Hands up all of you who got caught up in the apparent hype of Halo 3? Go on, raise your hand... it's ok... yes that also means you at the back Hopkins... I'll speak to you later.
AHEM Anyway, Halo 3 came onto the 360 scene last year and was all set to be the be all and end all of First Person Shooting as we knew it, according to Microsoft... and Bungie... and most of the gaming magazines, well near enough everyone who had been a fan of Halo 2. All was seeming tranquil in the Master Chief's little world until this came along.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare took people by surprise (except all the people who had played Call of Duty 2 and still went back to it, like myself) The second game really laid a solid foundation for the franchise which had based it's reputation on solid, fast paced shooting with a bit of Hollywood la-di-da thrown in, but also included a very tight and fast paced multiplayer with a huge amount of detailed and playable maps. The third one kept the enthusiasm up, but Treyarch added vehicles to the online games, which were Marmite-d (either loved or hated) by the gaming public.
Which brings us onto Infinity Ward's newest offering. Built from scratch, unlike the port of 2 from their PC code, Call of Duty 4 ditches World War 2 like an obnoxious date and brings the series kicking and screaming into the 21st century, with a believable storyline that's been pacing around in a Hollywood director's head since time began. In it you switch between an SAS rookie and a seasoned Marine vet. as you take on the baddest SoB's in the Middle East.
CoD 4 has an action packed introduction and really good action scenes spread throughout, but it doesn't skimp on storyline and that helps to produce an altogether outstanding end product. The graphical sheen is blinding, which bearing in mind the soldier models take up half the polygon count than those in the 2nd game is astonishing. Infinity Ward have really got to grips with the hardware... and it shows.
It's hard hitting sound effects, half decent voice acting and Harry-Gregson-Phillips soundtrack (apparently the Metal Gear team had their back turned and Activision nicked him) provide a bite and an ability to suck the player into the game itself and make you want to play on that little..... bit..... longer.
The single player is fun while it lasts, but that is where Call of Duty 4's only real gripe comes into play. Offline, it is terrifyingly short. A decent player could have it done in a day or two. That doesn't mean that this game should be avoided, dear gamesplayer... oh no. As the multiplayer more than makes up for that and is just like the energiser bunny, it just has the ability to go on and on. The maps are again well made and diverse enough to have your favourites based on what kind of game you play, from the very small and insanely anarchic Shipment (especially if you have a Ground War Domination on it) to the sniper's dream that is Bloc, which even has a swimming pool in the back, should you and your allies get a bit fed up of all this killing lark.
What we have here is, and I'm more than happy to say it, regardless of what the fanboys think, a Halo 3 beater plain and simple. This trounces it in almost every department, better sound, much better graphics and a multiplayer that has most friends lists looking like a 100 line punishment exercise. It will be very hard for Infinity Ward to top this anytime soon and if they keep the online people happy with more maps, just like they did with the second game, then what we have is a game that truly deserves to be in everyone's collection, even the Master Chief's...so he can see what a real war is like instead of fighting fraggles with battle armour.
An instant classic and the best example of multiplayer FPS'ing out there. Miss this at your peril.
