Game review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

The latest in the excellent series brings the setting forward from the arguably tired World War II backdrop to the modern day, and this incarnation is the best yet.

I am still feeling an immense buzz from my latest game of multiplayer Call of Duty 4, one that easily matches those given by Battlefield or Counter-Strike when they were fresh. The frantic fire-fights coupled with the rank-climbing and unlocks make this the most addictive online shooter I’ve played. It may seem unorthodox for this review to focus on multiplayer first, but despite the awesome campaign it is far and away the star of the show, which is a breath of fresh air compared to the excuses for multiplayer usually tacked onto shooters at the last minute.

The single-player campaign is very short (I ran through it in about six hours) but so tight and enjoyable that you won’t feel short changed. There is a commendable amount of variation throughout (which couldn’t have been truly said for its predecessors), meaning that different styles of electronic music fit different missions.

For example, drum ‘n’ bass or breakcore seemed to enhance the action-packed skirmishes, while I’d go as far as to say that ambient music matched the tension of levels such as the chilling Prypiat sniper mission.

The graphics and environments are visual pleasure at its finest, the realism and polish further showing how much love has gone into this product. Missions are cinematic and brilliant (if still teetering on complete linearity) and combat, online and off, rarely fails to be intense and overwhelming.

Call of Duty 4 has taken me by surprise. Instead of the merely good single-player romp I was expecting, I was treated to a fabulous campaign and the finest multiplayer action currently available to boot.

10/10