What happens when you take the best from shooters, add in a fantastic story and amazing visuals; Call of Duty 4.
Alright, so as all of you know the Call of Duty series has been up to this point a World War II themed series. When Call of Duty 2 was put out on the shelves Infinity Ward had a bunch of ideas on how to improve the formula, the only issue is that due to Historical Information they couldn't do this. So, Infinity Ward decided to place this story in Modern Day and with more empesis on Story.
What you get in this package is one of the most intense games ever made from beginning to end the action is non-stop.
This story follows two Soiders, "Soap" MacTavish of the British Special Air Service (S.A.S) and Sgt. Paul Jackson of the United States Marine Corp. (U.S.M.C) First Force Recon, with cameos here and there. Its all about a coup made in the Middle-East being funded by a Russian who has dreams of destroying the West. The Prologue tells about Soap's first day, his first mission, and a level from the Point of View of the President of the country that is having the Coup. It is revealed that it wasn't until Russian Help that Al Alsad was able to take over. The President is executed accourdingly.
This is when US Troops start to begin their invasion, while in Russia, Lt. Price, with Gaz and Soap meet up with Russian Loyalist who are fighting the Ultranationalist forces that want the return of the Soviet Union. You and your buddies manage to find what they are looking for, a missing informant.
Meanwhile, the US troops make their move and begin the invasion, The 1st Force Recon begin their hunt for Al-Alsad and later push towards the Capital City meeting plenty of enemy forces on the way.
Earlier in the day, the chopper that Soap and his squad with Nikolai is in is shot down and they made their way across the country side and is soon given support by a AC-130 Plane who's gunner really pounds the enemy ground forces.
The USMC continue their advance on the Capital City and with the First Force Recon is War Pig, an Abrams Tank. They run through the city streets and blast their way through enemy forces and are picked up...the Assault on the Enemy Capital is ready to go. The forces make their move with Jets bombing fortified enemy positions. The Choppers come in and Jackson is control of a mounted Grenade launcher and helps take down enemy forces. The First Force Recon then helps out a squad under heavy fire and then re-mount and head for the Palace. It is discovered that in the Palace is a Nuke that is primed for fire, the Marines are ordered to be pulled out of the blast radius as a bomb squad attempts to dis-arm it. Then, the Cobra that is assisting the Recon's Chopper is taken out and it is discovered that the pilot is still alive. After Jackson Rescues her, they take off and head out when suddenly...an explosion...a Nuclear Explosion.
Transport and Combat Choppers are thrown through the air all crash land. New Reports are unsure to what has happened save that a Huge Explosion has consumed the entire capital city and with it a major chunk of the Marine forces...while in the destroyed city a single being is still alive...Paul Jackson stands up and limps out the destroyed Transport Helicopter and walks away from the dead bodies of his friends, he walks up the road a little bit but then collapses due to his injuries and of the surrounding raditation. Al-Alsad had escaped to his hideout in Azerbaijan.
The S.A.S immediately assault the fortress and find Al-Alsad in a barn on the top of the hill, Captain Price begins interrogation of him when his phone rings and Price hears a name that brings back memories...Zakhaev.
The game then goes into a flashback moment from 15 years earlier when Price was a Lt. under Captain. McMillan. He and McMillan were given the orders to make an assassination of Zakhaev. They snuck their way into a ruined city that is now surrounded by radiation that is being used to create Nukes. Zakhaev is trying to get some of these...McMillan and Price sit on top of a Hotel Building and watch the transaction take place. Price, using a .50 Cal High-Powered Sniper Rifle is forced to watch until the wind dies down, he takes the shot and blows Zakhaev's arm off. The Two are forced to run through the city, when a chopper is shot down by Price it crashed and damages McMillian's Spine, Price is forced to carry him to the LZ. The Two then take defensive positions at the LZ and snipe out incoming enemies. The Two Make it out alive.
The Story then returns to the present day, Ultranationalist Forces start an attack on the fortress the S.A.S are at. As Soap uses a variety of ways to stall the enemy including a crashed Choppers Chaingun and detonators, they fall back to the Barn where it is discovered that their ride can't land at the farm...ironically, they have to be picked up at the bottom of the hill. Soap charges forward and battles his way down the hill and is picked up by Marines who are lead by SSgt. Griggs.
Thus begins the Joint Operation of shutting down Zakhaev and his Ultranationalist forces. The first target is his son, who is in Command of the Ultranationalist forces in the area. Soap and Griggs chases him down to the top of a Apartment building, where he kills himself.
Price knows that Zakhaev will now begin his final strike against the US and the Joint Operation heads for a Missile Silo Zakhaev and his men have taken control of and are holding their position. They move in, with Griggs landing off course and is rescued by Soap, they then move in and take out the electricity of the entire facility so other forces can move through electric fences. As they approach the silo, two missles are fired. Satellite scans tell that these two missiles are packed with 12 Nukes, each one aimed for a city on the East Coast.
The Joint Operations forces push into the heart of the Silo and into the console room where they find the deactivation codes and stop from 41 Million people from being killed. As they pull out, their trucks are followed by Zakheav's forces until a Hind takes out a bridge. The Joint Squad consisting of Captain Price, SSgt. Griggs, Gaz, and Soap hold the line and call for help from Loyalist Troops nearby. Suddenly, the Hind from earlier fires a rocket and stuns the squad. Griggs grabs Soap and drags him away from a burning car. Griggs is then shot and killed. Through the dusk, Soap sees Zakheav himself with two guards walking over and shooting injured men, including Gaz who Zakheav executes himself. As Zakhaev is about to kill Soap, the Hind hovering overhead is shot down and they are all distracted. Soap looks over the Captain Price who slides his M9 Pistol over to Soap. Soap shoots Zakheav and his turns to look at him, Soap then kills the two guards and drops the pistol. Loyalist Forces arrive and help Soap and another performs CPR on Price which appears to not be working...Soap is then lifted up into a helicopter....
This Story is probably one of the best ever made for a war game, with twists and turns every where, yet still seems like it could happen. The most reveloutionary part of it is the death of Jackson, never has the main protaganist in a Call of Duty game gets killed. In the end (like Jeff said) it would seem like the world is worse after the event than before, it seems like it would take a while for the world to recover from these events. This is what makes it so fantastic, it makes you have an idea of what is at stake and makes you think of how the world could recover from this.
Before one of the levels, the loading menu movie shows just how much damage 12 nukes will do the East Coast. It calculates that approx. 41 Million People will be killed, now this may be a video game but I really felt that I had the whole world on my shoulders. I really hope to experience a story like that again in a video game.
The Gameplay remains almost the same, except that tactics are changed dramatically. For one, automatic weapons and put in and you really need to think about how your going to use your weapons. WIth weapons, there seems to be a rediculous amounts thanks to the Ultranationalist forces that seem to carry every thing from AK-47's to Mini-Uzis to P90's and British Weapons. This fields are variety for the player to choose from.
One major thing is the Physics Engine. In CoD2 when a German would be killed by a Grenade, they would do a flip or just fall down. In CoD4 a Ragdoll effect is put it, men are sent flying through the air which can be highly amusing. Also there is Ballistic Physics as well, bullets will travel through some material like wood and sheet metal, allowing you to take out hiding enemies. Since most of the game takes place in Urban Enviroments, Infinity Ward has included a lot of cars for you to use as cover...heres the kicker...they can explode making you decide on whats the better position.
Melee attacks are awesome this round, with the inclusion of the knife attack, your character will whip out a knife and stab the MF your attacking. Also, your enemy will deploy the one fear of all humans....the German Shepard. These dogs will literally jump on you and eat off your head. The bonus of this is that you get to stab the dog with the knife.
While the game is pretty straight forward, there are the beaten paths you can take like flanking the enemy but the issue is that your troops will move with you and thus the enemy will move over as well.
Overall, the game is brilliant and is definately worth the look and the buy.
I am really excited to see what there is to come with Infinity Ward and hopefully its a continuation of Soap's story.