At a glance...

Reviewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players
Matt Bailey	PC	Activision	Infinity Ward	1-54 (LAN, Online)
Requirements			Also on...	Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Windows XP/Vista, 2.4GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, nVidia 6600 or Radeon 9800Pro, 8GB HDD space			Xbox 360, PS3	Click here to buy Call of Duty 4.

Call of Duty 4 review

There can be no doubting what a multiplayer success Call of Duty 4 has been. The Xbox 360 version has been popular enough to topple even the mighty Halo 3 on the weekly Xbox Live unique users list. The PlayStation 3 version was actually a perfect port (unlike The Orange Box), and thus it found success on there too. On the PC, however, is where CoD4 feels natural; this is where the series began, and CoD2 has long been a favourite for LANs, even in the office. It's low requirements allowed those cut off by the modern engines to enjoy high quality FPS action, but with CoD3 - developed by Treyarch rather than Infinity Ward - things went a bit wrong. Aside from it being not as good as CoD2 - and certainly not the gameplay step forward it should have been - it was also a console-only release. So, it was good news to PC users when CoD4 was announced for their platform, and it's certainly been worth the wait.

"If at first you don't succeed, call an air-strike" - Unknown

With Infinity Ward back at the helm, things are back on track. Aware that the series has already waded through WWII three times, and that there are so many titles now using that conflict as their source, the developer has taken the Call of Duty series into the modern era. So instead of Allies vs Axis, we have showdowns between two groups, with the SAS and US Marines on one side, and Russian Ultranationalists and soldiers of a fictitious Middle Eastern country. In the single player campaign you take control of characters from the first two, while in multiplayer you'll play as one of all four - the two sides available depending on the map choice. The fact that you only control Western forces in the campaign, and spend most of your time killing foreign fighters could be seen as somewhat xenophobic, especially with the heavy use of military bravado, but the story is focussed on individual soldiers rather than the morals of the conflict, and overall is an entertaining and interesting story. It may be short, clocking in at just a few hours, but it delivers consistent entertainment at the right pace, and is certainly worth pursuing even if you only buy CoD4 for the multiplayer.

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just brave five minutes longer." - Ronald Reagan

So, on to that multiplayer section. As I said at the start, it has become extremely popular, and it's easy to see why. Infinity Ward have taken their successful formula from CoD2 and implemented it here, even using a very similar menu system. It's good, solid, generally lag-free gameplay that's enjoyable to newcomers and veterans alike, and features familiar gametypes from deathmatch to headqurters. On top of the returning gametypes are a bunch of new ones. These include Sabotage, which is similar to Search and Destroy that also returns from CoD2, Domination, where you fight to control flag points, as well as the new Hardcore modes, which see you playing with a limited HUD (no cross-hair, for example), and can be killed much more easily (i.e. It's more realistic).

"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." - Winston Churchill

The main change on the multiplayer front, however, is the introduction of Prestige points. No longer are you simply playing for fun; you're playing to progress. Experience in the battlefield will determine whether you proceed to the next level, with the "XP" itself earned by killing enemies, capturing headquarters, or just being on the victorious side at the end of the game. Why would you care about this? Well, aside from the declaration of your rank to other players on the score screen, the Prestige Points play their part in another of the multiplayer mode's major additions; customisable classes. In CoD2 you could pick a class and choose a weapon, but here your class defines your weapons load-out, with the classes customised on the main menu before you connect, or at the end of a game before the change of map. The names and set up of each custom class is completely down to you, with five slots ready to play with on top of the 5 standard ones like before. You get to choose your own primary and secondary weapons from the ones you've unlocked by progressing through the ranks, with some real treats unlocked after you've put a hefty amount of time into the multiplayer game. You also get to choose three perks that can help you in combat, such as a 'last stand' which lets you continue to fight after you've been taken down, or carry more ammunition for your ever-present rocket launcher. Using weapons also unlocks further additions for that firearm, such as new scopes and camouflage.

"Aim towards the enemy" - Instruction printed on US Rocket Launcher

Possibly the most controversial addition are the features you earn for certain kill streaks. Three frags will earn you, or your team, UAV access on the press of 6, allowing you to spot where the enemies lie (unless they have a UAV jammer). Five will earn you an air-strike, which you again call in on button 6 (it replaces the UAV jammer if you haven't made use of it) and get to choose where to deploy it. While these two have a mostly positive reception, it's the helicopter - earned with seven kills in a row (without dying) - which has brought mixed reactions. Helicopters are deadly, racking up many more points for someone who is already succeeding, and are also quite difficult to take out; rockets do it fairly well, but in multiplayer there are none that lock on. Added to this is the issue that you don't earn anything for actually managing this feat, including no XP unless you're earning the related Achievement. That brings us on to the Achievements, the last major addition to the multiplayer component. Microsoft certainly seems to have started a trend in games of rewarding players for attaining certain objectives outside of normal progress, and these have spilled over beyond Xbox 360 games into PS3 and PC titles too, especially if it's a multi-platform release like CoD4. Here there are a large range of Achievements to earn, from getting so many headshots with a certain weapon to things you wouldn't do normally, like falling down a certain distance and surviving. Obtaining these provides an XP bonus during a match, providing an extra incentive or picking up these awards.

"You cant say civilization don't advance - for in every war, they kill you in a new way." - Will Rogers

That's not to say there aren't issues, mind. Despite all these modern advancements, CoD4 falls behind other recent PC shooters in its community interaction. Though mod support exists and is now being promoted, it doesn't get the same level of commitment that we see from Epic for UT3, in particular. Of a greater concern, however, is the way the game links up with your friends. Or rather, it doesn't at all. There's no friends structure in sight, making it difficult to find games with people you know unless you use an external tool like XFire. In the age of Steam, where you can drop right into the game of someone you know, like on Xbox Live, to have to rely on external tools is annoying to say the least. Even UT3 has a system whereby you can list friends and automatically follow them from game to game. Hopefully something will appear in a future patch, but there's been no sign of it so far.

"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend." - U.S. Army Training Notice

Technically speaking, the game, while capable of running on lower specs than the likes of Crysis, looks consistently impressive. On a high-end system, in particular, with all the settings turned up to full, you can truly appreciate the advances Infinity Ward have made over the engine they used in CoD2. At the heart it's essentially the same technology, but it features the range of effects and other visual tricks that you'd expect from a game released at the end of 2007 on the PC. The characters are particularly detailed, and seem full of life with animation and voice acting to properly display their personalities. The sound effects in general add to an impressive sense of atmosphere, conveying the full force of war.

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." - John F. Kennedy

Ratings

Graphics	It may not reach Crysis levels of detail, but there's a rather impressive package here, and people with lower specs will be pleased by the ability of the game to run on their system.	9/10
Gameplay	It may not reach Crysis levels of detail, but there's a rather impressive package here, and people with lower specs will be pleased by the ability of the game to run on their system.	10/10
Value	The cost is harder to justify for those who are simply looking for single player thrills, but it's worth the investment for multiplayer alone.	8/10
Lifespan	The single player campaign may be short, but the addictive multiplayer will keep you going for months as you go through the ranks.	9/10
Audio	The voice-overs are actually quite good, but it's the sound effects that truly carry the atmosphere of the game.	9/10
Overall	A very fine example of the genre, Call of Duty 4 is setting new benchmarks for multiplayer action, and will likely be being played for many months, even years, to come. It narrowly misses out on a 10 for not being more original, but it's still a near-perfect FPS worthy of a very high 9.	9/10

Click here to buy Call of Duty 4 from Amazon.co.uk.

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