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Call of Duty 4Modern Warfare
2007/11/15
My auditory spectrum is governed by a penetrating howling sound and all contours go out of focus by the computer screen’s harsh white glare. I have been hit by a flashbang. Contrary to my expectations, I am still alive. Slowly I recover, and my field of vision becomes clearer. Other sounds begin to permeate the high-pitched howling noise: exploding grenades, ricochets and countless bullets being fired off. Somewhere in the distance I hear the enemy cursing. I receive my next order over the radio. I am aware of two of my comrades in front of me. One is kneeling and the other one is lying down. In the blink of an eye, the former is hit. I desperately push ahead and storm from my cover. Dozens of bullets whiz past me, some of them find their target. I can hear my pulse racing, and the edges of my field of vision start to turn red. I crawl to the designated point and hope that I do not get hit by a deadly projectile. I make it to the position, under a constant hail of bullets, and set up an infrared sender. A little while later I am aware of the sound of helicopter rotors. The cavalry is coming! You guys are in for it now! Missiles hiss loudly towards the enemy’s position, heavy minigun fire recites a fatal song. The enemy’s position is completely leveled. What a spectacular sight!
The game’s momentum inevitably grabs hold of you right from the very start. You sprint across the battlefield and constantly throw yourself to the ground, in order to narrowly escape virtual death. You experience a variety of sensations as you make your way towards your goal. Relief replaces tension as back up comes to your rescue. Cockiness turns into a sense of dread as you watch the enemy, who heavily outnumbers your forces, approach with tanks. Call of Duty 4 is in every respect a thrilling and intense experience that almost spoils you with its depth. 
You go about your daily tasks as either a heavily armed marine, a member of a special task force with high tech equipment, a well-camouflaged sniper or the gunner in a jet bomber. Your path will lead you across the deck of a cargo ship bobbing on the ocean waves, cities ravaged by war, snowy wastelands and other landscapes. Variety and diversity are what make this game so good. The daily order of business calls for MOUT (Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain), infiltrations and open battles. Hoards of opponents will make your life difficult and give your AI muscles some exercise. Some of them even choose to take cover behind a picket fence. This is not really a wise choice though, because your bullets can penetrate wood, sheet metal and thin walls. The game is pretty fair, but it is very demanding. The cinematic presentation displayed by Call of Duty 4 is impressive. If you throw yourself into a corner while trying to take cover, the frantically paced, non-stop action of the battle will almost make your head spin. Projectiles strike everywhere, making the walls crumble and stirring up dust. Missiles, which leave trails of smoke in their paths, whiz past your head. One action-packed moment is directly followed by another in Call of Duty 4, making boredom a thing of the past. You feel as if you are right in the middle of it all. Working with their surroundings, ally soldiers push garbage bins in front of them to use as cover against the bullets. If you turn on your night vision goggles or you fight ground targets from an AC 130 airplane, some of the visual images you are confronted with are authentically grim. The level of realism is so high that it occasionally makes you almost queasy. 
The game never lacks intensity and excitement, even if the single-player campaign is a bit short. The missions that you have to complete as a member of the SAS are less challenging than those that you have to complete as a marine, but the SAS assignments have their own appeal. As a sniper you experience moments of intense excitement as you move among the enemy, and try not to let your unbelievably well camouflaged commander out of your sight. The story and the events in the game flow together seamlessly. The game offers a sense of depth that other games can only hope for. While all this is going on, you will experience moments that intensify this sensation; you crawl out of a helicopter wreck half dead or a comrade pulls you to your feet after an explosion. There is little time to catch your breath. The more serene moments are often interrupted by an unexpected turn of events, and you are called into action yet again. At some points the amount of time you have to save someone, to reach a landing zone or to neutralize a threat is limited. EB
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