Developer: Infinity Ward,
Platform: PC
Release Year: 2007
Stephen's Rating: 6/10
As a general rule, I have a pretty harsh perception of the overdone "war" themed first person shooter, so I'll try and keep my cynicism to a minimum.
Basic Plot
There is a single player campaign in which the player takes on multiple different characters who follow parallel story arcs which intercept at various moments. The stories don't happen in the same time period, with one arc going back many decades to explain some of the pre-story that leads up to the events taking place in the game.
Without going into too much detail the story revolves around a Russian extremist group who have access to nuclear weaponry and are hoping to revert Russia back to the communist era. Both the British and American military become involved, and the story also takes the player to the Middle East where the Russian leader Imran Zakhaev has incited a rebellion in order to take the focus away from his own activities.
Gameplay
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a classic first person shooter. The player is able to collect different weapons and items during gameplay and uses them to defeat enemies from a first person perspective.
Players are able to use different stances such as run, walk, crouch, and prone to move through the game. There are also achievements for meeting certain criteria. Unlike earlier first person shooters like Counter-Strike the player doesn't have "health" but instead can take a certain amount of damage within a certain time frame. If he or she survives beyond that, they will effectively return back to "full health". This means the game is focused more around doing enough damage to kill an opponent within a certain time frame. It's good because it allows players to survive longer and participate more in multiplayer games and not have to worry about finding "health kits" in the campaign.
The game uses a HUD (heads up display) to help the player identify objectives or enemies.
The single player campaign uses scripted cut sequences to tell the story and also crosses between different characters.
Positives
I like that they used multiple story arcs. I think for a game, this narrative can work quite well. I think all and all the story was well constructed.
The weapons and the game mechanics were crisp and enjoyable to play in.
Multiplayer was a lot of fun. We played one full-on weekend of deathmatch where four of us pretty much played non-stop. The gameplay provides an exciting and tense atmosphere to play in.
Negatives
In saying that I like the narrative I also found it quite disruptive. I never felt like I had "become" any of the characters which I think at its essence is what a first person shooter is all about.
Despite mostly liking the story form, the content is something I find a giant "yawn" and a backward step in the grand scheme of stories. The concept of the heroic American or British forces against the backward and evil Russian and Middle Eastern terrorists is overdone and unnecessary. Why couldn't the terrorists have been American? The obvious answer is that the game was marketted primarily at young Western males, but I think as much as a game should be moulded to suit the target audience, the target audience's expectations are moulded by the games available. I think game players can handle a lot more variation and difference than a publishing company might expect. As long as the game mechanics are sound and fun, there's plenty of flexibility in terms of the content of a game's story.
Memorable Moments
I have one but it's too naughty to talk about.
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