by John Finken

Created on: June 25, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Infinity Ward has outdone themselves with this one. 'Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat' is the absolute best first-person shooter ever created (and the Game of the Year, might I add). Most people who buy the game never complete the game's campaign mode, and only about 2.5% has completed the last mission on Veteran difficulty. Although the online play is thrilling, I think the campaign is greatly overlooked.

In the campaign, you switch off between numerous different troops and armies. But your goal is always the same: stop the terrorists from launching nuclear missiles into the United States. Throughout the campaign, you swarm a village, snipe dozens of guards without being detected(that is a hard mission), infiltrate a nuclear launch site, and finally kill the head of it all with a shining Desert Eagle .50 caliber pistol. The cool thing about the campaign is that after you've finished it, you unlock a hidden level. This level has no relation to anything in the campaign, and the Veteran difficulty has been called The hardest level of any video game. Ever. The level is called Mile High Club. You have one minute(there is a menacing timer in the top-right corner) to run through an airplane that is being held hostage by terrorists to save a hostage. Once you find the hostage, you see him being held in front of a terrorist. You must shoot the terrorist in the very top of his head (if you don't shoot in the exact right place, you will hit the hostage) in order to beat the level and save the hostage. There are hundreds of guides and tips on the Internet for help beating this level, because it requires such precision and skill. It is a fun campaign, but rather short in length. I could beat it on the highest difficulty, Veteran, in a day. I'm going to give the campaign an 8.5, due to it's short length.

Now that I have completed the entire campaign and earned all possible achievements, I just play on Xbox Live. In live there are tons of guns, gun attachments, and perks to choose from. There are 7 assault rifles, 6 sub machine guns, 3 light machine guns, 2 shotguns, and 5 sniper rifles. And possible attachments include silencers, grips, red dot sights, and ACOG scopes. The perks do many things. UAV Jammer makes it so you never show up on enemy radar. Juggernaut gives you a 40% health increase. And the most common perk, Stopping Power, makes it so your bullets have 35% more power. Pretty neat, I think you'll agree. But no internationally multiplayer game would be complete without epic maps to choose from. Call of Duty 4 boasts one of the most diverse sets of maps ever to hit the Xbox 360(or PS3 or computer, I suppose). There are maps with a grassy creek, a small warehouse, a large city, a small neighborhood, and more. It is truly the best game for online play on the market. I am going to give the online play a 9.5, because it is truly stellar.

I recommend getting this game, as it will definitely tide you over until the November release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Good luck and happy gaming!

Learn more about this author, John Finken.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.