An exhilarating, emotional and engaging campaign and a deep multiplayer expirience makes CoD4 an astounding expirience.
Honest to anything you hold holy, I did not expect this game to be good. When I saw previews, I shrugged my shoulders, because for me, it was just another Call of Duty game… "So What?" I said.
Oh, how wrong I was.
This game, is so well done. It's campaign, although it's been called short, I found to be absolutely perfect. In fact, through the course of this game I had forgotten my usual attitude towards shooters and became engrossed in something far greater than just a shooter, or just a war game or what have you. Call of Duty 4, for me, was an experience. It isn't just another game in my collection, but THE game. Coming from a Call of Duty 'hater', for me to say that it is currently the best game I have ever played, is saying something. Believe me.
As I was saying, the campaign is tremendous. Shells going off, nuke threats, the world on the brink of chaos. Joint SAS and Marine operations, great dialogue, ally bots that actually die horrible deaths… God. This game is something else. Indeed, I found this game to be ridiculously exhilarating. I can't count how many times I've developed sweaty palms, and even a slightly sweaty brow whether online or off, running down a hallway to try and disarm the nuke or save a hostage before the plane blows up… When you're playing Call of duty, and shells go off beside your head, causing your character to fall to the ground, forcing your superior officer to pick you up, and come face to face with you telling you to "Man the bloody hell up solider, we gotta move! NOW!" amid mass chaos… You know you're in for something amazing.
Indeed, I was engaged from mission one…It actually provides the sensation of being a solider, in my opinion, and when you see those non-important men die (IE private so-and-so…the guys who randomly come up to provide fire support) and die in unscripted, even I was like. NO! Man down! Before my AI superior officer said so himself. And although the AI can be a bit annoying in that your squad sometimes forces you to move up before they will, I generally had the feeling, for the first time in a long time, that I was far better off, lucky even, to have captain Price lending his arm to my cause… Or, I was lucky enough to be in HIS squad rather. And that's another thing I wanted to comment on. During the campaign, I actually felt like I was part of an elite squad of SAS troops that took no B.S. and I could generally say that I felt attached both in an odd state of 'friendship' (to the extent that I was sucked in to believe I was Soap, or Jackson) and intimidation, with comrades like Price, Gaz, Griggs and so on. On that note then, the game becomes emotional. Over the course of 8 hours of play time, you and your AI squad goes through hell and back, and I honestly felt the whole range of human emotions throughout the course of the campaign. Boy, what an experience.
All in all, as far as the campaign goes, I have never (read: NEVER) played a better single player experience than Call of Duty 4, if only for what the great characters, storytelling, and effects offered. Truth be told, if you let yourself really get into it, I'm sure you'll say the same. Hats off to the developers for their sheer artwork in creating such a brilliant and moving experience as it was.
As far as the multiplayer, I'm sure you've heard how great it is… And indeed, it is. They have a great 'prestige' system which makes it extremely competitive and fun, as well as a whole whack of game modes which put a decidedly different spin on the experience. For me though, where multiplayer REALLY shines, is in the ability to team up with friends and get tactical. It rarely gets better for me than to be able to take cover with my buddies, and yell "Got one! Sniper, top roof, Take cover!" while providing suppressing fire. Honestly, you might realize by now…But I get into my games. And for someone like me, there is no better experience than Call of Duty 4; both online and off.
A Truly wondrous experience, deserves a wonderful score.
10/10. To date, the best game I've ever played, and the only 10 I've given
Written May 20th 2008