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I just finished playing through COD4. Man, what a trip. This is the third game now from Infinity Ward (COD3 was by someone different, sucked, and wasn't for the PC), the third sequel in the franchise, and it was awesome. Sickly, incredibly, awesome. Now I want to say that I haven't even touched the multiplayer yet, because the single player campaign is really what I think has made this as well as the previous games so good. It literally sucked me in and had me on the edge of my seat the entire game, which I might add was the perfect length. And the best part was, they successfully pulled off a departure from the typical WW2 setting, and nailed it!

I am going to say that Call of Duty is the example of the perfection of the single player first person shooter genre. I think the key is taking innovative gameplay and cutting edge graphics and adding a compelling, dramatic story. In a recent post, I touched on how games have the ability to take cinematic entertainment one step further by directly involving you in the action. This creates an experience that is absolutely addicting, especially to a movie buff like myself. When done right, like in Call of Duty, you literally have a movie that you participate in. It. is. so. cool.

That cinematic feel is accomplished in several ways. First, and most obvious, it's from character development. COD has you always working with computer allies, some of which are with you throughout the game. They have names and personalities (which is really helped by some great voice acting), and you get to know more about them as the game goes on. This is enhanced by the fact that you are fighting alongside these characters, working together - and I swear that COD does this so well that it literally strikes emotional chords within me when I play this stuff.

The cinematic element is also created by scripted action. I'm talking about specific moments in the game certain events will play out that are beyond the normal capabilities of the engine or AI. These events largely range in scale, which is what really adds the beauty to the experience. For example, it could be as small as elaborating on normal actions that would occur in the game, like instead of a soldier just shooting another at close range, they go into a scripted grapple in hand-to-hand combat. On a larger scale, you might shoot down a helicopter, and instead of it exploding or crashing as the standard physics and AI would have it, it goes into a wild spin, banking toward you as its rotors smash into the ground forcing you to run out of harm's way. The effect on the experience is incredible and larger events normally have a purpose within the plot as well. In the helicopter example, your partner is injured by the crashing helicopter, and for the rest of the mission you have to carry him, putting him down to engage in firefights while he helps from the ground.

The last thing I want to point out that really shines in COD4 is the varied gameplay. This is not a monotonous shoot-em-up-fest. Intense firefights are interspersed with clandestine sniper missions, a nuclear explosion, the interrogation of a prisoner, and the controlling of the massive guns of an AC-130 gunship high above the battlefield, the likes of which I've never seen before. This is what Bioshock didn't have, and while I thought that game was a great addition to the genre, I see now that it wasn't just the lack of the human element that turned me off to it, as I had thought before.

This game embodies the current height of what PC gaming can offer to fans of this genre. I loved it.

External Link: http://edborden.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-cod4-perfe...