Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

War rages on in the fourth edition of Activision's acclaimed war game. For the first time in the series, Call of Duty moves away from WWII to the modern battlefield. Armed with an arsenal of advanced and powerful modern day firepower, players are transported to treacherous hotspots around the globe to take on a rogue enemy group threatening the world. As both U.S Marine and British S.A.S. soldier fighting through an unfolding story full of twists and turns, players use sophisticated technology, superior firepower and coordinated land and air strikes on a battlefield where speed, accuracy and communication are essential to victory. The epic title also delivers an added depth of multiplayer action providing online fans an all-new community of persistence, addictive and customization gameplay. This is a gorgeous game from top to bottom. It runs almost perfectly, with only a few rare framerate hiccups, and offers rich details, great texture work, excellent animations for your allies, awesome particle effects, and some stellar lighting. The sound is equally impressive. Combat is loud. The shouts of your allies, the curses of your enemies, the ominous clink of a grenade falling at your feet, all go to creating an immersive experience. You may well lose yourself in combat, drawn in by the visuals and the sound. This is a technically excellent effort that won't disappoint. Rounding out COD 4's very short list of complaints is the campaign length. On Regular difficulty, you can probably beat COD 4 in 5-6 hours. As you move up towards Veteran, the completion time can get closer to 8-9 hours. Still, it's a very brief experience. At least it's a great one. Once you beat COD 4, you unlock Arcade Mode. This allows you to replay the entire campaign or individual levels with arcade-style rules. You'll have a set number of lives and earn points for different types of kills. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a fantastic game. The single-player experience is easily Infinity Ward's best work to date. Calling it intense may be an understatement. The overall story is standard action movie fare, but the relationships built over the short five hours of play are surprisingly strong. Though the single-player lacks length, the multiplayer should keep you invested in COD 4 for the long winter. This is a truly fantastic multiplayer offering that's as deep as any other online game available.