Something special

CALL of Duty 4 has taken the crown as the most complete first-person-shooter to ever grace a video game console. On all fronts – visuals, audio, gameplay, longevity – Call of Duty 4 is a masterpiece and when you take it online or offline in multiplayer, it is every gamer’s dream.
The series has progressed from its World War II theme to this time take place in a modern context that is fictional but loosely based on current conflicts involving British and American special forces.
Call of Duty 4 is best likened to an epic action movie that invites you, the gamer, to play several roles in a chilling tale of how British SAS and the United States Marine Corp battle terrorists. Sometimes they win, but sometimes they don’t.
It is an engrossing experience for several reasons. First, Call of Duty 4’s visuals are some of the most realistic you’ll see in a video game, and even in high-def on the Xbox 360 and PS3, the title runs at a rock-solid 60 frames-per-second. The sound is also in check with today’s surround sound standards, and anyone who has played a shooter in Dolby Digital 5.1 knows there’s nothing better than being able to find enemies or friends by simply listening and discovering which direction their voices or gunfire are coming from.
But gameplay is where Call of Duty 4 shines. Goldeneye 64 made first-person-shooters accessible for a console audience, but Call of Duty 4 enhances the experience. The lock-on option if you quickly pull your sight trigger twice enables gamers to feel as though they are sharp shooters as the sight snaps to a nearby enemy’s torso enabling quick, special forces style kills.
Squad AI is reasonably intelligent, but what I loved was how the SAS squad was much more efficient than the USMC, as they are trained to be. Multiplayer also takes the cake as the best experience you’re likely to have online – even standing heads and shoulders above the recently-released Halo 3. Xbox 360, PS3, PC. 5/5