Call of Duty 4 is a genre redefining game of epic proportions. The story mode is nothing short of linear, but, while you cannot effect decisions or outcomes to any capacity, you will still be on the edge of your seat throughout.

I see the single-player campaign as somewhat of a lengthy tutorial, preparing you for what lays ahead in what makes up the bulk of this game; online multiplayer. While the single-player game does include various elements unseen in the multiplayer, such as long-range sniping affected by wind conditions, it is, essentially, battle after battle, preparing you for the online war.

The story in Call of Duty 4 essentially has you jump between taking the role as Soap MacTavish and Sergeant Paul Jackson, as well as a few other, slightly more minor, characters.

To be honest, I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the story. I would give you a rundown of the synopsis, but it would be hard to do so without fear of inaccuracy. Not to mention, this game is highly well known for its online gameplay, which is what I intend to focus on.

The online multiplayer in Call of Duty 4 should be familiar to gamers who have played other online first person shooters before. And, while they essentially just take a great formula and build on it, there’s absolutely nothing to complain about.

There are a ton of different multiplayer modes, including “Cage Match,” a mode that pits you up against an enemy, one-on-one, for some close-quarters, very intense, battles. Unfortunately, some players choose to exploit this game mode to easily complete “challenges,” which are essentially in-game achievements that give you an experience boost.

This is one of the many game modes that help make this Call of Duty game stick out from the rest of the first person shooters on the market.

Experience points are a very important thing in Call of Duty 4, which really add a lot to the replay value. You get experience points for various things depending on the game mode, such as getting a kill, or capturing a territory. These experience points contribute to your overall level, which, as it progresses, unlocks new weapons, as well as “perks.” Perks allow you to refine your gaming experience to become a little more personal with how you wish to play the game.

For instance, there is a “UAV Jammer” perk, which disallows enemy UAVs to see you, which means that you will not show up on the map of the opposing team when one of their players gets a kill streak, resulting in a UAV. (More on that later.)

This allows you to be more sneaky, so, if you are playing in a position which would benefit from hiding, such as sniping or sneaking around their areas (or even just hiding around corners), this perk will aid you in doing so.

Your level in Call of Duty 4 can reach 55 before hitting the level cap. At this point, you can choose to either continue playing with your current weapons and perks while depriving yourself of future upgrades, or you can completely restart your online career, entering what is called “Prestige” mode.

Prestige allows you to drop back down to level one, effectively losing all unlockables that you have obtained. This helps keep the game fresh and adds replay value, but you also lose everything that you’ve worked so hard for.

Then again, it gives you the change to work for it all again.

Weigh the pros and cons and figure out if it’s right for you. Personally, I love prestige mode; a clean slate is a good thing.

There are even things to work for during a single multiplayer match. Kill streaks result in you getting things such as UAV (told you we’d get back to that!) at three consecutive kills, an airstrike at five (sent to a selected destination), and a helicopter at seven (which flies above the level, picking off enemies as much as it can). These give you an opportunity to help out your team as well as stack up experience points for yourself.

The gameplay itself in the multiplayer is amazing. There is rarely lag (although, when there is, it’s incredibly frustrating, and often results in a disconnect), and there are always plenty of people to play online with.

The various gameplay modes, mentioned earlier, add variety to the game, as well as provide different ways to stack up those precious experience points.

One thing that I absolutely love in Call of Duty 4 is that you can shoot enemies through walls, provided they’re not too thick. This means that, if a sniper retreats behind a wall to reload, as long as you have a general idea of where his head is behind that wall, you can still blow his brains out. This allows for a somewhat tactical aspect to an otherwise spontaneous game (depending on how you choose to play).

CONCLUSION

Call of Duty 4 introduced mechanics never before seen in a first person shooter, allowing for infinite replay value and countless hours of fun (which actually are counted, thanks to the nice statistic system in place).

The single player campaign offers an introduction to the game while also including amazing achievements to keep you going (such as the Mile High achievement, which can only be achieved after the game is completed, and is the single best achievement I’ve seen in a game to date).

But the multiplayer is where this game really shines, setting itself apart from the competition in a way that can only be described as amazing. The leveling system, perks, and prestige mode all add amazing replay value to this title. I’ve never been bored with this game, and I got it when it first came out.