One of the most highly anticipated video games of 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, decided to keep gamers happy and release an exclusive multiplayer beta over Xbox Live. Most fans of the series are more than just a little excited to see the series go away from the WWII remakes and into the universe of modern combat. Everything about this game screams (war in Iraq) and some of the items at your disposal are downright awesome. When the beta was announced via CharlieOscarDelta.com the internet literally slowed to a halt, but after some initial problems beta tokens finally began rolling out to early adopters. Publisher Activision and developer Infinity Ward (COD2) tossed a few tokens a week before it launched to the public so here are our impressions after three weeks of constant game time.
Even though COD4 looks nothing like the previous entries in the series, the core Call of Duty gameplay is still very evident. The developers have told me that they were working on this game from the moment they finished COD2, and this is instantly noticeable as the basic controls, and features are the same. Personally I am a believer of the school of if it’s not broken don’t change it and that is how I felt about Call of Duty 2 (Game of the Year). As most gamers who are alive know COD4: Modern Warfare is called so for a big reason, it takes place in this time period, not back when guns were reloaded using a musket and gunpowder. First off this beta is multiplayer only, so no one has got a chance (more than a short E3 movie) to look at the single-player portion of Modern Warfare, and these impressions are really only about one unfinished half (and the smaller half at that) of this amazing game. There is a chance for press to check out the single-player campaign coming up next month so stay tuned to Planet Xbox 360 for more information.
The beta includes three maps and starts out with a low player level. Since then we have already received one update to the max player level and supposedly some new maps may be added in the future. Once the beta is booted up gamers are greeted with a basic menu screen giving the option to join/create a game – either death-match, team death-match, or objective. The first two are pretty self-explanatory but objective is something new to the multiplayer portion of the COD series, while not new to the FPS genre whatsoever. In this mode players are split into even teams and then given an objective (much like Counter-Strike) such as blowing something up, etc. The developers promise a much more diverse selection in the final game but most early beta gamers should be very happy with the selection. Once the game mode is chosen you are thrown into the game lobby where you can chat with your other competitors/teammates and select your weapon class/items.
Creating a custom weapon class for your soldier is vital to your success in Call of Duty 4 from a multiplayer standpoint. At the beginning not much customization is available, other than choosing your primary gun, pistol, and maybe a few items/attachments. As gamers play (and win) more and more multiplayer games they will earn points, which increase their player level (think GRAW). These player levels come with names such as sergeant, captain, etc. In addition to completely new weapons each level comes with new features that are not available from the beginning. Weapon upgrades such as grenade launchers, the ability to carry more grenades, and something the developers call “perks” also come with improving your ranking inside the game. These perks are a really cool addition to the franchise and include things such as: more health, stronger bullets, faster running, last stand (my personal favorite, allows you to shoot your pistol a few times once laying dead), and many more that we have yet to see. Coming with the recent upgrade to level 12 was also the ability to add clan tags to my in-game name. This will be great news to those FPS players out there obsessed with team play and competition among clans. The ability to create custom classes is a really amazing feature in COD4 and I am enjoying it more and more everyday.
The three maps included in the beta are a nice variety and probably show off the three types we can expect in the final game; close cornered (inside buildings), open spaces (outside fields), and a level which ends up being a mix of both types. The gameplay resembles that of online COD2 play a whole lot, which is not a bad thing at all. Because of the upgrade in weapons gone are the days of 20 bullets to kill an enemy; now one or two shots landing on target and they are going down for the count. Some may be turned off by this new “reality” type gameplay for the COD series but most gamers I have talked with like it a lot more, at least for multiplayer. There are a few little gameplay teaks that need to be fixed but I am not going to talk about them unless they are still there when I review the final build later this year. Handling 16 players per game is tough for a game that looks as good as Call of Duty 4 does, but I found little lag or frame-rate problems throughout my time with the beta (I wonder how the PS3 version will fare
