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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare First Look

By Brad Shoemaker, GameSpotPosted Oct 10, 2007 5:04 pm PT

The Nintendo DS will get its own version of Activision's mammoth military shooter in November. We took a look.

Call of Duty 4 is currently topping the wish lists of PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC gamers everywhere, but Activision's massively popular shooter franchise is coming to the small screen too--or the dual small screens, to be precise. We got a look at Call of Duty 4 for the DS recently to see how it will relate to its cousin on the consoles and to find out how the controls work on Nintendo's handheld. COD4 on the DS won't follow the storyline of the console game explicitly. Instead, it will happen in parallel, so you'll be visiting the same or similar locations as in the console game, sometimes even encountering the same events that you'll remember if you're also playing the bigger version of the game. For instance, the DS version will open with a ship level just like it does in the main game, but you'll be investigating a different ship from the one on the consoles.

In practice, the game plays much like other recent shooters on the DS. You use the stylus to look around, the D pad to move, and the left shoulder button to fire your weapon. You can access your collected weapons and grenades by tapping icons on the touch screen. You can also bring your weapon up and look down its sights for more precise aim by double-tapping the touch screen. In addition to the run-and-gun core action, you'll get some occasional on-rails action sequences, like manning a mounted machine gun as you buzz enemy positions. The single-player game will include 12 missions. There will also be a four-player, local-only multiplayer mode with such game types as team deathmatch, capture the flag, and hunter/prey, which is sort of a kill-the-man-with-the-ball game. This multiplayer mode will offer nine maps, two of which you can play with a single cartridge through download play.

In the campaign, the game will also have a couple of interesting and surprisingly hectic minigames. One of them is a hacking minigame where you have to rotate a number of tiles around to create connected pathways between a number of nodes on the edges of the grid. The other minigame we saw involved defusing a bomb. We had a limited number of seconds to trace colored wires with the stylus between various connectors on the bomb, and naturally, we had to be pretty spot-on with our tracing to make sure we could disarm the bomb before it blew us to smithereens.

Call of Duty 4 looks like it's shaping up to be a fairly solid shooting experience in DS terms. The developer seems to have crammed quite a bit of action and explosions into Nintendo's scrappy little handheld. The DS game is due out in early November, right alongside the console versions.

52 Comments

  • Loopuze

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 2:33 am PT

    Ok, time to revise my mini-review...the first level is impressive, but fairly standard, I was expecting a fun FPS. But the 2nd level, this incredibly intense on-rails tank-gunner sequence...oh,...my....god...I had headphones, turned off the lights, and I comepletely forgot I was playing on my DS...I didn't think this kind of thing was even possible on the DS, I mean, this really raises the bar, to be honest. Helicopters, explosions, all in gorgeous, gorgeous fully-modeled 3D....oh, yes, it is a thing to behold. Most impressive DS achievement I've seen since Phantom Hourglass. Ok, I'm gushing, sorry, but, really, it IS freaking cool. So check it out

  • BrandonAkey

    Posted Nov 6, 2007 9:53 am PT

    wow... so many comments on 'scrappy' and its not even a bad thing.
    learn how to read please... Scrappy is a complement.

    about the game, I REALLY have high hopes for it, the DS needs WAY more games like this

  • krystians

    Posted Oct 31, 2007 11:48 am PT

    This game better be sweet. I need a new game ever since I have finished PH. I still think they should make Goldeneye 007 remake on the DS. But till then I will just keep hoping this one get a good review. If not then I will get myself MK:3 for the DS... or is it 4.... i forgot.

  • AL13NK1LL3R

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 6:24 pm PT

    if it online on ds then i'll get it so if i go somewhere then i'll play this and at home i'll play on 360... swweett!!

  • pokemon_rox

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 5:27 pm PT

    sounds good... as long as it doesn't end up like Golden Eye --YUCK!!--
    if they put at least half the time into it that was put into MP: Hunters, it will undoubedebly be a good game

  • bunyipbrown

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 5:03 pm PT

    Yeah, FPS' work amazingly well for the DS. Just as good as a mouse. Although a bit cramped, none the less still very good.

  • sonic_rusher

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 8:45 pm PT

    Is this online because I am getting contradicting info?

  • M1X

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 10:07 am PT

    Gonna buy it on the release if it gets good reviews... This over mario party...

  • Raiko101

    Posted Oct 20, 2007 6:41 pm PT

    I always rest the DS on my leg as not to put weight on the hand holding the DS. Thus I avoid cramping.

  • CRAZYCAM_93

    Posted Oct 20, 2007 6:12 am PT

    Good to hear the levels are different than the console versions. I will probobaly buy this game. The DS was made for FPS's!

  • smiggles116

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 1:56 pm PT

    I think this idea of porting Call of Duty 4 over to the DS is both daring and awesome. I am a huge fan of shooters, and I love my DS. If this game dose everything it's trying to do right, I will be hooked.

  • keebthesquee

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 12:46 am PT

    Scrappy?????? 0_o vat zee $%^& ........ at least it's not useless like the psp.

  • keebthesquee

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 12:42 am PT

    man.....why can't they understand that the best button configurations were that of metroid prime: hunters. or maybe its just me...but i don't like using the stylus to be pointing everywhere...... -__-

  • juggleballz

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:51 pm PT

    To SUCHAFOOL:

    Hey man where did you get that game grip? And which one? I have been checking them out and I want to get one as MP: H killed my hands. Cheers

  • Ba0ng89

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:36 pm PT

    Yea i know ive bought one b4 too, its pretty useful but it gets slippery later on though..

  • suchafool

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:33 am PT

    Metroid gave me hand cramps too, but I bought one of those 'game grip' things (looks like a ps2 pad with a hole in the middle for your DS)... problem solved. Now I'm pretty good at online Metroid!

  • DiscoBurn

    Posted Oct 14, 2007 7:11 pm PT

    After a solid hour or two of MP:H, I stopped getting any hand cramps...so assuming the controls are anything like MP:H, this should be a solid title. However, I doubt I'll be hyping this one for a while.

  • WiseGamgee

    Posted Oct 14, 2007 11:22 am PT

    scrappy just means that it punches above its weight, it's a compliment!

  • noudontidort

    Posted Oct 13, 2007 6:15 pm PT

    That control scheme = major handcramps. I won't be playing this.

  • checampbell

    Posted Oct 13, 2007 10:21 am PT

    sorry guys i love my ds to bits, but even although this looks like a genuine effort the poor little thing just can't handle an fps

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