Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the Call of Duty series. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous entries and is instead set in modern times. Developed over two years, Modern Warfare was released in November 2007 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. A Wii port, developed by Treyarch and subtitled Reflex Edition, was released in 2009. It was followed by two sequels that continue the storyline: Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3.
The game was praised by critics, especially for its gameplay and storyline, winning numerous "Game of the Year" titles and two BAFTA Video Games Awards. It was the top-selling game worldwide in 2007, selling around sevenmillion copies by January 2008 and almost sixteenmillion by November 2013. Retrospective reviewers consider it one of the best, if not the best, games in the series, and one of the greatest video games ever made for its influential campaign and multiplayer. The multiplayer portion of the game features numerous game modes and contains a leveling system that allows the player to unlock additional weapons, weapon attachments, and camouflage schemes as they advance.
A remastered version of the game, developed by Raven Software and titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, was released as part of special edition bundles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in November 2016 and as a standalone game in June 2017. A reboot of the Modern Warfare game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, was released in October 2019.
Gameplay
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter. A character can be positioned in one of three stances: standing, kneeling, or prone; each affecting the character's rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. Using cover helps the player avoid enemy fire or recover health after taking significant damage, as there is no armor or health powerups. When the character has taken damage, the edges of the screen glow red and the character's heartbeat increases. If the character stays out of fire, the character can recover. When the character is within the blast radius of a live grenade, a marker indicates the direction of the grenade, helping the player to either flee or toss it back to the enemy.The game is the first in the Call of Duty series to feature modern equipment. The game also introduces new features, particularly multiplayer mechanics such as "killstreaks," where the player gains access to special abilities for killing enemies without dying.
Campaign
The player takes on the role of various characters during a single-player campaign. The characters' involvement in the plot occurs simultaneously and overlaps the events in the game. As such, the player's perspective changes from one character to another between missions. Each mission features a series of objectives; the player is led to each objective with the heads-up display, which marks its direction and distance. Some objectives require that the player arrives at a checkpoint, while other objectives require the player to eliminate enemies in a specified location, stand their ground to defend an objective, or plant explosive charges on an enemy installation. After completing the campaign, a special epilogue mission "Mile High Club" is unlocked for play. The mission itself has no bearing on the campaign plot and focuses on a SAS squad fighting terrorists that have hijacked an airplane and taken a VIP hostage. The main campaign features 30 collectible pieces of intel that award the player with game cheats and visual filters such as infinite ammunition, cluster grenades, and increased contrast.Multiplayer
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare features team-based and deathmatch-based multiplayer modes on various maps. Each mode has an objective that requires unique strategies to complete. Players can call in UAV reconnaissance scans, airstrikes, and attack helicopters when they achieve three-, five-, and seven-enemy kill streaks respectively. A game ends when either a team or player has reached a predefined number of points, or the allotted time expires in which case the team or player with the most points wins. If the points are even when the time expires, Sudden Death mode is activated in which there is no re-spawning, and the team that either has the last man standing or achieves the objective first is the winner. If the player is in either of the two matches, then there is an Overtime match, in which the next team to win is rewarded the victory.The player's performance in the multiplayer mode is tracked with experience points, which can be earned by killing opposing players, completing challenges, completing objectives, or by completing a round or match. As the player gains experience, they advance in level, unlocking new weapons, perks, challenges, and gameplay modes. The highest obtainable level is 55, but on the console versions of the game, the player has the option to enter "Prestige" mode, which returns their level to one and removes all accumulated unlockables. This process can be repeated up to 10 times with a different insignia being given each time.
As the player advances in levels and goes up higher in prestige, they earn the ability to customize their classes; this includes selecting their main weapon, sidearm, and special grenade type. Additionally, the player can select 3 perks, one from each of the three "Tiers", that can customize their character further. Perk effects include, but are not limited to, extra ammunition, increasing bullet damage by the player, or dropping a live grenade when the player is killed. The player is also given the choice to complete challenges to receive even more experience points; challenges include achieving a certain number of kills with a specific weapon, shooting down a helicopter, or performing several headshots. Additionally, when the player attains a certain number of headshots with a specific weapon, excluding sidearms, the player unlocks extra weapon "camos", or camouflage, to use for that specific weapon.
Plot
In 2011, a civil war erupts in Russia between government loyalists and Ultranationalists seeking to restore Soviet-era glory. Meanwhile, Khaled Al-Asad, a warlord with anti-Western views, leads a separatist group that seizes power in a Middle Eastern country via a coup d'état, executing President Yasir Al-Fulani.Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, a recruit to the 22nd SAS Regiment, is inducted into a team led by Captain Price and his second-in-command "Gaz". The team conducts two operations; the first leads them to infiltrate an Estonian cargo ship in the Bering Strait. The team secures a nuclear device labeled in Arabic before Ultranationalist MiG-29s scuttle the ship, but the SAS successfully escapes by helicopter. The second operation tasks the SAS with rescuing an ally, a Russian informant named Nikolai, who is working undercover within the Ultranationalists and supplied them with intel on the cargo ship. Assisted by Russian loyalist forces led by Sergeant Kamarov, Price's team extracts Nikolai. However, their helicopter is brought down, forcing the team to make their way through enemy territory with support from an AC-130 gunship before they are extracted.
In response to the Middle Eastern coup, the United States launches a full-scale invasion. Sergeant Paul Jackson of the 1st Force Recon participates in the initial landing and ground assault under Staff Sergeant Griggs and Lieutenant Vasquez. The platoon fails to find Al-Asad in a coastal town, then fights in a nearby city with an M1 Abrams tank. Intelligence from the SAS suggests Al-Asad may have a Russian nuclear device, prompting an all-out assault on the capital. While SEAL Team 6 disarms the nuke in the presidential palace, Marines fight Al-Asad's forces. However, the nuclear device detonates unexpectedly, destroying the city and killing Jackson, Vasquez, and the invasion force.
Refusing to assume Al-Asad is dead, Price's team, supported by Russian loyalists, raids a safe house in Azerbaijan where they locate and apprehend Al-Asad. During the interrogation, Price answers Al-Asad's phone before executing him, revealing that the caller was the leader of the Ultranationalists: Imran Zakhaev, with whom Price has a history.
In 1996, in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zakhaev profited from nuclear proliferation and used his new wealth to lure ex-Soviet military personnel to form his Ultranationalist party. Then-lieutenant Price and his superior, Captain MacMillan, were ordered to assassinate Zakhaev at a gathering in Pripyat, Ukraine. Price fired upon Zakhaev; however, the shot only severed Zakhaev's arm. Price and MacMillan barely escaped Zakhaev's forces.
In the present, Price's team holds out against Ultranationalist forces arriving to avenge Al-Asad's death, before being rescued by Force Recon Marines led by Griggs. Afterwards, a joint task force is formed between the SAS and Force Recon to capture Zakhaev's son, Victor, to learn his father's whereabouts. The task force and the loyalists ambush Victor at a checkpoint and then corner him. Refusing to surrender, he commits suicide. Enraged, Zakhaev retaliates by taking control of a nuclear launch facility in the Altai Mountains.
The task force launches an operation to retake the site, but Zakhaev promptly launches nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The task force manages to breach the facility and remotely destroy the missiles over the Atlantic Ocean, before escaping with Zakhaev's forces in pursuit. An Ultranationalist Mi-24 Hind destroys a bridge and traps the task force. In the ensuing firefight, the task force quickly suffers casualties, with Griggs being killed in the crossfire. Zakhaev himself arrives and executes Gaz and other wounded soldiers when arriving loyalists in a Mi-28 Havoc destroy his Mi-24 Hind. With Zakhaev distracted, Price slides a pistol to Soap, who kills Zakhaev and his escorts. Loyalist forces arrive to tend to the wounded.