November 5th Halo 3's fight will finish...

All of you FPS lovers are in for a treat come November 5th. The wonderful people at Infinity Ward have finally put together their follow up to Call of Duty 2. The title of such a game? The creatively named "Call of Duty 4". That's right.....After Treyarch nearly ruined the series with COD3, IW brings us COD4:Modern Warfare.

Now for those of you who don't play games too much here's a brief description of the FPS genre. First of all, FPS stands for First Person Shooter. In a game of this type you are in the perspective of the fighter...the only part of yourself you see is the gun you hold. Wolfenstein 3d and Doom were the games to get this genre going....and Call of Duty 4 is taking it to the next level.

I was able to get into the multiplayer demo which ended on September 30th. It was the greatest month of my Xbox live life...better than the peak of COD2 online and Gears of War online (which I was so hooked on I forced myself to sell it). Right out of the gate the game impresses. The first thing I noticed were the visuals. Although just a beta the areas looked fantastic. Great detail in the grass, the vehicles, player models, the sky and surrounding areas. It looked very polished. The controls are simplistic and easy to learn. Similar to COD2, they feel more natural than Ghost Recon or Halo.

Then there's the gameplay. The pace of the game is FAST. Don't be fooled that it's a run and gun title. Strategy needs to be used. It finds the prefect balance between Ghost Recon and Halo. You're doing yourself and your team an injustice if you just run around in the open looking for people to kill (like in halo) but you also will be wasting your time if you spend it waiting around and planning intricate attacks (like in Ghost Recon). So IW has found the perfect balance providing for a fast paced experience that calls out for team strategy and quick moving.

"But Allan....everything you've talked about seems like variations of other games...what does COD4 have to offer as far as NEW gameplay?"
Glad you asked!!!

In game rewards...
During play you are rewarded based on the kill streaks you achieve. Kill 3 people in a row without dying and you are rewarded a 30 second UAV radar, exposing the position of all enemy players on your map to your entire team. 5 kills without dying give you the ability to call in an airstrike....3 fast flying jets zoom over the location of your choice and drop heavy impacting rockets, destroying anyone in the vicinity. 7 kills in a row and you can call in a helicopter that searches the map for enemy players and blasts them to pieces. During matches the prospect of receiving these rewards causes you to hold back on the run and gun technique and be more careful as you run around the map. The 7 kill reward is difficult to get. I probably got a 7 kill streak once every 4 or 5 matches.

Perks...
Perks are a new addition to multiplayer in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which act as special abilities to customize your character to your play style. These perks are broken up into three categories and are limited to only having three active at a time (one per category). There are a vast number of perks available, creating a unique MP experience every match with the large amount of difference combinations available.
Confirmed perks:
* Last Stand: Fall to the ground and pull out your pistol for one last chance to kill the enemy before dying.
* Stopping Power: Increased Bullet Damage.
* Juggernaut: Increased Health.
* Martydom: Drop a grenade when you die. (Anti-Tbag Technology)
* Endurance: Longer Sprint.
* Deep Impact: Increased Bullet Penetration.
* Double Tap: Increased Rate of Fire.

So the above is copied and pasted from charlieoscardelta.com. I cheated but whatev. The perks make your character wonderfully customizable.

I could go on for pages and pages but I won't....the point is that COD4 is the best shooter I've ever played PERIOD!