“Buuuurgundy”

“BUUUUURGUNDY”

The calls of my mates throughout the household as the next map loads. Call Of Duty 2 has been a great past-time for myself, from the impactive single player campaign right through to the 7+ man house LANs as we troll Internode, Gamearena, and anyone else out there who wants a face full of Phaxx shells.

Now with Call Of Duty 4 (CoD 4) looming ever so closer, people around the world (including myself) are already shaping up to the challenge in the exclusive beta released recently. Unlike the thousands out there who managed to exploit Microsoft and Activision and get into the beta illegitimately; I managed to have a good legal romp last night through a few maps and the old game modes, DM, TDM, S&D, CTF; etc.

I’m hoping to get a full review of Call Of Duty 4 when I can, but for now I’ll use the beta as more of a comparison to what’s new and interesting over CoD 2.

If the weather doesn’t get them an RPG to the face soon will!

From the word go I could tell there’d be a lot to exclaim about CoD 4; well, once I got into a game that is. I’m hoping the lack of server navigation and confusing interface that plagues many online console games will be re-hashed somewhat for the proper release.

Fortunately the game I joined gave me a great ping and response, despite me having no apparent choice or sign as to who or where is hosting the match. Lucky, I thought, as there was clearly no time for lag or fooling around - CoD 4 seems to be a much faster game this time around. Apart from the smooth frame rate with no slow-down, players now have the ability to sprint which was one of my favourite features of a few custom CoD 2 servers out there.

After admiring my speed and smooth frame rate, I started to play around with the new features and weaponry. In a similar fashion to the recent Battlefield titles, I chose the assault class out of a small variety ranging from your expected sniper, heavy artillery, etc. A few rounds in, I was still coming to cope with the variety of new features and buttons. My 360 controller was getting a thrashing like none other before as I crouch, jump, grenade, special grenade, melee attack (now enacted with a hunting knife over the old gun butt method), zoom, and a variety of other options. It was actually all a bit confusing, as I found myself falling victim to not only my enemies but my apparent lack of ability at navigating a 360 controller (a problem I don’t remember having).

In my first few games I managed to snag a 3 kill combo, opening up a new radar (activated by X). This radar performs a sweep for myself and my team mates, showing enemy positions across the map without them making sound. Later I found myself with a 5 kill combo, allowing me to choose a spot on the map to call in an air strike. A combo higher than that… well you’re better than I was at my first few rounds of CoD 4, as I’m yet to find out. The new features are plentiful, and at this point plain awesome. Melee attacks with the knife are a fun change, a more notable addition though would be the ability to “throwback” prone grenades on the floor. A risky move, but great retaliation when you find yourself in amongst the occasional nade spam.

Feeling a tad… beige.

Once I really started playing the game and getting used to all the new stuff, the changes to the solid game formula also became apparent. Controlling higher ground seems to be a lot more essential in the few maps I played. Climbing ladders still leaves you vulnerable and open, but the top-down firing position seemed to always be dominant. Guns still vary from one shot kills from a rifle, to… one shot kills from an automatic. Some of the automatic-burst rifles seemed to be a bit TOO effective in taking down enemies, but that always was a part of fine-tuning combat approach in Call Of Duty.

One last yet important notable feature of CoD 4 is the customizable classes, featuring a range of unlockable weapons and perks. After playing a short while, I unlocked a vast variety of guns of which I could arrange to make my own class; somewhat limited in the beta but looks to add some great diversity to the online experience. Perks seem to act as a simple ‘advantage’ in the game, but useful in it’s own right (such as being able to draw your pistol before dying on the ground).

There’s a lot of new features to navigate in CoD 4. Getting to grips with it all can be confronting at first, but once handled it’s shaping up to present a fresh online FPS experience. If you’ve played an earlier CoD title - the same core gameplay exists, quick kills, and a lot of fun. This is shaping up to be another big title at LANs and events worldwide.