PDA

View Full Version : Review: Call of Duty 4 MP



Greco101
02-03-2008, 01:52 AM
Like most online gamers… I popped in the disk and headed for online. I hear the campaign mode is amazing but who cares when you have thousands of online servers? Make a character name, set your video and control settings annnnd we’re off.
The game starts you off as a private first class with three available classes:

Assault: M16A4 with M203 attachment/ M9
Spec ops: Mp5/ USP .45 with silencer
Heavy Gunner: M249 SAW/ USP .45


As you progress through the levels , you unlock your primary (22 total) and secondary weapons (4 total) as well as your Demolition and Sniper classes within the first couple levels. After you reach level 4, you then unlock the, “create a class” feature with five customizable character slots. This is where the game really begins. You can set up your own classes and decide which combination of, primary, secondary, grenades, and “perks” would give that specific class the best advantage when combined with your style of tactics. Maybe a silenced primary, secondary, UAV jammer and Silent footsteps if you are the sneaky type or a LMG, Desert Eagle, Bandolier, Stopping Power and Deep Impact if you enjoy mowing people down.

***Unlockable Perks***

Perk 1


C-4 x2 1
Special Grenade x3 1
RPG-7 x2
Claymore x2
Frag x3
Bandolier (extra ammo)
Bomb Squad (detect enemy claymores/c4)


Perk 2


Stopping Power (increased bullet damage)
Juggernaut (increased health)
Sleight of Hand (faster reloading)
Double Tap (increased rate of fire)
Overkill (carry two primaries)
UAV Jammer
Sonic Boom (higher explosive damage)


Perk 3


Extreme Conditioning (sprint for longer distances)
Steady Aim
Last Stand (pull out a pistol before you die completely)
Martydom (drop a live grenade when you die)
Deep Impact (deeper bullet penetration)
Iron Lungs (hold your breath longer when steadying sniper rifle)
Dead Silence (quiet footsteps)
Eavesdrop (hear enemy voice chat)


Perks help supplement this by giving you options that may be good for you, but bad for another… it all depends on your style. The game also balances these perks by taking away from something when enabled. For example, when using the extra ammo perk (Bandolier), you will no longer be able to use some weapon attachments, such as the M203 grenade launcher.

On top of unlocking weapons and perks, you also unlock challenges which are completed by finishing a task such as "150 head shots with assault rifle" -this would be an "assault challenge" which would give you unlocks for your assault rifle such as different sights, silencer and different camouflage skins. Other challenges categories such as, "Boot Camp, Operations, Killer, Humiliation and Elite," are mainly for bragging rights and experience points but include no unlocks.

Let's skip ahead to game play. In game, graphics are amazing, even at low settings which can be good or bad. At low settings, the game is still enjoyable, but with higher settings, your FPS may fluctuate more than most other games so you may have to kick your settings down a notch so you never sag below 30fps.

There is an interesting feature in game which I have never seen before... there are awards for kill steaks! Not medals, but extra goodies you can use in game such as call a UAV with a 3 kill steak, A personal air strike with a 5 kill streak or your own helicopter to plow people down for you for 2 minutes, or until the enemy team shoots it down with a 7 kill streak. If you died before you could use your UAV, air strike or heli, you can use it when you respawn until you earn another one so be sure if you die with a heli to use it before that 3rd kill, or it will be overwritten with a UAV.

Something that really impressed me was the melee attack. Instead of the same ol' hitting with the gun/object... you rush the enemy and stab them. I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see other companies/games copy this idea in the future.


***The Bad***
My main beef with this game is no hosted stats. Your stats, unlocks, etc are all held on your PC which makes it easy to edit and/or load someone else's stats. Be sure to back up your COD4 Profile often so in case of a major problem, you will not lose your hard earned stats.

Because walls can be shot through, a bullet will sometimes continue through multiple walls and get you a random kill or death or even a friendly kill which can also result in a death depending on server settings. People have taken advantage of this and sometimes you will see packs of gunners prone in a building unloading into nothing... crossing their fingers for a couple kills per belt. I feel this should be fixed, and only allow bullets to travel through a SINGLE wall only with higher caliber guns or with the "Deep Impact" perk.

Another downside to thin walls is arms, legs or feet showing through, allowing the enemy to shoot you or even stab you.


Conclusion: Call of Duty 4 is definitely a fun, exciting, beautiful FPS but it's lacking longevity. You can reach level 55 (level cap) in a week if you really strive for it. Because of this, you see servers full of level 55's which is boring to me. I hope to see an expansion pack for COD4 in the near future... maybe extending the level cap to 100 and a few extra maps... some extra unlocks? Maybe that's pushing it... The cheats are already out but that's expected with a new game. I hope to see them contained soon. I would have loved to see hosted stats but that's not happening.

My rating: 9.5

Braveheart
02-23-2008, 08:44 PM
yep, i played it on a quad core PC the other day, man it's amazing.