Call of Duty 4 leaves its WWII theme and much more behind to make room for something much better.
It's on this note that the rest of game is played. The world is not a happy place. Call of Duty has left that heroic, "they answered the call" theme they've had for years. It's not heroic and it's not pretty anymore. You actually feel like you're in a war for the wrong reasons. You don't get to know why you're fighting a war, just that you are. And you know that the war is going to keep going even after the game is over, it feels like it was just a small part of a big war.
When I say small part, I mean it. The game is deep and great, but it's over before you know it. It's less than half the length of what a normal shooter should be, but that doesn't mean you'll ever regret paying full price for it. So much ground is covered in those few hours. Examples include: operating the guns of a C130 Gunship, being killed in a nuclear explosion, being on the wrong end of a political execution, realistic sniping that includes factors such as the weather, and much more.
Other Call of Duty titles have relied on you to just know you're a WW2 hero and then you take it from there with no real story at all. Now, Call of Duty has narrative and real story that moves you.
The graphics in the game are some of those that look great in some parts, but in other places not so much. Some places just seem more jagged than they should, but others are almost photo-realistic. There is one particular part in the beginning of the game where your leader, Captain Price is smoking a cigar in the rain on a helicopter at night. You get every subtlety of that, and I mean every subtlety. You can see the dim glow of the cigar and its faint shine of Price's beard. It's a beautiful thing.
Final graphics score: 9.
The first thing that you need in a shooter is gunfire. Call of Duty 4 has that. The guns sound great. But more than that is needed. Call of Duty 4 has a fairly unique score as well. It's got rock and electric guitars where it should be, but also the score goes orchestral where needed. One of the best levels in the game, Shock and Awe, features upbeat rock music because you really feel like you're in US Marines and you can kick anyone's butt. Especially with the AH-64 Apache helicopters overhead. At the very last point in the game, it's got a sad feel to it thanks to the orchestra.
The voice acting is superb, as is the writing. Allies will call out enemy locations for you and make the action seem more frantic than it may actually be. It's a great intensifier. Especially worth noting is the aforementioned Captain Price. In games, you usually have a leader who you're obligated to follow, but in this case... you're inspired to follow Captain Price. He's incredibly hardcore and feels like the right guy to be leading a squad of the SAS.
Final sound score: 10.
The gameplay is Call of Duty except with more automatic weapons. It's been fine-tuned to be even better actually. There aren't many tweaks, but they're there and they're great.
Final gameplay score: 10.
The value in the game is low simply because of its short campaign. This value score is uplifted thanks to its deep multiplayer. You'll drop your Battle Rifle and Energy Sword for this.
Final value score: 8.
Now for the fun part: the tilt. I'm giving a 10 for the tilt. Why? It's got its faults here and there, but it's still amazing. Plus, the multiplayer is insanely good.
Final tilt score: 10.
All in all, this game's average is: 9.4. But it has been Gamespot-ified to a 9.5.