Next Level Gaming - Article: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Online:

Online play is a dream with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I will go as far as to say that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is almost flawless when it comes to playing with 15 other players online. There are five default weapons classes which include "Assault", "Special Ops", "Light Machine Gunner", "Demolition" and "Sniper". When you first start out (before ranking up) you will have access to only two of the default classes that are available ("Assault" and "Special Ops"). You can unlock the rest as the play online and gain more experience. After you gain experience you will get higher rankings. One of the coolest things is "Create-A-Class. When this is open you can name and save your own custom classes and access the created classes in multiplayer matches. This will allow you to upgrade your weapons. You can add camo, scopes, silencers, etc. You will also be able to unlock and use really cool items such as "Last Stand" which will have you lying on the ground using your gun before you die. It is a cool little move that will let you get some last second revenge on the one that put a cap in your ass. The camo that you can get is very cool. You can unlock various ones as well as a cool digital camo that blends in with the environment. Ranking up is pretty easy. I have played for about 5 days and I am a Level 29. Much easier then Halo 3. You can also collect experience points from various things (like blowing up vehicles, downing Helicopters, falling into holes, etc...)

Playing online is a great experience. You actually feel like you are deep in a battle with the enemy. You can hear the bullets zip by, the sounds of bombs dropping from above. During the game if you kill 3 enemies you can put up a radar to spot where the enemies are on the map. If you kill 5 enemies in a row you can call in a airstrike to whatever spot on the map you select. If you get 7 kills you can call out a Helicopter. This does some serious damage to the enemy. If you are on the other side and a Helicopter is called in on you and your fellow soldiers you can shoot it down. It is not a very easy task but it can be done. I have pretty much spent a bulk of my online gaming time in Team Deathmatch. I feel it is by far the best mode online. But Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare offers so much more online as well. You can also easily invite your friends who are on your Playstation 3 friends list. I wish Sony would get their stuff together and give us a XMB in-game menu. You can only invite while in the COD4 game.

Here is a list of all of the online modes that you can unlock. As you will see there are a ton of great modes. Old school mode is very cool because you can pick up weapons (like a typical FPS)...

Online Game modes:

Free-for-All: Every man for himself. If you see someone, kill them.
Team Deathmatch: IMO This is the meat and potatoes of COD4. Use teamwork to kill opposing players and reach score limit.
Team Objective: Domination and Search & Destroy. Capture flags in Domination, with respawning. Destroy and defend objectives in Search & Destroy, no respawning.
Team Tactical: Small team Deathmatch and Search & Destroy.
Search and Destroy: Much like Counter-Strike’s bomb planting mode, there are two teams: attackers and defenders. Attackers try to plant a bomb at one of two bomb sites, and defenders try to defend the bomb sites. If explosives are planted, defenders must defuse them. Players only have one respawn per round. A round is over when all players on one team are killed, or when the bomb explodes or is defused.
Headquarters: A radio spawns somewhere on the map. Your goal is to capture the radio for your team. If Team A captures the radio, they must defend it from being destroyed by Team B. Team A will only have one respawn until the radio is destroyed or the max time limit for the radio is reached. Team B will respawn at set intervals. Team A earns points for every second the radio is held. To capture/destroy a radio, you must stand in the area of the radio. The more players, the faster you destroy it. A new radio spawns when time limit is reached or the radio is destroyed.
Domination: There are flags at certain points around the map. All flags start neutral. Teams battle to hold the most flags. Game ends when the time limit is reached, or the score limit is reached.
Sabotage: Similar to Search and Destroy, only the bomb is neutral and there are objectives located in both teams’ bases. Each team’s goal is to take the bomb and blow up the objective in the enemy’s base. The bomb carrier can fire his weapons, but his position will be announced periodically throughout the game. Also, unlike Search and Destroy, players will have unlimited respawns as opposed to just one per round.
Team Hardcore: Hardcore Team Deathmatch and Search and Destroy. Limited HUD, extra bullet damage, friendly fire on.
Old School: Old School TDM and FFA. No classes. Weapons are pickups, health is increased, and jumps are higher.
Old-Core: Old School pick-ups and jumping. Hardcore limited HUD and extra bullet damage. TDM.
Ground War: Big team games-TDM and Domination.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Graphics:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare features some of the best graphics in the whole COD series. I was a big fan of Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360, and I was one of the few that believed that Call of Duty 3 was the best game because of the fact that you could hop into a tank or a jeep and use vehicles. It also looked really good in terms of graphics. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has pretty much raised the bar to a whole new level when it comes to war FPS. The games environments are some of the most beautiful I have seen in a while. Never before has a war-torn town looked so good. One level features apartment buildings that face eachother. The sky has a haze to it and snow is lightly falling from the sky. You can even see the great detail on theground of the snow laying in the grass, but not quite laying on the cement or sidewalks. Another level features rain falling on a small town. There are greenhouses and buildings that are town from bombs. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare just looks amazing. And you really have to see the game on a HD TV. When I do reviews now I usually try it out first on a standard TV and then I transfer my 360 or PS3 over to a 1080p 42" Plasma HDTV. The results are like night and day. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare looks amazing on a HDTV. I know some people have been having problems with a 720p default when they load the game up (it can be fixed.. google it).

While the graphics looks amazing on online mode, the single player mode’s graphics simply shines. From the moment your ass is thrown into the back of that car you will be watching in awe as the graphics look like something you would be watching in a movie theatre. Starting off on the first level in the rain on a large ship in the middle of the ocean will have you almost to the point of being seasick. The boat moves back and forth as the ocean splashes up and the rain falls down. The sky cracks with lightning as you go below the ship taking out enemies. A few levels later you are deep in the dead of night. You break out your night vision goggles and walk around as you see every bit of light and lasers lighting up in neon green. Many things also blow up in the game. You can blow up cars and vehicles. SMoke effects look downright real. The game also stays at a steady framerate and moves smooth as silk. I swear to you... Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare looks downright amazing. Simply amazing. Infinity Ward has not just crossed the line in terms of great next-gen graphics on the Playstation 3.. the took a flying leap over it. Overall Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare looks amazing and beautiful. One of the best-looking, realistic games I have seen in a very long time (if ever)...

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s Music and Sound:

Infinity Ward takes all they have done with Call of Duty 2 and adds more depth and energy to the sound of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The voices in the game are top-notch. You will be hearing a lot of accents in this game... From the sounds of the Russians and the British with their thick accents to the screams and yells of the Jihad soldiers Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has some of the best sounds in a game. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare also features some amazing music as well. I want to add a note about the voice chat as well. While the last Call of Duty (Call of Duty 3) had voice chat online for the Xbox 360, the laystation 3 did NOT have chat. And that really took away from the online gaming experience for the Playstation 3. Infinity Ward did not develop Call of Duty 3 though (neither the PS3 or Xbox 360 version). This time around the Playstation 3 version DOES have online voice chat.

The Bottom Line:

What else can I say... Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is without a doubt the best game I have ever played online. I have never been so addicted to a game. It is like crack, you crave it at work... you will crave it while you sleep... you will even crave it while you are on the subway or on long drive to work. If you buy the PS3 version or the Xbox 360 version you win either way. Infinity Ward has done an amazing job with this game. From the online modes to the looks and feel of the amazing graphics, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has my vote for 2007 Game of the Year. If you own a Playstation 3 or a Xbox 360 system you better be owning this bad-ass game.

Bravo Infinity Ward.