| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 9.30 |
| Overall | 9.30 |
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Holy hell this game just blew me away, my jaw was on the floor for most of the single player campaign. Technically its a marvel, some of the best graphics of the year, surround sound that makes you feel like you are watching Saving Private Ryan. the single player is very very short (5-6 hours) but its packed with so much action and "HOLY *BLEEP* DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!" moments that you will not mind. CoD 4 is broken down into missions that last about 20 minutes each, once a mission is done the game usually takes you to a totally different location with a different focus on the gameplay. Thats the strength of the campaign every 20 minutes you are doing something totally different, that feeling of repetition that sets in after playing aFPS for so long doesn't happen here cause its constantly throwing you somewhere else. Let me take you through some scenarios to show how the gameplay switches up, one mission you are deep in the middle of a huge war zone, all out mayhem as you advance through a city using night vision googlesat times, next you are in an extraction mission in a quiet town where its more about carefully getting to your target, next is a mission where you protect a tank from attack, then a mission where you are a gunner in a helicopter, later on there is a stealth mission where you are a sniper. There is always a twist to the situation to keep you interested as well as amazing scripted events that wow you at every turn. Now the gameplay itself is standard FPS mechanics, not much innovative or new there. Its all military weapons, the focus of the shooting is more in aiming through your sights rather than running around shooting from the hip. You can crouch or go prone with the press of a button, thats about all there is with the cover system. Objects can be shot through so pay attention to where you hide. This is a game where the point is to advance, not to shoot every enemy, this is where the game may lose some people. Enemies will constantly respawn until you move past an invisible point, so being safe and taking out every enemy before moving on will not work. You will have to kill some to get the path clear a bit then move from one cover to the next getting closer to the goal. Its a bit different from most FPS but it works well in this game cause it keeps the game feeling like you are in a battlefield. Overall enemy AI is not that great, at higher difficulty bullets just hurt much more. So the gameplay is actually a bit standard its the many situations and variety in the combat they use that keeps this game at such a high level. For replay value you can play the campaign in a mode called arcade which turns the game into a score attack, with limited lives and scoring multipliers. The main portion of the game most will sink most time into is the multiplayer mode which is fantastic. I do not play online much, Halo is like the only game I really feel comfortable playing, but I instantly got into this game. I think the reason I like it so much cause the combat is more strategic than all out running and gunning. You need to move around carefully, you need to hide, take headshots, use cover. In a way it reminds me of Metal Gear Online without the zaniness. You customize your characterm you choose the guns you want him to have and special abilities (awesome stuff like last stand which gives you a final moment of life for you to use a pistol on your would be killer), this is so great cause the game does not become about who gets the best weapons the quickest, you all start with the guns you want. Also the game has a huge RPG like level up system, when you start off you can choose limited guns and abilities, as well as game types, but as you level up from getting kills and winning matches you slowly unlock more and more of the multiplayer. Its instantly addictive and far better than just trying to climb up impossible leader boards. All the standard game modes are in, the levels are taken from the single player campaign but they work well. Its one of the few online games I would play a whole lot, seriously one of the best I have played in a long time. So overall CoD 4 is without a doubt a GOTY contender. Its one of the best games of the year. Single player may leave you wantingmore but the multiplayer will make up for it. Overall Score: 9.3 |
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Posted by Dvader Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:46:29
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travo (9m)
And multi-player speaking, its one of the few shooters to really impress me in a long time.