Back at E3 in July of this year Grant Collier, President – Infinity Ward, made his mark on history, much to Peter Moore’s chagrin, as he took the stage at Microsoft’s press conference and shared his team’s vision for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with a national television audience, “We’re going deep and we’re going hard!”  A line that would echo across the web for weeks afterward ultimately winding up on the back of the CoD4 t-shirt handed to us at our sit down last week.  A lot has transpired since E3; Peter Moore has left Microsoft to head up EA’s sports division, Grant Collier, and the team at Infinity Ward, have delivered a well received CoD4 multiplayer beta on Xbox Live and now finally, a hands-on peek at the single-player experience.

A Little “Soap” and Water

There’s nothing like a little spit shine to give them boots a new glow.  After three iterations on the Call of Duty franchise (the third of which Grant will make clear – Infinity Ward had nothing to do with)  the founding fathers of one of the most successful World War II shooters to date decided it was time for a change of pace – enter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.  Probably the most striking thing about CoD4, once you get past the graphical upgrades – is that not much has changed in the games delivery, and this is a compliment to good game design. 

Core elements of what made the original titles in the series fun in the first place are intact in CoD4:  squad AI and excellent scripting serve to make the player feel as though their part of a real team, variation in environment and storyline keep the player’s interest high throughout, and the attention to detail in bringing to life each of these environments sets the Call of Duty experience apart from other shooters. Combine these tried and true elements with an upgraded graphical experience that helps to bring the complete chaos of modern warfare to life before your eyes and as Imogen Heap sang, “There’s beauty in the breakdown.”

Crew Expendable

The opening mission in CoD4 takes place somewhere in the Bering Strait.  You’re part of an elite SAS unit, under the command of “Soap” McTavish, flying in under the cover of a stormy night to check out the cargo aboard an Estonian freighter rumored to contain a “broken arrow”.  After a quick zipline descent to the deck you’ll be placed in control and set straight to work as your team takes out the surprised crew at the helm.  You’ll need to get your ‘sea legs’ under you, and quick, as you’ll notice almost immediately that the deck is shifting under your feet, an effect that will have you reaching for the Dramamine.

As your fireteam makes its way across the deck of the freighter the squad AI springs to life shifting into smaller units working their way up the left and right hand sides of the deck, chattering into the com regarding enemy positions, “ We’ve got two guards on a walkway up ahead..roger”… – two double taps and they’re silenced.  As you near the forward tower of the ship, snipers fire from above, pinning down the team behind cargo containers and guard rails.  No problem – a quick call to the chopper hovering nearby brings in some .50cal air support wiping out an entire deck of tangos, leaving glass shards and hot brass raining on the deck around you. It is set-piece moments like this coupled with the engine’s improved graphical capabilities that bring Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to life.

The remainder of the level takes place in the interior of the ship and its cargo hold, culminating in an action-sequence that would make Michael Bay proud. A single-player demo is slated to land this week so I won’t spoil anymore of the experience here.

Bogged Down

The Bog takes place in an unidentified Middle-Eastern country tasking your squad with assisting a nearby Abram’s tank unit who’re experiencing some...’engine trouble.’   In classic Call of Duty style, half the fun is found in simply getting to the objective as the nearby buildings come alive with enemy fire honing in on your position.  You’ll need to circle around and go toe to toe, and door to door, with the enemy as you work your way to the overpass where the Abram’s is ‘bogged down.’  Night vision goggle usage is showcased in this segment and they are surprisingly useful unlike many shooter implementations.

Once the squad arrives on scene with the Abram’s unit – they’ll be tasked with ‘holding their ground’ – another classic Call of Duty gameplay element – get you from point A to B – then throw everything they’ve got at you until either reinforcements arrive, you survive x amount of time, or ammo runs out – whichever comes first.  I actually found myself scrounging about in the mud for a replacement rifle as I realized I had spent my last clip and the onslaught was far from over.  It may sound like I’m complaining – but nothing could be further from the truth – while these settings and situations may be familiar – albeit in a new timeline – they are quite simply, fun. 

What is not evident in these demo levels is whether or not we’ll see more of the open objective levels like we saw in Call of Duty 2’s ‘Battle for Caen’ which departed from the typical Call of Duty linear approach and allowed the player some autonomy in deciding how and when to tackle the various objectives in the level. These open levels were a welcome change of pace to the linear play that so dominated shooter titles.

A minor complaint I have at the moment is with the HUD and the method for imparting new objectives to the player.  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is intense – and that’s a good thing – but action is often so frenetic, it can be easy to miss the dialogue, above the squad chatter and incoming flack, which contains your next objective. I often found myself sitting in position, sniping from a window waiting for something to happen until I finally realized – nothing’s gonna happen unless I move my ass.  A slightly more in-your-face approach to updating the player on their ever-changing objectives would be very welcome.

Ambushed

Infinity Ward also showed us a new multiplayer map entitled Ambush.  The map is set in a war torn middle-eastern village with clusters of bombed out buildings capping either end of a no-man’s land featuring a small footbridge and a stalled out Abram’s tank – nope – it’s unusable at the moment. There are numerous hiding places amidst the rubble and plenty of sniping opportunities to be found dotted across the rooftops.  We played through most of the available gametypes on this map but personally I prefer the objective based modes as they promote better teamplay since there is no respawn until the end of the round.  This helps amp the realism as most players will avoid going Rambo down a corridor - something you’d never see in a real combat situation.

And while we’ve said it before in our multiplayer preview – it’s worth repeating – the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer experience will stand tall this holiday season.  Its brilliant combination of Battlefield like field-promotions, a ‘build your own class’ element similar to Frontline: Fuel of War, coupled with the franchise’s ‘star power’ make for a formidable – and extremely addictive – multiplayer mode.  Hey Infinity Ward, couldn’t you have let the multiplayer beta run through launch?

Don’t Call It a Comeback

At E3 this year, Hideo Kojima took the stage to talk about the shows new format and left attendees with his closing comment, “I want my E3 back!”  Varying opinions on that topic aside - a lackluster showing by Call of Duty 3, which curiously left its loyal fanbase of PC gamers in the dust, left many hardcore fans of the franchise saying, “I want my Call of Duty back!” 

Well Grant and the team were listening, and all indications are ‘GO’ for a Call of Duty comeback – and this time it’s “going deeper and harder” than ever before!  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare manages to transport the player onto the modern day battlefield, bringing to life the experience of complete chaos our soldiers face daily overseas, and imparts a stark view of a world that for us – is only an international incident away.