GAME REVIEW- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

It's great to be able to play PC games again. I haven't done any serious PC gaming since 2005 or so, which was depressing in a sense, since I've always been a PC-gamer more than any other kind. So, after months of work and a lot of cash, I got my new machine.  I installed "Half-Life 2", the standard benchmarking game for my machines and a gem in my collection and then I decided that the first new-gen game to try out would be "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare".

I adored the first "Call of Duty". It's a favorite of mine, which ironically I haven't played since that first time those years back. But it was fast, it was enjoyable, with varying and down-to-earth gameplay, great presentation and amazing WWII atmosphere. I wasn't very pleased with the sequel, mainly because it started stretching the gameplay a bit and embraced some not-so-good FPS standards (namely, the overwhelming number of enemies; wow, Germany must have been HUGE in the day. Maybe Hitler did actually clone his army?). Never got around to playing the third installment; as far as I'm concerned, FPS should be a PC deal. When the first news for the fourth CoD came out, I wasn't thrilled.

I've always been skeptical with modern warfare-focused games. They tend to endorse war and, most notably, US-related war. Hey, no bashing, but nobody likes monopoly (not the board game, James!). I felt weary having a CoD that endorses war and especially in its current state. But I read good reviews afterwards, it was high-end, I was curious (still want to play CoD3 deep down) and even though months late, I wanted to give it a try.

"Call of Duty 4" revolves around a fictional plot taking place in the present or the not-so-distant future. It's not a deep plot; standard stuff, but well-founded. It carries the game just fine all throughout. In few words, it involves Communists, terrorists, Bin Laden knock-offs and nukes. The action shifts between the British S.A.S, led by Captain Price (supposed grandson of the famed WWII captain) and the US Marine Corps. Both attempt to stop madman terrorist and save the world, ending up doing joint operations.

Though the plot carries the game well, I'm uncertain as to what the message is supposed to be. CoD, from its first installment, was fairly anti-war. What made the original game shine was that it managed to intergrade that message in the combat mechanics and actually boosting the gameplay that way. Here things aren't that clear. There are still those lovely quotes about war (and usually how much it sucks) when you die in the game. And you're put in the shoes of somebody who's about to die many times throughout the game, pointing out the harsh reality of it. But on the other hand, the plot it revolves around negates all that. It's a war game, of course, it'll show war. With previous installments, it was clear, because WWII was in the past. It happened, whether good or bad, it's fact. But this fantasy plot has the favorite American evil, the "Commies", involved with nukes no less, whereas there are glaring parallels with real-life situations in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan and even Iran to a point. And while it doesn't take a step toward either direction (and this isn't political in any way), it gets confusing. Are you a hero or a killer? Are the polygons you blow up evil and must be removed?

It's not so much that I wanted the game to be anti-war (though this is were my affiliations stand, if you didn't already know), as I wanted it be clear or at least left open to interpratation. And that's mainly because you do get to feel in the game. Emotions spawned by certain situations. And it doesn't feel good that they are singled out from the whole game, while the rest of the experience feels disconnected, if you understand what I mean.

The gameplay doesn't break away from the series' formula. It's a somewhat lighter tactical shooter. You don't command your team, but you can't go in guns blazing and expect to survive. You have to pick your weapons carefully, make use of environment, peak around corners, take clean shots, throw frags and flashbangs and kill the baddies. Like in CoD2, the enemies are bit too many (in a few occasions constantly re-spawning, a technique I personally loathe), but they are manageable. The mission settings are usually Russia or the Middle East, but with maps and locations that offer enough diversity. The player can carry two weapons at a time (usually a rifle and a gun), as well as flashbangs and frag grenades, every so often adding the mission specific C4 plastic explosive. Though wise use of different weapons can be vital on certain occasions, the large number of SMGs and rifles is rarely justified as most of them make little difference on the game (unfortunate, since they actually do control differently). The standard gameplay is clearing areas of the baddies, but throughout the game there are missions or objectives that offer variety. There are your standard CoD "blow that tank", "shoot down that chopper" and "protect that dude", but you'll also do air-support, escape and sneaking in the game.

Generally, it's all the fun you'd expect from a CoD title. Having said that, it's far from flawless. The mission diversity, though existing, is smaller than it should be. There is too much shooting going on to let driving or escaping shine. A notable detractor in the presentation and the design is that several times it's unclear how you should proceed. Hitting the tab key gives you a list of the mission objectives, highlighting the one in progress, but the actual way to get there is some times a bit shady. For example, there are points where the enemies keep respawning, until you get to a way point.  Other times, you just have to clear the area and then proceed to the waypoint. But the only way to tell which is which is after A LOT of trial-and-error. So, expect to get killed a lot, until you find out how you should handle a situation. 

Another issue is... the... checkpoints. It's no longer something new and I've complained about this since it started, but I WANT MY QUICK SAVES BACK. It irritates me that the standard PC genre can't get a standard PC function, because a game meant for PCs is ported from the consoles. The problem with this is that developers don't always manage to add checkpoints wisely in a level, thus making the game frustrating. Fortunately here it doesn't even border frustration and there are plenty of checkpoints, but control over them can be a but irritating. The game tends to save after a hostile situation has been dealt with, which sounds logical, but in practice the hostile situation can drag and two hits later, you might end up repeating the whole exchange. This is quite noticable when doing the trial-and-error sessions I mentioned earlier.

I also ran across a few bugs involving scripted sequences. It was more than a few times that the game didn't proceed (until I died) or didn't save in a checkpoint, because I had followed a different pathway or my teammates took their sweet time to come to my position (I noticed that some checkpoints didn't occur unless both my team and myself were on a secific waypoint; if I passed it first and then my team followed, the game wouldn't save, throwing me a long way back in case I died later). Another one I ran across (coupled with the checkpoint bug, actually) was in a sneaking mission. Crawling under train (I think it was), my commander and myself were supposed to wait for a couple of sentries to leave before proceeding. The bug kicked in, the sentries never left, but the friendly AI did proceed unseen (despite walking right in front of the enemies). When I tried to follow, I triggered the alarm and got him killed. Second try, the game auto-saved and the sentries left as they were supposed to. Finally, I dealt with several game crashes, though I'm not sure if the game's to blame (my machine's been acting up since I set it up).

The graphics are great, near-excellent. The models are well animated and beautifully detailed, the settings gorgeous, the lighting and effects a real eye-candy. There were the occasional graphic glitches (such as dead bodies passing through walls), but other than that, the game almost excels in the department. The events featuring nukes are so well-presented visually that they send chills down one's spine. All that while the game maintains a great performance level. I ran it on a E8400 with 2 Gigs of RAM and a 8800GT. All graphics set to high and for the whole thing I didn't notice a single performance drop; not a single frame lost (that I could tell, anyway).

Likewise, the sound has also been well-crafted. Personal favorite composer Harry-Gregson Williams (long-time Hollywood composer, with "Metal Gear Solid" also featured in his resume) put together a very fitting score for the game. The sound effects are top-notch too, while following suit are the various voice-overs.

As usual, I didn't try the multiplayer yet. But it matters little. Despite its few shortcomings, "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" is a very solid, very fun game that is worth the purchase (if you can still find any leftover copies on the shelves). Recommended.