Call Of Duty 4 - Xbox 360 (Released 2007)

OK, I picked up the game a day early, because I had such a blast with the Call of Duty 4 beta on the Xbox 360,
I couldn't control my hand reaching into my wallet and pulling out my MasterCard to pay for it. And what I found
when I started up the game exceeded my expectations for a next-gen game that sports big gun battles and one of the
coolest prologues I have ever seen.

First off, some details about the game. You play as multiple characters (as in all Call of Duty games) with their
roles revolving around the same story setting. The game takes place (as its title implies) in a modern setting, with
a somewhat typical plot; a Russian nationalist wants to restore his homeland to the Soviet Union by using nuclear weapons,
and of course, your job is to stop him.

The game starts with a simple training obstacle course designed to help you get familiar with the controls, in which you move
onto a speed-trial course that as you move faster in the course, the game suggests a difficulty setting for you.

The battles you encounter range from sieging small rooms with flash bangs and shotguns, to full on rifle engagements in alley-ways,
to picking off the baddies with a sniper rifle in the even bigger gun fights. The game is fast and on the harder difficulties
(I'm playing the game on its hardest: Veteran) it is downright brutal. In all honesty, you can even find yourself confused when in
such big battles, I find myself wondering "WHERE THE **** AM I GETTING SHOT AT FROM?" then finding myself aiming at the wrong people.
The action is frantic and if you plan on playing the harder difficulties, be prepared to die a lot from grenades and well-hidden enemies.

The game runs at a super-smooth 60 frames per second, making it feel so fluid, that going back to play Halo 3 or Gears of War almost feels
like your playing those games in slow motion. The controls are nice and responsive, and feel like most first-person shooting games should
feel. Natural + Smooth.

Lastly, the multiplayer: WHOA IS IT FUN! As you play online, you gain a rank. Not a skill level-based rank, but a real military-style rank
such as private, staff seargent, etc., all the way to general. You gain rank by gaining experience points in the game. Now that ranges from
killing someone, winning a match, to winning some objective; now you get rewarded to gaining your ranks, and that includes new weapons and
additions to your weapons such as such as: Scopes, Silencers, Camo, etc. You also unlock what are called perks, which are subtle abilities
you character may have, including shooting through walls, having higher than avg. health, doing higher than avg. damage, or being undetectable
by radar. In addition, you can create your own class of soldier using a variety of weapons and perks.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare makes for one helluva next-gen experience since Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. It adds fast, fun gameplay and
is immersive, but not too realistic. Its single player and multiplayer experiences are top notch, which seem to be lacking in some games of today.
Nevertheless, anyone who likes shooting games will love the new addition to the Call of Duty franchise.

Score: 9.5/10