Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. A handheld game was made for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America, Australia, and Europe in November 2007 for video game consoles and Windows. It was released for the Mac in September 2008, then released for the Wii in November 2009, given the subtitle Reflex Edition. It is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty video game series, excluding expansion packs, and is the first in the Modern Warfare line of the franchise, followed by a direct sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as well as the first game in the series to have a Mature rating. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous games in the series and is instead set in modern times. Call of Duty 4 was in development for two years. It uses a proprietary game engine. On September 10, 2009, it was re-released in Japan by Square Enix.
The story takes place in the year 2011, where a radical leader has executed the president of an unnamed country in the Middle East, and an "Ultranationalist" movement starts a civil war in Russia. The conflicts are seen from the perspectives of a U.S. Force Reconnaissance Marine and a British SAS commando, and are set in multiple locations, including the UK, the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Ukraine. The multiplayer portion of the game features various game modes, and contains a leveling system that allows the player to unlock additional weapons, weapon attachments, and camouflage schemes as they advance.
Critically acclaimed, the game received an aggregated score of 94% from both GameRankings and Metacritic. The gameplay and story received particular praise, while criticism targeted the failure of the game to substantially innovate the first-person shooter genre. The game won numerous awards from gaming websites, including IGN's Best Xbox 360 Game. It was the top-selling game worldwide for 2007, selling around seven million copies by January 19 and over thirteen million by May 2009.
==Gameplay==
As opposed to earlier games in the Call of Duty series, the game features modern equipment and new features, many exclusive to the multiplayer part of the game, such as "killstreaks"; killing a number of enemies without the player dying in between kills allows access to various assets including airstrikes and helicopter support. A character can be positioned in one of three stances: standing, crouching, or prone; each affecting the character's rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. Using cover helps the player avoid enemy fire or recover health after taking significant damage. As such, there are no armor or health power ups. When the character has taken damage, the edges of the screen glow red and the character's heartbeat increases. If the character stays out of fire, the character can recover. When the character is within the blast radius of a live grenade, a marker indicates the direction of the grenade, helping the player to either flee or toss it back to the enemy.
===Campaign===
The player takes on the role of various characters during a single-player campaign. The characters' involvement in the plot occurs simultaneously and overlaps the events in the game. As such, the player's perspective changes from one character to another between missions. Each mission features a series of objectives; the player is led to each objective with the heads up display, which marks its direction and distance. Some objectives require that the player arrives at a checkpoint, while other objectives require the player to eliminate enemies in a specified location, stand their ground to defend an objective, or plant explosive charges on an enemy installation. After the credits, a special epilogue mission is unlocked for play, featuring a four-man squad retrieving a VIP from terrorists who have hijacked an airliner. The SAS rescue the VIP and escape before the plane is destroyed.
===Multiplayer===
Call of Duty 4 features team-based and deathmatch-based multiplayer modes on various maps. Each mode has an objective that requires unique strategies to complete. Players can call in UAV reconnaissance scans, air strikes, and attack helicopters, when they achieve three-, five-, and seven-enemy kill streaks respectively.[3] A game ends when either a team or player has reached a predefined number of points, or the allotted time expires in which case the team or player with the most points wins. If the points are even when the time expires, Sudden Death mode is activated in which there is no re-spawning and the team who either has the last man standing, or achieves the objective first are the winners. If the player is in either of the two matches, then there is an Overtime match, in which the next team to win is rewarded the victory.
The player's performance in the multiplayer mode is tracked with experience points, which can be earned by killing opposing players, completing challenges, completing objectives, or by completing a round or match. As the player gains experience, they advance in level, unlocking new weapons, perks, challenges, and gameplay modes. The highest obtainable level is 55, but on the console versions of the game, the player has the option to enter "Prestige" mode, which returns their level to one and removes all accumulated unlockables. This process can be repeated up to 10 times with a different insignia being given each time.
Completing a challenge grants experience points and may unlock weapon attachments. As a player's level increases by gaining experience points within online games, it unlocks new weapons, perks, or challenges. As the player advances in levels, they earn the ability to customize their classes; this includes selecting their main weapon, side arm and special grenade type. Additionally, the player can select 3 perks, one from each of the three "Tiers", that can customize their character further. Perk effects include, but are not limited to, extra ammunition, increasing bullet damage by the player, or dropping a live grenade when the player is killed. The player is also given the choice to complete challenges in order to receive even more experience points; challenges include achieving a certain number of kills with a specific weapon, shooting down a helicopter or performing a number of head shots. Additionally, when the player attains a certain amount of headshots with a specific weapon, excluding sidearms, the player unlocks extra weapon "camos", or camouflage, to use for that specific weapon.
==Synopsis==
===Characters===
Main Article: List of characters in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
===Plot===
The game starts with Sgt. John "Soap" MacTavish arriving for his first day with the British SAS at a training camp in Credenhill, Herefordshire in the UK. There, he trains for a cargo ship raid in the CQB, or "Killing House". During the actual mission, located in the Bering Sea, Soap, Captain Price, Gaz, and several SAS members attempt to find a nuclear device on board. As they clear the ship of the hostile crew, the ship is fired on by Russian MiGs and begins to sink. The team escapes with the cargo manifest, which provides evidence of ties between the Russian Ultranationalist Party and a rebel faction in the Middle East.
Russian Ultranationalist leader Imran Zakhaev, who plans to return his motherland to the times of the Soviet Union, draws international attention away from his plans by funding a coup d'état in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, organized by a local separatist leader named Khaled Al-Asad. Discovering the plot, the American government starts a police action to stop the uprising, while the SAS continues to operate in Russia. After President Al-Fulani of the Middle Eastern country is executed on live TV and Al-Asad takes control, the SAS rescue their compromised informant, Nikolai, from Ultranationalist forces.
During the American invasion of the Middle Eastern country, a platoon from the USMC 1st Force Recon, led by Lt. Vasquez, searches for Al-Asad but are too late and only secure a television station broadcasting Al-Asad's plan. They then proceed to aid other American units who are fighting a battle against the separatists. During the final stages of the operation, United States Central Command learns of Al-Asad's position in the capital but is also notified by SEAL Team Six of a Russian nuclear weapon nearby and sends the Nuclear Emergency Support Team to disarm it. Meanwhile Vazquez's squad stays behind to rescue the pilot of a downed AH-1 Cobra that was providing them with fire support. Despite being able to save the pilot, the nuclear device suddenly detonates, leveling most of the city, killing most of the US invasion force. Jackson's squad's helicopter is caught in the blast, killing everyone on board.
The British then learn that Al-Asad fled the country before the American invasion and is hiding in a safe house in Azerbaijan. With the help of Nikolai's intel and assistance from Loyalist Russian soldiers, the SAS clear the village of the Ultranationalist forces, then capture and interrogate Al-Asad at his safehouse. Shortly into the interrogation, Al-Asad's phone begins to ring. After hearing the voice of the person calling Al-Asad's phone, Captain Price executes Al-Asad, now knowing that Zakhaev is Al-Asad's backer. Price then tells the story of a mission to eliminate Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine, 15 years earlier.
In the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zakhaev took advantage of the turmoil to profit from nuclear proliferation, and used his new wealth to lure soldiers from the Red Army to form his Ultranationalist Party. In 1996, Price was paired with Captain MacMillan, a Scottish SAS captain, to carry out a black op assassination of Zakhaev. After sneaking into Pripyat and hiding in an abandoned hotel, Price shot Zakhaev with a Barrett M82 sniper rifle, but Zakhaev survived, losing his left arm. MacMillan was injured by a crashing helicopter after he and Price shot it down. Price then carried MacMillian to the exfil point, defending it from attack by Ultranationalist soldiers until the evac helicopter arrived.
Back in the present day, a joint operation is conducted by Price's SAS unit, a USMC Force Recon unit led by SSgt. Griggs, and Loyalist Russian forces led by Sgt. Kamarov, to stop Zakhaev. They attempt to capture his son Victor in an unnamed Russian city, to learn of Zakhaev's whereabouts, but as they corner him on the roof of an apartment building, Victor commits suicide to avoid being captured. Zakhaev becomes enraged, blaming Western nations for the death of his son, and plans to retaliate by launching ICBMs armed with nuclear warheads at the East Coast of the United States, with predicted losses of over 41 million people. When the operatives arrive at the facility in Russia, Zakhaev manages to launch ICBMs towards the United States. However, the squad successfully seizes the silo command room and remote detonates the missiles over the Atlantic. They then escape the facility in military trucks with Zakhaev's forces in hot pursuit.
Before the squad can escape across a nearby bridge it is destroyed by an Mi-24 Hind, leaving them trapped. Zakhaev's forces arrive and engage the remaining members of the strike force. Gaz receives a call from Kamarov informing him that his forces are on their way to help. On the bridge a gas tanker behind them explodes, incapacitating everyone, except Griggs, who is killed while trying to pull Soap to safety. Zakhaev, along with two of his soldiers, walks through the squad executing them, killing Gaz and several others. Before he reaches Soap and Price, however, he is distracted by the destruction of his gunship and the arrival of the Loyalist helicopters. As Zakhaev fires at the Loyalist helos, Price slides his M1911 pistol to Soap, who shoots and kills Zakhaev and his two guards. When Sgt. Kamarov and his team arrive Soap is evacuated to safety, while a Russian medic attempts to resuscitate Price.
==Development==
Call of Duty 4 was developed by a team of a hundred people, over the course of two years. After Call of Duty 2, the Infinity Ward team decided to move away from the World War II environment of previous games in the series. This resulted in two game concepts: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While developing the story for Call of Duty 4, Infinity Ward chose to avoid referencing current, real-life wars, and keep the series' common theme of two opposing forces of similar strength. To enhance the realistic feel of the game, the development team attended a live-fire exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, a training facility in the California desert. This helped the developers to simulate the effects of being near an Abrams tank when it fires. The team also talked with United States Marines who were recently in combat to get a feel for the background, emotions, and attitude of Marines in combat. Veterans were also recruited to supervise motion capture sessions and the artificial intelligence design of the game.
The development team designed the online multiplayer component to be balanced and rewarding for new players while still offering something for experienced players. An early idea to implement air support (air strikes and attack helicopters) involved players fighting over special zones to access a trigger for air support against enemies. This idea was discarded because it discouraged the type of deathmatch gameplay they intended. The kill streak reward system was put in its place to encourage the improvement of player skills. Players were allowed to select weapons before matches to get accustomed to weapons more easily and minimize weapon hunting. Maps were designed primarily for deathmatch games—the developers felt such designs suited other types of gameplay as well. Map layouts were designed to minimize locations players could hide from enemy gunfire.
===Audio===
Most of the music for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was written by British composer Stephen Barton, who had also contributed to film scores by Harry Gregson-Williams. Gregson-Williams also composed music for the game, such as the main theme. Several music tracks from the game are available on Infinity Ward's "7 Days of Modern Warfare" website, and some are available at Barton's own web site. The rap song played during the end credits is performed by Call of Duty 4's lead animator, Mark Grigsby.
===Game Engine===
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on the IW engine, specifically IW 3.0, featuring true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field. Bullet penetration is calculated by the engine, taking into account factors such as surface type and entity thickness. The game runs in a native resolution of 600p on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Certain objects, such as cars and some buildings, are destructible. This makes distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the protection provided by objects such as wooden fences and thin walls do not completely protect players from harm. Bullet stopping power is decreased after penetrating an object, and the decrease is dependent on the thickness and surface type of the object. The game makes use of a dynamic physics engine, not implemented in previous Call of Duty titles. Death animations are a combination of pre-set animations and ragdoll physics. Console versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare run at a consistent 60 frames per second, and the Wii version runs at 30 frames per second. Code was included to determine spawning points based on the nearby weapons and the relationship between enemy positions and line of sight to the points. The various criteria are meant to minimize players dying immediately after rejoining a match, or being "spawn-killed" due to players simply waiting for others to "respawn". However, enemies may still respawn infinitely, a notable feature in Call of Duty game engines. 
The game engine has also been used for the development of two other Activision games. An enhanced version of the original engine was used in Call of Duty: World at War, the fifth installment in the Call of Duty series after Call of Duty 4, while a slightly altered version has been used for the James Bond video game Quantum of Solace as well as GoldenEye 007 using a heavily modified version.
==Marketing and Release==
On April 27, 2007, the day before the release of the game's official trailer, Infinity Ward launched a website called "Charlie Oscar Delta" to provide information on the game. Charlie Oscar Delta features a ranking system that allows users to complete missions to increase their rank and compete for prizes. Charlie Oscar Delta is derived from the NATO phonetic alphabet and the initials of Call of Duty. The first Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare trailer featuring game footage was released on April 28, 2007. An Xbox 360 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare public beta test was announced on August 30, 2007. The beta test was designed to test the servers, find glitches, and help balance out the weapons. It was originally only for residents of the US, but was later available to other countries. The beta concluded on September 30, 2007. The maximum rank for the beta was initially level 16, but was increased to level 25 towards the end of the beta. Three multiplayer maps were available for play: Crash, Vacant, and Overgrown. A single-player demo for the PC was released on October 11, 2007 as a Yahoo! exclusive download, and is now available for free download. The demo includes one level, "The Bog," which showcases the advanced night vision and associated graphics capabilities.
===Retail Versions===
The game was released as a standard version and a collector's edition. The Collector's Edition contains the standard retail game and a DVD containing a documentary film entitled "Great SAS Missions," which consists of archive footage of the SAS in action and accounts from former SAS members. The DVD contains a "making-of" featurette and a level walkthrough by the developers. Also included is a limited edition poster and an exclusive hardcover art book featuring never-before-seen concept, development, and final artwork. These elements were packaged in a larger cardboard version of the standard retail box. The collector's edition was originally only available in the U.S., but was later released in other countries. A "Game of the Year" edition was later released on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3 version included the Variety map pack on the disc, and while the Xbox 360 Game of the Year edition initially included an insert in the packaging which could be redeemed on Xbox Live Marketplace to download the Variety map pack, later releases did not contain the inserts, and so were no different from the original release of the game.
Call of Duty 4 was released for consoles and Windows in North America on November 6, 2007, in Australia on November 7, 2007, and in Europe on November 9, 2007. The Mac OS X version of the game was developed by Aspyr and released on September 26, 2008. It was released on the Mac App Store on or Around January 16, 2011. It was rated 15 by the BBFC, M for Mature by the ESRB, MA 15+ by the OFLC, 16+ by the PEGI, and 18 by the USK. The Wii port of the game, titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex, was developed by Treyarch and released on November 10, 2009, alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized.
===Downloadable Content===
Infinity Ward released the Variety Map Pack for the Xbox 360 on April 4, 2008. It includes the multiplayer maps "Killhouse", "Creek", "Chinatown", and "Broadcast". The same map pack was released for the PlayStation 3 on April 24, 2008. The Variety Map Pack was downloaded by over one million people in its first nine days of release, a record for paid Xbox Live downloadable content, valued at US$10 million. It was released as a free download for Windows on June 5, 2008, sponsored by NVIDIA, along with patch 1.6. A further patch for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game was announced over a year later in August 2009; the patch primarily addressed online multiplayer exploits. Patch 1.7 was released in June 2008. This patch can be applied to the Game of the Year edition directly with no prior patches. Earlier versions must have patch 1.6 applied first.
==Critical Reception==
===Reception===
Modern Warfare on release received critical acclaim from many video game publications. The gameplay has been cited by reviewers to bring the genre to "a new level of immersion and intensity that we had never seen before." Official Xbox Magazine said about the multiplayer, "it’s the multiplayer mode that solidifies the game’s instant-classic status" and that "the campaign never lets up." GameSpot gave a favorable review for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, saying that the "high quality of that campaign and its terrific multiplayer options make Call of Duty 4 a fantastic package." X-Play commented that "while it may not have revolutionized the genre, it comes damn close to perfecting it." GamePro claims that "the amazingly deep multiplayer rivals Halo 3's in terms of reach and scope."
The game's story has received a considerable amount of acclaim from reviewers. GamePro notes that "the intense single-player campaign offers up an action packed experience that features a tremendously compelling narrative; there are moments in the game that will send chills down your spine." GameSpot mentioned that the fact the "single-player campaign is over in a flash" as the only major flaw. While IGN described the campaign as "still very linear" like that of its predecessors, "eschewing the concept of sandbox gameplay," it noted that this resulted in "a much richer, more focused experience" with "beautifully scripted set pieces." IGN's Voodoo Extreme similarly remarked that it "virtually plays on a rail, but that’s part of its charm."
Call of Duty 4 has also received criticism. Xbox World 360 stated "It's smoke and mirrors and a host of cheap tricks," commenting on the fact that the game did not revolutionize the genre. Pelit also remarked that "the structure of the single player game should ... have been updated" and that "barging from one invisible checkpoint to the next throughout the whole campaign just isn't good enough anymore."
===Awards===
Modern Warfare received awards from various gaming sites and publications. Both GameSpot and GameTrailers gave the game the Best Graphics of E3 2007 award, and the Best PlayStation 3 Game of 2007 award, and later ranked it as the third best first-person shooter on its "Top 10 FPS Games Ever!" list. It gained high praise from both video game magazine GamePro and GameSpy, having been named the Best Overall Game of 2007 by the former, and Game of the Year by the latter. Game Critics also named the game "Best Action Game." From other authorities such as IGN and X-play, and the Spike Video Game Awards, the game won awards for areas such as Best Sound Design, Best Shooter of 2007, and Best Military Game. From the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Call of Duty 4 won Console Game of the Year, Action game of the Year, and Overall Game of the Year. From the British Academy Video Games Awards, Call of Duty 4 also won Best Gameplay of the Year, Best Story and Character of the Year, and People's Choice Game of the Year. Modern Warfare was awarded with the Academy of Video Games Awards Game of the Year 2007 Award. The readers of PlayStation Official Magazine voted it the 7th greatest PlayStation title ever released.
===Sales===
Before Call of Duty 4 was released, it was predicted to sell even more copies than the highly successful Halo 3; it had received reviews as high as Halo 3's, it was launching on three systems as opposed to one for Halo 3, and demand for the game led to a wide range of retailers only having enough available to satisfy pre-orders. It fulfilled the prediction and the Xbox 360 version became the best-selling video game in the United States from November 2007 to January 2008 according to the NPD Group. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions would go on to sell 1.57 million and 444,000 units, respectively, in the United States in November 2007. 1.47 million units of the Xbox 360 version were sold in December 2007; the game sold 331,000 copies for the Xbox 360 and 140,000 copies for the PlayStation 3 in January 2008. The Xbox 360 version was the third best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. with 3.04 million units sold, behind Halo 3, which sold 4.82 million units, according to the NPD Group. By January 2008, Call of Duty 4 had sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, and was the best-selling game of 2007. On June 3, 2008, Infinity Ward reported that Call of Duty 4 had sold over 10 million units. During a May 2009 conference call, Activision announced that the game has sold 13 million copies, surpassing Super Mario Galaxy as the best selling game released that week of November 2007.
Call of Duty 4 is a target of piracy, which has resulted in multiple copies of the game being illegally distributed online. Robert Bowling, Community Manager at Infinity Ward stated, "We pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer... What wasn't fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen/cracked CD keys of pirated copies."
===Wii Version===
Modern Warfare – Reflex Edition was ported by Treyarch. The Wii version of Modern Warfare has fewer features than the other console versions. It does not support split-screen multiplayer, and the graphics are not as developed. However, it supports co-operative gameplay in the campaign on a single screen. At any moment, a second Wii remote can be activated giving the second player their own aiming crosshairs. The game received an aggregated score of 76% on Metacritic. IGN gave the Wii version of the game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Reflex Edition, a score of 7.0, saying the visuals and pointer controls are not as polished as the Wii version of World at War, though they did mention the customization options and multiplayer are impressive. Official Nintendo Magazine gave it 80%, praising it for packing everything from its next-gen counterpart, but again criticizing the visuals. GameTrailers gave the game an 8.8, saying that despite some sacrifices, it retains everything good from its original version. Game Informer scored the game at a 6.5, stating that while the game was rather poor graphically, even by Wii standards, the bigger problem was the Wii remote, stating that it did not have enough buttons to support Modern Warfare's control scheme, and also that it was quite imprecise, contrasting it with the dual analog system used by the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, and the mouse and keyboard system on the Windows version of the game. GameSpot gave the game an 8.5, stating that the online was as addictive as the other versions, they also said that the controls "are precise and customizable enough to let you be all you can be".
==Links==
*"Call Of Duty 4 review". EuroGamer.
*"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". GameSpot.
*"Call Of Duty 4 rewview". GameSpy.
*"Call of Duty 4 – Review HD". Spike.
*"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". G4.
*"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". IGN.
*"2007 Game of the Year". GameSpy.
*"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review (Xbox 360)". TeamXbox.
*Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Reflex Edition Review – Wii Review at IGN
*Official website
*Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at the Internet Movie Database
*Call of Duty, an external wiki
Category:2007 video games
Category:Most Wanted Games
Category:Pc Games
Category:Game of the Year