game is very similar to COD3, but with added improvements. 4.75/5

Multiplayer: This is what I purchased this game for. During the beta of this game, I was lucky enough to receive a key to join in on the fun. All the multiplayer maps are a blast to play, except for Bog, which I really dislike. I was also a little disappointed that the boat map was not included in the regular team death match map rotation. In terms of weapons, this game is great. I currently use an M60 with a custom grip for accuracy as my main weapon, a M40A3 as my sniper rifle, and a M16A1 for maps that require a lot of precision. All weapons in this game are fairly realistic, which is a huge bonus in a game like this. A new feature to the COD series in terms of multiplayer was the “perk” system, which everyone was very exited/worried about. In my opinion, the perk system is great. Usually, your first perk is a weapon addition (grenade launcher), RPGs, or a variety of mines (claymores, C4, etc). The second and third perk both relate to your player, with perks such as juggernaut (increase of health), extreme conditioning (sprint farther), and steady aim (increases the accuracy when you fire from the hip). I love the perks, because picking a good class not only involves having a good gun, but also being intelligent while picking your perks for your character. Finally, the maps in the game are amazing. When I heard that there was going to be 16 maps in the game, I was very exited, seeing as Halo only has 9 maps I believe. All 16 of the maps in the game are great, ranging from very grassy areas, to snowy areas, to urban areas. This really gives a great experience and a huge variety when playing online. COD4 has the best multiplayer experience that I have encountered on the Xbox 360 platform. 5/5

Final Word: COD4 is a huge step up from the previous games. Infinity Wards decision to move into the modern day was a great move on their part, as many people are becoming weary of playing WWII shooters, such as MOH Airborne. I would recommend buying this game for the 360 if you love multiplayer, since you can’t get much better than this. The weapon upgrade system, the level system, and the perk system really keep you coming back for more and more, unlike the previous games. This game has a good single player story line, but don’t expect it to live up to Bioshock’s story line, which was phenomenal. In my opinion, this game is one of the best releases, and the development really shows, since this game was released for a lot of platforms.

Written by Fragloser (Chris Stone)

Overall: 4.5/5