Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Format PC

Developer Infinity Ward

Publisher Activision

Genre First Person Shooter

15 Comments

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the game Infinity Ward wanted to make for a while, president Grant Collier told us. During work on previous games a number of ideas were floating around it wanted to see realised in a future title in the series, ideas about the delivery of storyline and mechanisms to propel plot forward. It also wanted to create memorable characters.

To this end, the developer ditched the campaign system seen in previous COD games and replaced it with two storylines - one from the viewpoint of an SAS trooper and one from a member of US elite fighting force Force Recon - that interweave during the course of the game and reach a climax in Russia.

PC screen

"We're able to have continuous characters throughout the game while being able to change locations," Collier explained. Infinity really wants CoD 4 "to play out like an episode of 24", and to this end it's been working with TV scriptwriters "who understand how to get a strong, episodic storyline going".

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?
But what is the story in CoD 4? Here's the deal. At the cornerstone of the plot lurks Zakhaev, a Russian ultra-nationalist with aims to bring the Soviet Union back into existence and in the style of his idol, Stalin. Zakhaev initiates civil war in the Mother Land and, aware that other world powers will attempt to intervene, hatches a trap to tie-down US forces in Middle Eastern country.

British intelligence, meanwhile, has been working with loyal Russians in tracking Zakhaev, and eventually manages to convince the US of the true reason for the Middle East conflict.Cue war, a war though which Infinity Ward explains it wants to take the player on a rollercoaster ride of conflict.

It's varying the pace far more than we've witnessed in CoD before, introducing more stealth-orientated operations to accompany the frantic assault on the senses that we've experienced in the developer's portrayal of firefights in previous entries in the series.

LET'S GO TO WAR
the developer opened proceedings by showing a nail-biting SAS assault on cargo ship during a storm spawned by very Satan himself. A deluge of rain poured from a pitch-black sky, lit up by flashes of lightning as the four-man SAS squad deployed from helicopter and landed on a deck awash with water. Huge waves crashed against the side of the ship forcing spumes of sea spray into the air. Intense stuff.

PC screen

And the intensity of the environment was echoed in the ensuing firefight. Supported by the helicopter mini-gun hosing down the bridge in a spray of bullets, the SAS team proceeded into the bowels of the boat and neutralised enemies. Constant situation updates given by the team via voice comms added a subtle yet important element to the ambience, and AI comrades would kick doors down and open the way for us to storm rooms.

We had to feel a tang of pity for the enemies killed while asleep in their bunks, who realistically tumbled to the floor thanks to Infinity Ward's proprietary physics system. But this is war, we guess.

FRESH OFFENSIVE
It was an impressive introduction to Call of Duty 4, but Collier hadn't shot Modern Warfare's bolt in one glorious SAS assault. Bringing that to a close, he fired up US mission Charlie Don't Surf, the opening of which has surely been designed as a homage to the famous helicopter attack from Apocalypse Now.

Dark, stormy sea was left behind and replaced by a sun-kissed Middle-East and a wave of Black Hawks closing in on a town eye-brow raising in detail.

As the helicopters swooped in, enemy ground-to-air defences opened up and rockets leapt into the sky, leaving smoke contrails in their wake.

We were dealing with a four-man SAS infiltration squad in the previous operation, but in this mission we got to witness the larger US Force Recon squads and heftier firepower they pack, and we watched as soldiers in Force Recon swiftly rappelled down ropes.

As comrades-in-arms began rolling out barbed wire defences, Collier quickly became embroiled in a deadly exchange of bullets in street-to-street fighting. Deft use of flashbangs was made, the grenades lobbed into rooms to stun enemies before going in - but the catch of the odd bullet was inevitable and, similar to CoD 2 and 3, the screen began to turn red when Collier was hit; and heart beats are heard if things get real bad.

PC screen

Like previous COD games, comrades urge you to objectives, with the game presenting you with a number of paths through levels - although Modern Warfare is by no means 'sandbox'.

Collier stuck with Force Recon and Middle-East operations for two further missions, the first involving the rescue an M1A1 tank - which the soldiers ended up working alongside - and furious street fighting.

It was here that we really got to witness Infinity Ward's attention to detail and the ramped up assault on the senses achieved in the sequel, with walls being crumbled by explosions and sending out puff of dust particles, vehicles being shot apart by bullets and proof of accurately modelled ballistics as the likes of the M249 SAW ripped through walls.

Reeling from the visual and aural bombardment, all we can say about the second mission, a night-time operation to locate and secure a crashed helicopter - very Black Hawk Down - is: nice nightvision.

MULTIPLAYER
You can't have a Call of Duty game without multiplayer of course, and CoD 4 supports 32 players on PC and on PS3 and Xbox 360 it'll be between 12 and 16, Collier told us, adding that the developer explored cross-platform between PC and Xbox 360 but decided it wasn't something suited to CoD multiplayer.

Persistent statistics tracking is included to track the likes of kills, matches played and shots to the head and Infinity Ward's packing in an experience system which is linked in with unlockables. Collier explained that the developer hopes the experience system will encourage novices to dip a toe into the CoD 4 multiplayer waters, with weapons being unlocked as experience is bumped up.

CoD multiplayer veterans, though, will be able to progress through the unlocks quickly, and at the high end of the experience system unlock new titles and skins for weapons and character models. Experience levels can be added too, so expect this part of multiplayer to be boosted with download content after the game's released.

PC screen

We'll have more multiplayer details on the site soon, featuring in an interview with Grant Collier.

MISSION DEBRIEFING
So far, so good for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, although we'd shove the lot of what we've seen to date under the 'frantic-intense' umbrella and have yet to witness any real variation in pace.

However, in those intense bits, the game's lost none of the intensity the series is known for in its transition to a new setting (in fact, if anything - and excuse us for the use of a classic old joke here - Infinity Ward has turned intensity up to 11 for the sequel). It's the little things, the attention to detail, that blend together with the gunplay and make the whole thing explode in your face.

The interweaving plot structure remains an unknown at this stage, but we reckon the developer's made the right decision in ditching the old campaign structure (and WWII - Ed) to introduce a new storytelling mechanism. Let's just hope by the end of it, we've remembered who the main characters are.

Stuart Bishop