Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a legendary change from the series and one that blew my mind as a kid. I never played Call of Duty 3 because I was too poor for a Playstation so when this game got around, I was baffled with excitement. The whole concept of putting a classic, well known WWII series to the modern age was just something that I never could imagen as a kid.

In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the story starts of strong with modern day conflict, in which a president is executed in an unnamed country in the Middle East. The whole process to this execution is witnessed in first person and immediately attached itself to me as a great beginning of the story that I was eager to experience further.

After this, you take control of different characters in different regions, playing most of the time as John Soap, a recruit that receives his fair share of action and misery throughout the campaign. You fight in the United Kingdom, Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine in different missions, to uncover the origin of the war between The Russian Federation and the nationalists, backed-up by the regime of Al-Assad from the Middle East.

The best part, in my opinion, is the constant switching to other characters and stories, and the mini scenarios in which you experience a tragic event, which leads to an epic cutscene. In general, the story was very strong and I enjoyed every minute, scene and event of it, always wondering what would happen next. When Captain Price returned, straight from Call of Duty 2, my experience with the game was complete.

The introduction of collectibles that reward you with weapons and small game tweaks was a nice addition and further enhanced the experience.

The graphics where legendary for the time, and the way I experienced it as a kid, it was to much for my garbage PC to handle. I praised the lord that my PC would allow it on the lowest settings. The animations, and effects are great and I can only praise them.

When it comes to sound, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a little mixed bag. This was mainly because of the leap to the modern era. The guns sounded fine, but the grenade explosions where not as powerful as Call of Duty 2. The music was not that special, although it fitted the game well, especially in the opening scene.

Combat, controls and movement are still the smoothest I have experienced in the series thus far. It is easy to master, the cover mechanics help a lot in the Single Player campaign and, by now, I am used to the health regeneration mechanic. Gunplay feels accurate and fair and in short, I can only praise the overall experience.

Overall, the game is just a perfect example of how to progress the series further. Sure, a lot of assets and mechanics have been burrowed from the earlier games, but the way they combined it with new features and the excellent story, really made an impression. I cared about the characters, NPC’s and the overall experience was just great.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the game of choice when going to a LAN Party and it will always hold a place in my black heart. The multiplayer was, and still is to this day, one of the best and most fun to play. This is one of those examples in which I wished that we could just go back to the earlier 2000’s, where games were not money cows but works of art.

Definitely recommend this timeless classic.

This was the first game in modern warfare series and it did not disappoint! Absolutely amazing!

STORY = 7/10
GAMEPLAY = 8/10
ENJOYMENT = 8/10
RATING = 7.6/10