GYG Review: "Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare"

[Grant]

Next week's game review a little early for you guys.

Mahalo.

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Platform: Xbox 360
Adjusted Score: 5/5


"War. War never changes."

For fans of the classic Fallout series of RPGs, these words are a hallmark of adventures past, present and future, as well as admonishment of the actions that got them to where the story begins.

But these words also hold weight, depth... meaning. Not only for the millions of soldiers this country has produced in the past hundred years, but also to the hundreds of thousands who've given everything in the sacrifice of their country's ideals and the families that have had to struggle tirelessly forward without their loved ones.

There is a certain futility to war... a sense of hopelessness. As one of the quotes of COD4 says in the many loading screens from death back to life... "Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die." And you need see no more of COD4 than the first 20 minutes to understand how true that really is.

This is not the first review of COD4 I have written... but it IS the only one I wrote that's worth reading. The first review was one I did for Sirius's Level Up, and it focused specifically on the style of the game itself, which I correctly gave very high marks. In truth, that review was obsolete once it passed from the page to the airwaves... because the most important aspect of this game is how accurately it portrays the hopelessness of modern warfare, how futile the methods of argument resolution have been made by the presence of firepower that should never be unleashed.

Call of Duty 4 takes a new tact on the same-old same-old WWII warfare, simply by updating it for current times and current weapons. There has been movement on the Eastern European front, and strife between several former Soviet Bloc countries has resulted in both American and British intervention. Suspicions have been raised that certain Soviet players are trying to sell off salvaged nuclear fuel rods for refinement into weapons of mass destruction... and you are two of the soldiers thrown into the fray. One American Marine, one British S.A.S.

Now, if you approach COD4 as a warfare action title in the same vein as its predecessors, I couldn't exactly blame you. The presentation of this title is really second to none visually. I was particularly struck by how spot-on the sound reproduction was on this title -- COD4 boasts small arms fire that has auditory range, so a nine millimeter sidearm sounds noticeably different when firing than an MP5, and so on. Visually, the game supports hundreds of individually moving models simultaneously, which means no slowdown when facing off against the massive armies of the militias you will fight. All in all, the game looks and sounds amazing... and might just be the best this year in those categories.

The multiplayer element is also very well done, though (and it's no fault of Activision's) it does suffer somewhat from the scores of pottymouthed children that are allowed by their parents to curse at you constantly. Only once have I had to wait for longer than a minute to get into a game, and that's saying something. In addition, the game allows you through the multiplayer element to "level up" your soldier, giving you access to new weaponry and equipment. For once, a multiplayer game that actually rewards multiplayer play -- whoda thunk it.

But for me -- and the reason my previous review earns an A for effort and a D- for failure to show my work -- the real keeper of this title is the campaign mode, where you find yourself winding through a political web of lies and intrigue on your way to... well, not victory, exactly. The truth is, in modern warfare there IS no victory and no winning... and by the end of this title, there's a fair chance you might not be entirely happy with the places your characters end up. I don't believe it's a mistake or a result of faulty scripting, either. I believe it's an acknowledgement by the developers of COD4 that nothing good comes from war. Even the opening credits sequence, told in first-person from the perspective of an exiled president of a Middle Eastern country, is both gripping and heartbreaking at the same time.

From every single angle, I suppose my only gripe about COD4 is that I'd have liked to have seen MORE intrigue in the single-player campaign. Adding in some more political elements into the story to drive home the point that the major players in most modern warfare never leave the boardroom would have given an already great title even more to chew on. Sort of a "Syriana" take on war, if you will.

Despite the fact that I'm giving this game the highest possible rating, I'm still not entirely sure I should have bought the game outright at full price. Despite its many wins, the game still has very sketchy replay value in the single player mode, and I can't help but wonder whether the crowds currently playing it will still be gaming on it six months from now, or if they will jump ship at the first sign of another next-gen shooter. As it stands, after you're done with the campaign, all you'll have left is the multiplayer... and once that dries up, you'll have nothing. But that is truly splitting hairs -- even at $60 full retail, you'll still get months and months of solid replay.

COD4 and The Orange Box are easily my favorite titles of 2007. But where The Orange Box let me loose to have fun, COD4 touched every single emotion, and really taught me something about the nature of war itself.

War.

War never changes.

[D_Litch]

Nicely done brotha!!!

[AZRaiderH8r]

Nice work man!