Why Call of Duty 4 is a Great Game Review

Posted date: September 23, 2008 In: Reviews | comment : 42

Call of Duty 4 is a great game. This is evident from the countless websites like this one devoted to it, the 11 million copies it sold worldwide and the overwhelmingly popular reviews it received from critics. But lets take a closer look at exactly why, from a game strategy and design standpoint it was so successful.

Weapon Customization and Perks – In the past most FPS games forced you to pick up weapons and perks as you went on in the game, only to loose them the moment you die. This makes it difficult for players to familiarize themselves with all the weapons and find their niche in the game. Create a Classes also give you some level of attachment to the being you are controlling and the weapons they are using, almost like an MMORPG would. The leveling system is also very similar to that of an MMORPG, you don’t just start with all the weapons and perks, you have to play the game and earn them. Call of Duty 4 also gives you as much time as you want to customize your Create a Classes, unlike say, Counter Strike where you have a few milliseconds to hit “B-1-4″ and go to town. To see the power of class customization in action just playing an Old School TDM match and compare that to a normal game on your own fun scale.

Balanced Yet Unique Weapons – Weapon balance is a huge problem for most FPS video games. You either get totally unfair rocket launcher vs. knife battles or 10 versions of the exact same pistol that might as well shoot paintballs. As much as we try to analyze which weapon is the absolute best on this website they weapons are balanced enough that is impossible to say with any certainty. Sure you have some weapons that are generally better than others, the P90, M16 and RPD come to mind. But you don’t have that single gun on par with the sword of Excalibur.

No Vehicles – This is another issue of weapon balance and even handed game play. Any Halo player out there can tell you it isn’t very fun getting killed by the same Warthog over and over again when all you have is a pistol to defend yourself. A player in a tank is always going to be better than a player off by his or her lonesome, no matter how much you twist the game and nerf the power level of vehicles.

Map Packs – Extra downloadable content is the new thing out there for video game developers. Somewhere along the line game developers realized that people would be more likely to buy a game if it actually evolved and didn’t become boring after the first week. It also helped that figured out they can make a nice chunk of extra cash charging for the new content. The 4 new maps in the pack may have not been the best designed ones ever, but the only thing that mattered was that they were new. The release of map pack for both console and PC players infused new life into the game and ensured that Call of Duty 4 would hold it’s stance as one of the best first person shooters of all time.

Call of Duty 4 isn’t perfect, nade spam, martyrdom, short single player campaign and a myriad of other things can be a drag. Sometimes though you have to forget those negatives and look at what makes Call of Duty 4 great.

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[B.K] Banme!

In my opinion I think COD4 has been the best game ive ever played.

I agree completly with you about the vehicles.

If COD4 had vehicles the game would be crap absouloute crap. As you said its a huge dissadvantage when some1 is in a vehicle whilst some1 else is on foot.

Ive play HALO before and vehicles have ruined the game.

you just respawn and u get either shot by a tank or run over by a car so ENNOYING.
http://www.myspace.com/lastsunrise17 insanefreak

how come every hates martyrdom i love it it is not a great feeling when u kill some 1and u get grenaded but just run away or respawn i personally hate juggernaut way more
Anonymous

martydom is gay cuz you get rewarded for dieing…
dead_water

Agreed, COD4 is the best game I’ve ever played. To me, it’s the balance of the weapons. You can use any primary weapon and still do good. Then, you can tweak those primary weapons with different perks, and some of the most totally rediculus perk/weapon combos can actually be quite effective and give everyone a good laugh. I only wish that pc’s had prestige =(

And marty is annoying because it seems to kill as long as that nade icon is up on your screen, unlike a normal nade which seems to only heavily damage you (IMO anyway). It’s also annoying when you walk around a corner and die cause some marty usin shotty just got sniped there. It’s one thing if you marty the dude who killed you, that was it’s purpose. It’s just annoying when I didn’t kill or even try to kill the guy and still get killed by his marty. But it is there, so we just gotta put up with it.
http://www.gamingshield.com houck

Call of duty 4 is the best game this year, in my opinion.
DeathWish

Call of Duty 4 multiplayer has changed my opinion to videogaming. The big downside is that I don’t have that much fun on singleplayer games anymore. Multiplayer on COD4 is realy amazing. Much more than other multiplayer games. COD4 is the best on this moment. But what will happen if Far Cry 2 come available in october.r
I don’t have high expactations on COD5, just a feeling. I think Far Cry 2 multiplayer could be the next number one.
[B.K] Banme!

I dont no why but ive seen some Far Cry 2 trailers and the guns look so unrealistic they look like lego guns. Everything is so square and dull that it just looks fake although on the other hand Cod4 is the complete opposite everything looks so realistic and modern.
tfhomer

Great review. In regards to your campaign comment. I expect that we will continue to see smaller and smaller campaigns in the gaming industry for games with a strong multiplayer component. Only about 10% of players ever played the Halo 2 campaign all they way through. Assuming that this trend continues throughout similar type games such as CoD then there isn’t a big producer incentive to make lots of singleplayer content. Why spend time and money making a big singleplayer component that only a few people will play more than a few times. From a producers point of view multiplayer is what they want in the game becuase that’s what keeps people coming back.
Anonymous

COD4 is by far one of the best games I’ve palyed. Its matchmaking system is great allowing ou to stay in a match adn get to know the people your playing with along with making the time between matches much shorter. The perks do however seem to make it more difficult for people who are new to the game and I know from experience it can be frustrating starting palying. Besides this a short campaign and a lack of co-op COD4 has just about anything you’d want in a game.
Tazer

This is a great game and good review, and is it just me or does call of duty 5 (world at war) not excite me very much. It was so nice to get to try something new and get out of the world war 2 style game and now they are going back? I’m still not sure if i will get the next one, but you can bet that i will be there for the next cod4 type game. I just hope that they make the single player longer, and stick a few vehicles in there, not in multiplayer though because that would be unbalanced just like you said. Although you always enjoy running over someone. If i could have changed anything in the game i would have made the campaign longer and toned down the grenades (they hurt like hell).
iKe444

Great review and i also dont really care about cod5 when it comes out but i will buy it none the less.
Joe [The Plumber]

Love it but having doubts about COD5 WW2 comeon! that phase is way over.
Anonymous

totally agree with Joe the plumber.. WWII is so overplayed
Anonymous

Last stand is worse than martyrdom because u have an invincibility period when ur going into last stand. I knifed someone going into LS and got the ticks that say you hit someone but then they killed me in LS!
http://ihavetheprincess.wordpress.com dartmerc

hmm.. not much substance to this article.
Yes, COD4 is a good game, it really is – everything it does it does quiet well. It’s basically pulled everything that makes a good FPS game together in one well balanced package.
I do disagree with some of your points but I wont bother to argue them as it looks like you’ve thrown this together in a matter of minutes, so I’m not going to waste my time if you wont spend yours. COD4 is a good game and does some really cool, unique stuff – it’s a shame your post fails to mention anything like this and simplistically lists ‘surface’ features, ones that are immediately visible to the player. Tell me this, if a game has Weapon Customization and Perks, Balanced Yet Unique Weapons, No Vehicles and DLC, does it instantly make it a ‘great game’?
Of course not, and it’s an offense to COD4 and IW that you’d summarise it in such a way.
Anonymous

I’ve never seen a book written on this site, and I like it that way. To the point and informative. This post isn’t super informative like the others, but it’s also a much broader topic. He hit the highlights, plenty good enough for me.

Glad to see you fixed the site randomly displaying different articles every time you visit it.
Solid

cod4source i got a question are you gonna post gun stats for CoD WaW?
Anonymous

YA that would be awesome….. i wonder what the best sniper is..
iKe444

oh that was me ike
Anonymous

cod4 is boring.
http://FUNTWOATHOME OFUNTWO

THE BEST SNIPER IS 50 caliber and the best weapon is AK-47
Anonymous

lol @ ofuntwo
http://mapMonkeys.com Iowa Ronin

great game, but CoD2 is best shooter game ever.
took more skill and skills gap was greater.
Reasons why here… LOL
http://mapmonkeys.com/#community/forums/thread/9924
http://cod4source.com Anonymous

man, dartmac, u have no idea what u are talking about. The review was plenty helpful to people who actually know what COD4 is.
http://cod4source.com Anonymous

And yes, Iowa Ronin, I agree with you, COD2 is the best of the call of duty series.
Anonymous

where can idownload the game for free ???
Anonymous

you can get it for free here: http://smouch.net/lol/
twitcheirclub

cod 4 is a preety good game but it is not better than cod2 that is the best in the series not cod5
twitcheirclub

go to http://whattheydontwantyoutoknow/callofduty/.com to know why
twitcheirclub

dddddddddddddduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuddddddddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
the wepons in cod 5 multiplayre sssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkkkkk
ike

i know what u mean…. all i use is PTRS-41…. and flamethrower
guammy

so is this site dead now?
Tazer

Do you have a site like this about call of duty 5? Are you going to do anything about cod5, or any more about cod4?
Anonymous

I think it was a total waste to make CoD5. Online gameplay is pretty much the same, and they didn’t really wait that long after CoD4 was made to release it. My point is that we never really got a chance to enjoy CoD4 that
long. Infact the only benefit a gamer may get from buying this game is NAZI ZOMBIES.
Glen11

COD4 was out a long long time before COD5 so we hav had plenty of time to enjoy it.
a we will have plenty more time to enjoy it because COD5 sucks!
so we have another year untill COD6:modern warfare 2 is out
COD4 = Best Game Ever Made!!!!!
http://www.google.com dudeguy

It’s ok to have a comment.
xXCoD4FreakXx

I think that Call of Duty 4 is the best Call of Duty yet, it is even better than Call of Duty 5 I’m not going to judge because other people may think different but that’s my opinion. My favorite part about it is the snipers and camo for your guns, I’m more of a sniper on Call of Duty 4 and the Acog scope is awesome on the bolt action rifles. Overall the game is great
xXCoD4FreakXx

I hope Glen11 turns out to be right about there going to be a CoD 6 Modern Warfare 2 with the same concept of CoD 4 because that would make millions and hopefully it will be better then CoD 4
Mint 8

Love the game call of duty 4. its the best first person shooter I’ve played on PC. Personally i like the sniping and i got it gold but some things i don’t like is hackers, AA and Marty (when i decide not to snipe) but marty does nothing if they get sniped unless someone runs past the guy as he dies. But besides the marty and the hackers with their “fancy wall hacks” its a great sniper game for me. Fave map is creek or crossfire or maybe even overgrown. Does it count as a fluke if you get a double headshot 3 times? but like not in the same month or 2 just i’ve gotten 3 double headshots with a single sniper bullet in the time i’ve played. Can’t wait to see the multi player maps and snipers for CoD “6″ Modern warfare II. Halo vehicles probably do ruin that game but its wether ur actually good or not when it comed down to someone on a vehicle vs ground troop. Also cod5 has tanks and sorta ruins that game but its not too bad coz i like the mounted machine guns :0

if anyone plays this game cod4 ON PC – add me on xfire :Methven4

~Mint~
CoD4=mediocre

Cod4 is by no means perfect, as many of you have concluded. The varying aspects, and lack of true criticisms lead me to believe that all of your opinions are held based on simple contexts. Each positive aspect listed has some merit, but many of your opinions are vitally falwed and without any sort of backing.
Weapon Customization- While weapon customization is well done in Cod4, it is not the first success of this system. Games like Battlefield series have successfully accomplished highly regarded weapon customization systems long before CoD4. The underlying issue with any game that allows you to customize classes is that players then have the ability to abuse stronger weapons and strategies, taking away from the overall multiplayer experience. Games where weapons spawn throughout the map, forces players to gather there weapons and perks, instead of constantly spawning with the most powerful weapon set.
Balanced Yet Unique Weapons- To state that the weapons are unique in CoD4 is about as accurate as saying someone has a unique car when all cars basically the same. Yes the weapons are different, and the developers did vary damage, fire rate, and reload times, but no more than any other shooter. To then continue on and say that the weapons are balanced, an opinion I hope was formed through sheer ignorance of the game, is complete stupidity and a lie. You all have weapons which yuou use regularly. Weapons that are significantly better than every other weapon in the game. The m16, MP5, RPD, and the Barrett…
I was planning on continuing to evaluate this ludacris assessment of a decent game. IN summise, I do enjoy this game, and it is a good game, but people have given a great deal of credit to a good game simply because it combined the characteristics and successes of many games.
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BlinkingSky

Call of Duty 4 is a good game, but not the best game I have ever played. Also, it does not bring that much new things to FPS, just combines things made by other FPS games or other genres. Also create-a-class may be convenient but it makes it easy to abuse powerful weapons while games like Halo where there are weapon spawns make it more balanced and harder to camp without going out and securing the stronger weapons like the sniper rifle or shotty or rocket/spartan laser or a needler. Also, while vehicles would ruin any CoD game, it does not ruin Halo. In fact it makes it better because while the vehicles are powerful, they all can be taken out easily, even the tanks if you can place a couple grenades in good spots or you have a rocket launcher/spartan laser. Finally, since people unlock guns, some of them being very powerful, during level progression, it may be a good idea, but it makes it harder for new players to do good while Halo puts everybody on the same playing field with what gun they spawn with, no matter how long they have been playing or how good they are.

That’s all I have to say for now.