Not even if we have exact change will that bus take us anywhere.
We’re veterans of countless digital wars. We’ve fought demons in space and aliens on earth. In historical settings, we’ve reloaded in trenches and glided in on bloated bombers’ wings. None of these battles resonate in the same way as Call of Duty 4 and its topical, Middle Eastern—albeit fictitious—plot. We know how World War II ended, but Call of Duty 4 carries a sad uncertainty throughout its single-player campaign. Is it too soon to be playing a war that others are currently living? Carrying more emotional weight than other first-person shooters, the game is an exciting tour.
Call of Duty 4 easily earns its Mature rating, opening with an assassination that you see from the victim’s point of view. You play as a few European and American military characters with converging stories—you’re trying to stop terrorist factions from recovering and detonating nuclear weapons. But along the way, you struggle with the immediate goals of rescuing a squad mate, escaping an ambush, and otherwise surviving. The game’s pacing balances these scopes well, mixing fast and slow moments to hold players’ interest.
The first-person-shooter controls follow established conventions; you’ve got a range of real-world guns, grenades, and attacks. Scopes let you zoom in with a rifle, and you can pick up an enemy’s Kalashnikov in a bind. Unlike older FPS titles, Call of Duty 4 doesn’t have a health meter; instead, the screen constricts and fades to red if you’re shot too much. But if you hide behind a wall, you’ll recover full health. While you can receive unlimited shots if they’re spread out, this health method feels more immediate and true than running around collecting first-aid kits.
Blockbuster set pieces thrilled us as we progressed. Sinking ships, crashing helicopters, massive explosions, and other special effects keep pace with a Michael Bay movie. Certain scenes even break up on-the-ground shooting, letting you call in air strikes, fire from a helicopter, or gun from a circling plane. The graphics look great overall, especially in these peak moments, but close-up details sometimes disappoint. For example, grass shapes look flat and rough when you’re lying in a field.
Most of the single-player conventions and weapons carry over to the multiplayer matches. For example, you’ll earn the ability to signal an air strike after enough play. Other abilities (such as earning new weapons) cumulatively grow with your online character, letting you expand your skills over time. Since you quickly reappear in multiplayer matches, the action feels much lighter than the single-player story. But these online games include just as much depth, with several game types and the character upgrade system.
World War II games let us see with our fathers’ and grandfathers’ eyes, but Call of Duty 4 shows our brothers’ and sisters’ perspective. The game maintains impressive tension—you shoot at enemies because they shoot at you. But partly because of this mood, the game is deep and exciting
Emotionally weighted action. Sharp graphics overall. Huge scale. Variety of missions and tasks. Deep multiplayer arena. Rated M for Mature.
Intel Macs only. Fine graphic details disappoint. Crashed on occasion. Single- and multiplayer launch different apps, forcing you to reconfigure all settings.
