Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, Windows, and the Xbox 360. It was released on September 30, 2008 for Mac OS X. It is the fourth installment of the Call of Duty video game series, excluding expansion packs. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous games in the series and is instead set in modern times. The game is the first in the series to be rated Mature in North America. The title and game details were announced on April 25, 2007, and the game was released worldwide between November 6, 2007 and November 9, 2007. It became available on Steam on November 6, 2007 for pre-purchase, and was available to play on November 12, 2007. The game was in development for two years. It uses a proprietary game engine, and includes features that include true world-dynamic lightning, HDR lighting effects, dynamics shadows, and depth of field. The story is centered around a fictional near-future conflict involving the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, who are fighting against Russian ultranationalists in civil war torn Russia, and rebels that have staged a coup d'état in a small Middle Eastern country. It is told from the perspectives of a United States Marine and British SAS operative, and is set in multiple locations, including the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Prypiat, 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. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received considerable praise and has won numerous awards from gaming websites, including IGN's "Best Xbox 360 Game." It was the top-selling game worldwide for 2007, reaching over seven million copies as of January 2008.

Gameplay

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter similar to previous games in the Call of Duty series, but set in the present-day instead of World War II.

The game's move to modern warfare introduces new weapons and technology to the Call of Duty franchise, including the M203 grenade launcher, M4A1 carbine, the AN/PEQ-2 Target Pointer for use in conjunction with night vision goggles, the MP5SD submachine gun, and the FGM-148 Javelin portable anti-tank guided missile. The player gains access to these over the course of the game, but may only carry up to two weapons in addition to grenades. Weapons from fallen foes can be picked up to replace weapons in a player's arsenal. Players also have additional abilities, including a grenade launcher attachment, night-vision goggles, and the ability to call in airstrikes. The gameplay of Call of Duty 4 shares several features with previous iterations of the franchise. Once again, players fight alongside AI-controlled teammates. They help during the game's missions by providing cover fire, shooting down enemies, and clearing rooms for entry.

A character can be positioned in one of three stances: standing, kneeling, 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 there are no armor or health powerups. 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

Similar to previous games in the series, 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 can change from one character to another between missions.

Each mission features a series of objectives; the player is led to each objective with the HUD, 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. The player is often accompanied by friendly troops, who cannot be issued orders. Laptop computers containing enemy intelligence appear throughout the campaign, and can be collected to unlock game bonuses.

After the credits roll, a special epilogue mission is unlocked for play, featuring an anonymous four-man squad of SAS troops 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, either an AH-1 Cobra for S.A.S. or USMC or an Mi-24 for OpFor or Spetsnaz, when they achieve three-, five-, and seven-enemy kill streaks respectively. A game ends when either a team has reached a predefined number of points, or the alloted time expires in which case the team with the most points wins. However in the rare case 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. Online multiplayer also tracks the player's progress and score in the online leaderboards. Players can compare their standing in Overall Score, Accuracy, Win & Loss and Kill & Death ratio with other players in their friends' list or around the world.

The player's performance in the multiplayer mode is tracked with experience points, earned by taking down other players, completing objectives, or by being a member of a winning team. 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 play "Prestige" mode; this resets their level back to 1 and all earned bonuses are lost in exchange for a special in-game insignia. This process can be repeated up to 10 times with a different insignia being given each time, giving the player a total of 605 levels to achieve.

Completing a challenge grants experience points and may unlock weapon attachments. When a player's level increases, it may unlock new weapons, perks, or challenges. At lower experience levels, the player only has access to five pre-determined classes, and cannot create a custom class with the weapon of their choosing. However, 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 a limited number of "perks" that can customize their character further. Perk effects include increasing damage by the player, being able to take more damage, or detonating a grenade after being killed in an act of martyrdom. The player is also given challenges to attempt, including achieving a certain number of kills with a specific weapon or shooting down a helicopter or performing a number of head shots.

Plot

The game begins with Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, Captain Price, "Gaz," and a small group of other SAS members infiltrating a cargo ship with Estonian registration numbers in the Bering Sea. After eliminating the crew and confirming the presence of a nuclear device onboard, the vessel comes under attack from hostile MiGs. The team manages to evacuate the sinking ship with the cargo manifest, which provides evidence of ties between a Russian ultranationalists group and a rebel faction in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Russian ultranationalist Imran Zakhaev is set on returning his homeland to the times of the Soviet Union by revolting against the government and seizing a nuclear weapons stockpile. In order to draw international attention away from his plans in Russia, Zakhaev funds a coup d'état in an unnamed Middle Eastern oil-producing nation, organized by local rebel leader named Khaled Al-Asad. It begins with the televised execution of President Yasir Al-Fulani. The British and American governments discover the plot while monitoring Zakhaev's recent activities, and initiate a police action to stop the uprisings in both regions. After President Al-Fulani is executed, SAS is deployed to rescue their informant within the Russian ultranationalist group who has been compromised and held in ultranationalist territory in the Caucasus Mountains, with help from a force of Russian military led by Sergeant Kamarov. Following the rescue of the informant the SAS team intends to fly him to safety in Hamburg, Germany, but on the way their helicopter is shot down over Central Russia. An AC-130 gunship is dispatched to provide fire support for the team until they safely manage to evacuate from ultranationalist territory.

Soon after Al-Asad's coup, the United States invades the Middle Eastern country, using Marine Corps air cavalry to secure a local harbour. A platoon from the USMC 1st Force Recon led by Lieutenant Vasquez searches the city for Al-Asad, securing the television station broadcasting rebel propaganda, but failing to find the revolutionary leader. During the night, while the main USMC forces push Al-Asad's forces back to the capital city, Vasquez's men secure a disabled M1A2 Abrams main battle tank and escort it back to a highway. They are then airlifted to take part in what appears to be the final stages of the conflict, when United States Central Command is notified by the SAS of a Russian nuclear weapon nearby, and sends a team to disarm it. With Command ordering the evacuation of U.S. forces as a precaution, Vasquez's platoon helps to extricate an advance team pinned by enemy fire. The nuclear device nevertheless detonates, leveling large parts of the city and killing U.S. forces in the area. Vasquez and his squad were delayed from escaping the blast radius due to a last-minute rescue of a downed AH-1 SuperCobra pilot, and are aboard one of the helicopters caught in the blast radius. Jackson survives the crash of the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter but dies soon thereafter.

Al-Asad is revealed to have fled the country before the United States-led invasion. However, with the help of Nikolai, who the SAS rescued earlier from Russian ultranationalists, the SAS is led to one of Al-Asad's safe houses in Azerbaijan. After interrogating Al-Asad and learning Zakhaev had supplied the nuclear bomb, Captain Price executes him.

Price then has a flashback of his mission to eliminate Zakhaev in Prypiat, Ukraine, 15 years ago. 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 Soviet Army and form his Ultranationalist breakaway faction. Price, who was a lieutenant with the SAS, was paired with Captain MacMillan to carry out the black op assassination on the British government's orders. While Zakhaev was engaged in an arms deal, the SAS commandos used the opportunity to target him with a sniper rifle. Zakhaev survived, however, but lost his left arm. The Ultranationalist forces tracked the shot and pursued the snipers across the Zone of Alienation. During the chase, MacMillan was injured by a crashing helicopter they shot down, and Price was forced to carry him to the evacuation zone, narrowly escaping the enemy.

Returning to the present, the ultranationalists launch a counterattack against the SAS. From the village where the safehouse is, Captain Price's men briefly hold out against the assault with the aid of close air support from Marine AV-8B Harrier IIs before they are extracted by American forces, led by Staff Sergeant Griggs, who recently served alongside Sergeant Jackson in the USMC campaign in the Middle East. A joint operation, comprising of an SAS Regiment under the command of Captain Price, a USMC Force Recon unit led by Staff Sergeant Griggs, and forces from the Russian military led by Sgt. Kamarov, is undertaken to stop Zakhaev. They attempt to capture his son Victor to learn of his whereabouts, but the mission ends in failure when Zakhaev's son commits suicide after being cornered.

Zakhaev becomes enraged, blaming Western forces for the death of his son, and plans to retaliate by launching a series of SS-27 Topol M ballistic missiles with MIRV warheads at the East Coast of the United States from a missile base held by the ultranationalist forces. The ultranationalists are well-entrenched in the missile launch center, having earlier eliminated a group of Spetsnaz from the Russian military trying to retake the facility. The SAS/USMC operatives launch yet another joint mission to retake the facility, and starts off with the rescue of Griggs, who parachuted too far from the landing zone and was captured by enemy troops. They then disable the power to the facility, allowing a squad of USMC to breach an electrified fence. The squads meet up, but are shocked when Imran Zakhaev successfully launches two missiles (which would kill over forty million people). The operatives fight their way through the main gates, destroys a few BMP's, and enter the underground missile facility through a few air vents. The player now follows Cpt. Price to retake the missile control center, while the rest are told to capture the security center, which allowed Cpt. Price and his squad through a big reinforced blast door. The squad successfully deactivates the missiles before they reach their targets. Zakhaev's reinforcements, however, surrounds the missile silos and the joint force commandeers jeeps to make its escape.

During the escape, an enemy Mi-24D Hind gunship destroys a bridge the soldiers are attempting to cross, leaving them trapped. Zakhaev's troops arrive soon after, and begin engaging the remaining members of the strike force. A wrecked gas tanker on the bridge explodes, incapacitating everyone except Griggs. Griggs is then shot while trying to pull Soap to safety. Zakhaev himself arrives on the scene accompanied by two soldiers. Gaz and many other surviving members of the strike force are executed by Zakhaev and his men, and Zakhaev is on the verge of killing Soap too, but is distracted by the destruction of the Mi-24 Hind followed by the arrival of a Russian military Mi-28 helicopter. At this moment, a heavily wounded Captain Price slides his M1911 pistol to Soap, who then shoots and kills Zakhaev and his guards. Russian military forces arrive on the scene shortly afterwards. As MacTavish is medevac airlifted from the battleground on a Mi-8 helicopter, a Russian medic is seen desperately attempting to resuscitate Price.

After these events, news reports mention "nuclear missile tests" in Central Russia, "leadership struggles" arising in the ultranationalist party, and the attempt to locate a cargo ship lost in the Bering Strait has been called off, implying that the recent police actions in Russia were conducted in secret, and were not public knowledge.

Game Engine

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a proprietary engine and with features that include 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. 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 speed and stopping power are 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. Code was included to determine spawning points based on the nearby weapons, and enemy positions and line of sight. The various criteria are meant to minimize players dying immediately after rejoining a match. The game engine is also being used for two upcoming Activision games. An enhanced version of the original engine is being used for the next game in the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: World at War, while a slightly altered version will be used for the James Bond video game Quantum of Solace.

Marketing & 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 (168 minutes) 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 in-game 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 US, but was later released in other countries.

Downloadable Content

Infinity Ward released the Variety Map Pack for the Xbox 360 on April 4 2008. It includes the stages "Killhouse", "Creek", "Chinatown", and "Broadcast". The same map pack was released for the PlayStation 3 on April 24 2008, as the PlayStation Store was undergoing an update the previous two weeks. 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 for Windows on June 5 2008, sponsored by Nvidia, along with patch 1.6.