Call of Duty 4

Ok, I know I haven't posted anything significant in a long time, but I'm planning on getting back into it now. These last few months have been a bit difficult, what with starting college and figuring out a mojor and such, but now that's past me and I'm settling in I can put a little more time in here.

Where to start? Well, how about something based on the blog's namesake. Gaming. I recently purchased Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This was one of my most anticipated titles of the year. I've played quite a few god ones so far this year, many of which I played during my hiatus, including Metroid Prime 3, Halo 3, and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I could go back and look at those games, but I don't want to dwell on the past.

Now, as I said, I have been really looking forward to this game since it was announced. Hell, even before then. Let me explain. When I first got my Xbox 360, it was my first console since the Gamecube, which I will here admit to being a bit of a fanboy for. Never the less, I had grown quite a distaste for World War 2 Games in my gaming career, mainly as all I had experienced really was the Medal of Honor series, which for me was always quite lackluster.

So, when I finally made the decision to get a 360 in addition to a Wii, then called the Revolution, because I was of course going to get anything Nintedo was serving up, there was one game that really made the decision for me. That game was Perfect Dark Zero. So, I walked into my local gamestop and picked up a Xbox 360 premium and the prequel to one of my favorite FPS of all time. While I was there I stopped at the demo unit. The game in was Call of Duty 2. Reluctantly I gave it a try. I was unimpressed. I had always thought these World War 2 games were supposed to be realistic, but here I was regaining my life like in Halo 2 and clipping through dead bodies as I crawled through the desert. And yet, something about it stuck with me.

So, when I took my 360 home and found that PDZ was definitely not very progressive from, or of the same pedigree, as Perfect Dark I immediatly marched back to Gamestop and returned it for Call of Duty 2. And I never looked back. Call of Duty 2 was, for me, an introduction to online gaming and how amazingly fun it could be, and how seamlessly it could be integrated into a game. Coming from my Nintendo Fanboy background I had always shunned online as overrated, but here I finally saw the light.

So, you can imagine my excitement in waiting for Call of Duty 3. I watched all the teasers and trailers, scoured the web daily for new gameplay footage, and drooled over all the new features on display in the online play. Unfortunately, my 360 was stolen that summer, but as soon as I got a new one from insurance my first two games were Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War. And sadly here is where I ran into my problem.

I wasn't sure then if it was the amount I had hyped myself for the game, the mixed bag of reviews I had read, or the fact that I hadn't gotten it at launch, but here I was with a game that felt so foreign and different but not in a good way. And I'm not talking about Gears. Call of Duty 3 was, for all intents and purposes, a great sequel to CoD2 in terms of content. But, and here is the problem, it wasn't fun. The weapons didn't feel right, the physics felt off, and the fun, for me at least, just wasn't there.

This may seem silly from an outside point of view but I still remember this as one of the biggest gaming letdowns of all time. After CoD had been so critically acclaimed and CoD2 so enjoyable to me, the letdown that was CoD3 hit hard. Gears lessened the blow, but I barely even played that online even. For a while there I think I was subconsciously avoiding online multiplayer experiences. I got over it, but it was hard.

I did find what was to blame, in my mind at least, and that was the developer, Treyarch. See, CoD1 and 2 were made by Infinity Ward and the last generation spinoffs Finest Hour and Big Red One were handled by Treyarch, which had been greeted by less positive reviews. So, when it came time for Cod3, rather than force Infinity Ward into another year of deadlines, they passed it off to Treyarch.

And, now looking back, I can't imagine I would want it any other way (unless of course they had just skipped a new CoD last year all together). CoD4:MW is the perfect successor to CoD2 and the rightful heir to the CoD name. It feels so much like CoD2, and yet, ironically like CoD3 before it, adds so much new content to the experience that it brings it to a level of perfection.

Now, maybe this is a bit of an exaggeration. To be honest, when compared to the innovations made by other FPS this year, such as Bioshock's atmosphere, Portal's puzzles, and Halo 3's equipment system and online features, CoD4 starts to look a bit less perfect, but still a groundbreaking experience. It does have fantastic atmosphere that makes you feel like you are in a warzone, it does make you think about solutions to unique problems, and it does innovate greatly with it's class customization system of online gameplay.

But, I can't honestly tell you that it matches up to Bungie's astonishingly rich and diverse online experience. Halo has us a bit spoiled there as Jonathan of Gaming Today puts it in this brilliant article. Link: http://news.filefront.com/editorial-halo-3-has-spoiled-xbox-live-gamers/
I couldn't have put it better myself. Halo 3 will have that title for quite a while it seems.

Some will dock the game for its lack of Co-Op, online or otherwise, its inability to let you bring friends along with you for online multiplayer, and its "moderate" stance on realism. I, on the other hand, will see how perfect the single-player campaign is, realizing now that I have finished it that parts of the narrative would just not work in Co-Op. And Instead I see an online that doesn't drop nearly as much of the beautiful "paint job" to make do with multiple players on one console. And instead I see gameplay that is more accessible and fun than any other "real world" based shooter in recent memory.

The most compelling argument I can give on this point though is that CoD4:MW is much more than the sum of it's parts. It is a gripping, immersive, and challenging single player experience combined with one of the most fun and diverse online offerings on the market which is then all put in the context of clearly refined gameplay. This game really is a must buy in a year of must buys, but I have a feeling that this one stands above most other FPS this year, not because of one singular shining aspect, but because of it's whole.

So, in conclusion, Call of Duty 4 is a near perfect roller coaster ride that combines a great singleplayer campaign and inspired online multiplayer into what has to be one of the most fulfilling titles of the year. I'm so glad that this game was released on multiple formats as well so that so many more people can enjoy it. I can't really recommend this game any more. If you have a PS3, 360, or PC that can run it you should own this game. I give it a 4/4.