Call of Duty 4 - Hands On Impressions
With Infinity Ward and Activision making a drastic change to the incredibly popular World War II shooter this year, they're also offering gamers the chance to participate in an online Beta to get a sneak peak at the game's online play before release. Activision gave AceGamez the chance to get an early look at the title before the Beta officially launches, and we came away with some surprising results.
Perhaps the most exciting thing we can tell you is that the game still feels decisively like Call of Duty; in fact, it retains a feel very much like Call of Duty 2 (Infinity Ward's last COD game), and even brings back some features removed from COD2 for the last title, COD3, such as the Killcam that shows you the perspective of the enemy moments before your death. The gameplay itself is very smooth, running at a high frame rate, while featuring the fast-paced style the online aspect of COD has become associated with.
While we couldn't try out a lot of levels, fans should take note that the ones we did get to play were quite varied, spread out over Europe and various Middle-Eastern countries. Those afraid of nothing but Middle-Eastern desert settings need not worry, as one of the best maps in the Beta is a verdant villiage featuring an empty creek bed, several abandoned buildings, and trees covered in thick layers of moss. The battles all feature real-time player activated events as well, such as an airstrike attack that sees jets will fly overhead quickly, or a helicopter that will hover over the battlefield and lay down fire on the enemy team before being destroyed in spectacular fashion. However, some fans of a game like Battlefield 2 will not likely be pulled away considering these events cannot be controlled by the player as with those games.
With that said, COD4 doesn't look to be pushing the actual gameplay aspects of the genre too much further, but it has made an incredible effort to make the overall experience for the gameplay it does offer a very good one. A number of new, and unique, features have been added for the updated setting: for starters, if a player gets a three kill streak without dying they'll have the opportunity to activate the radar and locate enemies for a brief amount of time. Each class also comes not only with specific weapons, but what are called perks, and after reaching a certain rank players will be able to actually create their own class by combining a primary weapon, side arm, grenade type and a set of three perks. Though there are plenty we didn't get to play with, some perks offered include increased bullet damage, increased health, bigger explosion damage, longer sprinting, increased hip-fire accuracy, and deeper bullet penetration. These perks offer each player a unique edge over another but don't throw the balance enough to make it seem unfair to have one set of perks; there doesn't seem to be a be-all, end-all set of skills... yet.
There's plenty to do online when not in a game, too. Aside from managing your classes or setting up a party (yes, the game does include parties like every online game should!), you can enter what's called the Barracks where you can look at your progression. Your rank, experience points (XP), points to next level, and overall statistics such as kill counts and play time are managed here. Clan tags can be added, leaderboards browsed, and you can even look at a set of challenges for each weapon. These challenges not only gain XP, but special add ons such as laser sight or new gun camouflage. Much like Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, specifically the installment for the original Xbox, the challanges are not played seperately from the online game but must be done during one - for instance, obtaining 25 head shots with any gun will complete a specific challenge for that weapon. We're hoping other challenges outside of kill counts or headshots will be featured, as there are numerous classified goals that are unavailable in this build.
One very impressive aspect of COD4 so far is the graphics. Not only does it run very smooth, but the graphics are suprisingly polished. The amount of detail in everything is rather stunning, and on first view you won't be able to pinpoint exactly what makes the game look so good; you can just tell. The grass, broken fences, destroyed debris, thin layers of smoke coming from a helicopter on fire, and superb real time lighting effects all stand out, and considering this is only a Beta Build, to say we're excited about the graphical potential of this game is an understatement! Not only do the level designs look great, but they offer a good amount of freedom of choice; there are balconies you can climb up on, or ledges you'll be able to shimmy yourself onto if you get creative. Plenty of windows will need to be scoured when running down a street, and there are back allies everywhere. Online shooters should never be linear, and it looks like COD4 will do a great job at keeping players on their toes both when looking out for enemies and looking for new locations to attack from.
Fans of Rainbow Six: Vegas will be very happy with the rank system implemented in COD4, and the rewards it offers. Gamers will be encouraged to continually play and unlock new tools - what kind of tools remains to be seen. Overall COD4 is shaping up very nicely, managing to retain the familiar online gameplay it's known for whilst making a drastic change in location and equipment without altering the core experience too much at all. We're excited to see what other new features COD4 will bring to the online table; at the moment it has a surprisingly good grasp on what any good shooter should have these days.
Perhaps the most exciting thing we can tell you is that the game still feels decisively like Call of Duty; in fact, it retains a feel very much like Call of Duty 2 (Infinity Ward's last COD game), and even brings back some features removed from COD2 for the last title, COD3, such as the Killcam that shows you the perspective of the enemy moments before your death. The gameplay itself is very smooth, running at a high frame rate, while featuring the fast-paced style the online aspect of COD has become associated with.
While we couldn't try out a lot of levels, fans should take note that the ones we did get to play were quite varied, spread out over Europe and various Middle-Eastern countries. Those afraid of nothing but Middle-Eastern desert settings need not worry, as one of the best maps in the Beta is a verdant villiage featuring an empty creek bed, several abandoned buildings, and trees covered in thick layers of moss. The battles all feature real-time player activated events as well, such as an airstrike attack that sees jets will fly overhead quickly, or a helicopter that will hover over the battlefield and lay down fire on the enemy team before being destroyed in spectacular fashion. However, some fans of a game like Battlefield 2 will not likely be pulled away considering these events cannot be controlled by the player as with those games.
With that said, COD4 doesn't look to be pushing the actual gameplay aspects of the genre too much further, but it has made an incredible effort to make the overall experience for the gameplay it does offer a very good one. A number of new, and unique, features have been added for the updated setting: for starters, if a player gets a three kill streak without dying they'll have the opportunity to activate the radar and locate enemies for a brief amount of time. Each class also comes not only with specific weapons, but what are called perks, and after reaching a certain rank players will be able to actually create their own class by combining a primary weapon, side arm, grenade type and a set of three perks. Though there are plenty we didn't get to play with, some perks offered include increased bullet damage, increased health, bigger explosion damage, longer sprinting, increased hip-fire accuracy, and deeper bullet penetration. These perks offer each player a unique edge over another but don't throw the balance enough to make it seem unfair to have one set of perks; there doesn't seem to be a be-all, end-all set of skills... yet.
There's plenty to do online when not in a game, too. Aside from managing your classes or setting up a party (yes, the game does include parties like every online game should!), you can enter what's called the Barracks where you can look at your progression. Your rank, experience points (XP), points to next level, and overall statistics such as kill counts and play time are managed here. Clan tags can be added, leaderboards browsed, and you can even look at a set of challenges for each weapon. These challenges not only gain XP, but special add ons such as laser sight or new gun camouflage. Much like Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, specifically the installment for the original Xbox, the challanges are not played seperately from the online game but must be done during one - for instance, obtaining 25 head shots with any gun will complete a specific challenge for that weapon. We're hoping other challenges outside of kill counts or headshots will be featured, as there are numerous classified goals that are unavailable in this build.
One very impressive aspect of COD4 so far is the graphics. Not only does it run very smooth, but the graphics are suprisingly polished. The amount of detail in everything is rather stunning, and on first view you won't be able to pinpoint exactly what makes the game look so good; you can just tell. The grass, broken fences, destroyed debris, thin layers of smoke coming from a helicopter on fire, and superb real time lighting effects all stand out, and considering this is only a Beta Build, to say we're excited about the graphical potential of this game is an understatement! Not only do the level designs look great, but they offer a good amount of freedom of choice; there are balconies you can climb up on, or ledges you'll be able to shimmy yourself onto if you get creative. Plenty of windows will need to be scoured when running down a street, and there are back allies everywhere. Online shooters should never be linear, and it looks like COD4 will do a great job at keeping players on their toes both when looking out for enemies and looking for new locations to attack from.
Fans of Rainbow Six: Vegas will be very happy with the rank system implemented in COD4, and the rewards it offers. Gamers will be encouraged to continually play and unlock new tools - what kind of tools remains to be seen. Overall COD4 is shaping up very nicely, managing to retain the familiar online gameplay it's known for whilst making a drastic change in location and equipment without altering the core experience too much at all. We're excited to see what other new features COD4 will bring to the online table; at the moment it has a surprisingly good grasp on what any good shooter should have these days.
posted by Christopher Martin at Friday, August 24, 2007
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