Call Of Duty 4 Review

Counterstrike, good old counterstrike. If ever I feel the need to shoot somebody with a high powered pistol or a full auto rifle, I go for counterstrike. But counterstrike, no matter how many updates it has gone through is still almost a 9 year old game! I think it’s about time we find a new better game. And, I think I may have just found one. (warning – to show off the graphics, this will be image heavy)

Ever since I assembled Sylvester I’ve been playing any game I could borrow or acquire for myself. I stumbled upon this game (actually hiniram ko sa kaibigan ko): Call of Duty 4. Let me tell you mga kapatid, it is absolutely impressive. I’ve played a lot of shooters but this one takes the cake (without a few quirks, this could take the entire bakery). When you play, its war! Dapat lang diba? Title pa lang may “modern warfare” na eh. So let’s take a look at what it offers.

Graphics wise, the game is stunning. Parang babaeng matagal mo nang hinahanap, at pagkahanap mo, mas maganda pa pala siya kaysa sa iyong mga guniguni (yokyokyok). Sylvester’s dual video cards were challenged with all the settings set to max but it ran beautifully! I don’t want to be too technical but cropping (yung tipong may braso, baril ng kalaban na lulusot sa pader) is non-existent. With a good monitor, you feel like you could just reach out and kill the enemy with your bare hands. The previous Call of Duty titles were all impressive in their own right, all set in WW2. But, this addition to the series is set in modern times, albeit too eerily familiar.

Firing a gun in Call of Duty 4 feels like you’re firing a real gun (wala nga sobrang ingay at wala din amoy ng gunpowder). Believe me I’ve fired many rifles in my life and this is the closest they’ve got to the feel of it. They sound perfect as well. The gameplay is chaotic once you get down to the nitty gritty and dig in for combat, you’ll hear everything. Your enemies shouting, your friendlies shouting, rockets flying, even the bouncing of a frag grenade as it nears you before it rips you to shreds. It all sounds fantastic! My only complaint is that you barely hear the orders being given to you through the chaos (maraming salamat sayo Diyos ng mga subtitle!)

As for playability, you won’t be able to click quit on this game. The singleplayer options are wide and varied. You can go back and try to play the game at different difficulty levels. You can play certain missions you like over and over. It also has a mission selector. There’s also an arcade mode you can unlock and a cheat center that you can apply cheats with. My only problem in singleplayer is that it’s a bit short. Sa totoo lang medyo nabitin ako. But the pride of Call of Duty 4’s playability is in multiplayer. There is so much content on the multiplayer side it’ll make your head spin.

There is a class system in multiplayer. Each class is only able to use certain weapons at first. However, as you “level up” (uuuuyyyy) your class, you can get rewards of weapons, weapon attachments and perks. Perks are small bonuses that adds health, makes you move faster, oh and there’s one that makes you drop a grenade everytime you die (badtrip nga lang sa multiplayer pag may friendly fire – pero masarap sabayan mo ng sigaw “Goodbye Philippines!”). My favorite is the one that when you’re about to die, you pull out a pistol and take pot shots at your slayer “resback” style. There are several modes in multiplayer as well, including a Counterstrike style, terror, counter-terror bombing thing. Pero BAKIT WALANG TEAM DEATHMATCH!?!! That’s my only complaint in multiplayer. Oh and the trashtalkers in game. pweh! (Di naman ata nawawala mga yun eh).

There will always be something to do in Call of Duty 4; level up your class, find the perfect weapon and perk settings for yourself, or just basically shoot and kill people! I guarantee you’ll be playing this game for a long long time.

All in all Call of Duty 4 could be the next counterstrike. There’s only 1 hitch, not all internet cafes can run it, not even with all settings set to minimum. I guess we’ll have to encourage our cafe owners to upgrade a bit. But, if you own a good system, grab a copy ‘cuz after returning my friend’s copy, I’m buying my own! Look for me and lets see what you’re made of! yokyokyok

(disclaimer lang mga kapatid: all of the images you see here are in-game screenshots, not pre-rendered sequences.)

Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Modern First-Person Shooter
Minimum System Requirements: Intel P4 2.4GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, GeForce 6600 / Ati Radeon 9800Pro, 8GB HDD space