Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Available on: Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
Played it on: Xbox 360
Approximate Playtime: 20 hours (campaign and multiplayer)

RATING: 9/10

All those complaints I had about Call of Duty 3? Yeah, they don't even matter any more.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare takes everything that players have come to expect from a CoD game, and blows it out of the water. The obvious way this happens is by bringing the story sixty years into the future, and making this game about a modern type of conflict, but this also occurs because of updated... well, everything. Mechanics, writing, game feel, graphics, controls, multiplayer, the whole lot. This is an outstanding game.

Modern Warfare takes place in locations around the world, and mimics the current status of world politics. Unlike Medal of Honor, this game's narrative does not encompass the modern war in the Middle East, but instead creates a fictional, yet believable war. It covers missions mostly in the present, with a few in the 80's, and follows the fight against the main villain Imran Zakhaev, a crazy, bald, Russian terrorist. The war rages in Russia and the Middle East, and then jumps back to Pripyat, Ukraine to tell what amounts to Zakhaev's origin. It's really nice to play a CoD game that doesn't take place in the locations from World War II. It shows the different ways that the game itself can be harnessed, and it updates the game series. After three (technically five) straight games taking place in World War II, it's refreshing to get a different style

And lo and behold, the writing in this is not overshadowed by the rest of the game's shoddy presentation! This entire game just feels so well thought out. The game feels exciting, and it's complimented by the amazing music and voice acting. The soldiers who surround the main character actually act like real people, and react like real people in a war scenario. When inside the game, it seems like the main character has a mission to accomplish, and unlike most modern war games, the linear nature of the levels doesn't bog down the game. It may be linear, but it's not a noticeable factor, it's not painfully obvious and scripted. It does what it's supposed to do.

Another great part of the game is that while it has scope, and it has potential, it's also very believable. It doesn't start World War 3, it plays out a story that actually seems plausible. Yes, there's a lot of explosions at the end, but I'll give it what it needs for a climactic ending. Everything else in there has the feel of either a covert operation or something that's currently happening anyway, so it's no harder to believe the story of this game than it is to believe something like Medal of Honor. Honestly, they couldn't have done a better job.

Yes, this review is a little short, but everything that needs to be said about the game has been said. It's fantastic, it has scope, it's well written, it feels great, it looks great, it flows well, it's nothing but a big package of win, to be honest. I couldn't have asked for better.