This changes everything !!!

User Rating: 9 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare PC
This game is largely regarded as one of the best (at times, the best) FPS shooter games ever made. I had reservations about this statement but after having finally completed this infinitely well crafted game, I can somewhat relate to those statements. For this might very well be one of the best shooters ever out in the market.

What is it that works for Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ??? Despite this being discussed a lot, I'll offer my own spin on the same. To start off, the story is not only good, but its relatively easy to follow and understand. Many games (and movies for that matter) would successfully manage alienate the audience by throwing heavy militaristic jargon given the nature of the plot. While Modern Warfare does that, it never overdoes it. The result is that despite playing as multiple characters, alternating locations between missions and going for your routine objective, you understand the bigger picture. This makes the experience all the more engaging and intense especially in the penultimate moments. And while the plot doesn't give much scope for characters, it still serves its purpose for a First Person Shooter and also provides formidable adversaries in Al Asad and Imran Zakhaev who, with their ultranationalist organization, are out on a mission to overthrow the Russian Government and bring it back to its Soviet State.

Gameplay is top notch as usual. The shooting is pretty fluid, weapons and iron sights are smooth and offer a pretty good variety. Grenades, Flashbangs and Smoke Grenades are incredibly useful as well with the ability to throw back enemy grenades a useful welcome. And there are air strikes as well in a couple of levels that prove immensely helpful (although I barely managed to use them only on one level). The missions mostly involve going all out but there are a couple of missions that deviate from the norm, offering air play, shooting from the back of a moving vehicle and in a mission or two, stealth as well. The usual sprint, crouch and prone movements are also available. Not to mention the sniping is simply addictive (I found myself using the sniper in place of the regular MP42s every now and then).

While Modern Warfare is no match for Crysis, another revolutionary shooter that came around the same year, in terms of visuals, it still does a pretty good job nevertheless. The bland look of the original Call Of Duty feels like passe and environments here look suitably damaged with loads of debris lying and flying around. Vehicles and some other objects are destructible as well which makes using them for cover perilous in certain scenarios. Animations, just like gameplay mechanics, are smooth and feel fluid though I wish they'd start showing the legs soon; it really feels awkward to have your character look down and around only to realize that all that there is are the hands.

Music is great for the most part (its much more than the previous games but still not overly done). Voice acting is pretty decent and you have your team comprising of Captain Price and Sergeant Griggs sticking by you almost throughout the single player campaign. Multiplayer, while I've heard is great, is something I sadly can't comment on since there's no one to play so late in the game's cycle.

In a clichéd nutshell, one could go on about praising this game but most of it has pretty much been said before. By now, almost everyone is aware of the greatness of this game and its influence in shaping up modern First Person Shooters - there's no two doubts about that. I'd rather simply add myself to the enormous list of people praising this game by highly recommending it. Even if all you have is the campaign and you're unable to play multiplayer, a game like Modern Warfare is an experience to be experienced. Such playthroughs don't come so often these days.

On now, to Modern Warfare 2 !!!