War - it's fantastic!

War is a horrible thing – it causes suffering, death and profit for the American arms industry. Wars are pointless and unnecessary yet they have existed since humans figured killing one another is a good way to resolve disputes. And something that is so deeply rooted in the human history must be a good topic for video games; although that statement is risky *cough* prostitution *cough*
During the early years of the 21th century (damn, this looks really serious ) a boom for World War 2 (in English everything looks like a movie title) began and many developers wanted a piece of the money pie baked on the success of Medal of Honor.
One of those companies was Infinity Ward that made a PC exclusive FPS set during the WWII – Call of Duty. The game quickly became a great hit thanks to the great graphics and an unparalleled atmosphere of arms conflict.
Infinity Ward was also the creators of Call of Duty 2 which was released on PC and Xbox 360 as one of its launch title. About a year later Treyarch released Call of Duty 3 (both IW and Treyarch work under the banner of Activision). Both games were excellent WWII shooters with the same intense combat introduced in the first title. There were also many spinoffs created for the previous generation of consoles, but none of them was as good as the main series.

A surprise came when Infinity Ward announced Call of Duty 4 – the first game in the franchise to be set in modern days. Many people were disappointed, myself included, but once first screenshots and gameplay movies were revealed all that disappointment transformed into awe.

Let me tell you this. This game is still undoubtedly Call of Duty. It features the same frantic, exhilarating shooting to the evil, gun wielding bastards that want to dominate the world.
The only difference is that now those above mentioned bastards are not Nazis anymore but a Russian/Middle Eastern mix of asshole with an appetite for nuclear weapons. I guess this is the only problem I see with the game. The plot is so predictable it hurts me in the joints.
Still, Call of Duty 4 is same game that makes you feel man enough to chew on explosives and piss out ammunition after beating it on the highest difficulty setting. And it’s the same experience that makes you want to jump from tall buildings after being killed in the same place for the God-only-knows-how-many times.
Fortunately this time around there is a lot more variety in the missions. You’ll get to go on a stealth execution missions (with one including a huge, bad-ass sniper rifle), bomb enemies from a plane or use a copter-mounted cannon. All the levels are memorable with a few being the most atmospheric I’ve seen in any video game.
There is a level in Prypiat, a Ukrainian town outside Chernobyl that after the reactor disaster was deserted by the inhabitants. Calling it a ghost town would be a serious understatement. You follow your commander through the town avoiding the enemies that are stationed there. You both wear ghillie suits and carry silenced weapons. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let me tell you this. If I would have to choose the best moment or mission in video games that would be it.
Most of the missions are still the run, hide and gun types and those also deliver. You’ll get to feel the chaos and deafening cacophony of war – bullets flying millimeters away from your skull, the grenade explosions that squeeze your stomach and roar of fighter jets flying over your head. It’s all there and it’s more realistic and dense than ever.
The incredible feeling is induced by two major (at least for this game) factors – graphics and sound.
This game is a graphical marvel. Textures, lighting and shadows, character models, and foliage are all incredibly well done making the game look nearly photorealistic. This is a game that will poke your eyes out with it’s well-modeled , pointy fingers The character animation is also life-like which only adds to the fantastic look. And if I add that it runs in steady 60fps (on consoles, won’t comment on the PC version, but let me assure you that you need a powerful machine to make it run and look as good as on PS3/X360) … Just can’t find the words.
Sound is top-notch as well. With the right surround system your guts with twist like an electric eel in how oil. You can evict your neighbors with the explosions and you’ll need arrange a visit with your dentists to rebuild your teeth because you’ll grit them listening to the sounds of ricocheting bullets.
The score was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams which we all know and love. You can’ go wrong with that guy when you’ll need music for anything about war.

Call of Duty’s presentation is a league of its own. The cut-scenes before missions are dynamic and well directed and have a unique approach.
CoD series was criticized for being too scripted. This game is no different – the scripted events are frequent and plentiful, but when it comes to this game I really disagree it’s a problem. It might hurt the replay value to some degree, but it’s nothing to really worry about. It’s like with a good movie you know – there won’t be any changes when you watch it a second or a tenth time, but you still enjoy it. When it comes to gameplay there are no major differences between Modern Warfare and previous games excluding one – shooting though objects. Just like in real life the bullets won’t stop on thin or fragile obstacles. You are able to shoot through wooden planks and plaster walls and that adds a whole new gameplay element. Imagine a night mission where you need to eliminate guards silently. There is a shack where some terrorist scumbag watches TV. If you enter the shack the guard will either shoot and make noise or sound the alarm. Either way you’ll get a dozen enemies on your position. But thanks to the great lighting system and the ability to shoot through wood you just look where his shadow is, take aim and shoot though the wall – bang, the guard is dead.

Ok, for the end I want to say a word or two about the multiplayer. I usually don’t play MP in shooters, because I have a very low tolerance for annoying bastards that I play against, but CoD4 is different. I had a chance to play the game during the beta test and fell in love with the MP (the love was short-lived, because I get easily bored, but I still play it from time to time).
First of all I love how the combat work – it takes only a few rounds to actually take somebody down. It’s not that Gears of War bullshit where you can put two full clips of rifle ammo into someone’s head just to get one-shoted with the shotgun. It’s also not Halo where you need to jump like a maniac to actually kill someone. This game is about skill (go ahead Halo and GeoW fanboys, flame). It’s the person who has the best awareness that wins, not the German teenager who happened to get to the rocket launcher first. Second thing I love is the presence of kill-cams. After you die you can get a replay from your killer’s perspective which means camping in this game is heavily penalized. And last, but not least is the ability to create your own class – choose your favorite weapons and perks like fast reloading or bigger bullet damage. This for me it THE fps multiplayer.

War is horrible but Infinity Ward managed to make it really goddamn fun. Even if that fun will be fairly short (you can beat the campaign in less than ten hours on the highest difficulty setting). If you haven’t already you should play this game regardless of which system you have (PC, PS3 or 360 – there is also a DS version that I haven’t played but it looks meh).