Review: Call Of Duty 4 (PS3)

War, they say, is hell. Never has that been more true in the videogame world - the endless, numbing tedium of jingoistic, meaningless violence in a hundred mediocre WWII first person shooters leaving gamers shell-shocked and desperate to escape. Thankfully the excellent Call of Duty games have been there on the front lines to keep up morale, and developer Infinity Ward - returning to the series after Treyarch produced number 3 - has sensibly lept from the rough, dirty trenches of the 1940s to the precision tactics of the post-Cold War landscape in CoD4: Modern Warfare. Sitting somewhere between the intensity of previous CoDs and the calculated high-technology stealth of Ghost Recon, it treads a fine line with uncanny style, and proves to be one of the finest examples of the genre in recent times.

Perhaps most refreshingly, it leaves the politics at home, satisfied to show the conflict and leave the reasons out entirely. Whether sitting with your face in the dirt swapping bullets with an unnamed, unknown and mercifully undemonised foe or glancing down from the detached viewpoint of a gunship weapons operator, there's no sense of a good-versus-Axis-Of-Evil battle for humanity going on. Battlefield commanders gruffly explaining the importance of the next mission are also noticeably absent, and the words "liberate", "freedom" and "terrorist" are never used. The lack of preaching aids immersion no end, where your immortal team-mates and the unstoppable waves of enemies so takes away from it.

For all the obsessive attention to detail in the weapons and tactics employed in Special Forces operations, CoD4 is an unavoidably videogamey release, a flashing yellow circle on your compass always showing the direction to run in and giant white grenade location indicator where to run from. The aforementioned enemies respawn constantly from behind cover until the player and squad move far enough forward to stem the tide, and while this at first seems like a outdated and irritating conceit, it actually works to the game's favour, forcing players to adopt a clear-and-advance rhythm, moving from cover to cover, scanning for potential targets. It still backfires occasionally, as under heavy fire from all directions it becomes impossible to tell where to head to get the game to stop pouring armed ultranationalists on your position, but for the most part it helps keep the pace up admirably.

Not all missions require constant charging forward however, the central thread of the title follows a charismatic SAS team on far slower stealth assaults. Silently moving through the undergrowth in Russian farmland while trying to avoid turning a covert attack into a running battle tests not only the player's guts but allows them to take a closer look at the game's impressive engine. Considering it's been in development since Call of Duty 4 it's no surprise it's simple stunning to behold, both in terms of the excellent visuals and the superb Surround Sound mix, but it makes even some of the more high-profile PS3 releases look positively clunky. Frame-rate and screen-tearing issues are entirely absent, even with masses of activity on screen at once, and the self-shadowing and atmospheric effects make even the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 look strictly average. For their first PS3 title, Infinity Ward should be congratulated; it's almost indistinguishable from its sister-versions on PC and 360.

Even online, where the PS3 version of a title would typically fall down, CoD4 delivers, and is perhaps the most satisfying multiplayer release on the system so far. A few connection niggles aside it's stable and surprisingly lag-free, even on matches with 20 or more players, and even as a beginner, it rarely feels uninviting. Teams genuinely work together with prompting, no doubt aided by such niceties as individuals earning points for assisting in kills, and as newbies progress from supporting other players to leading the charge, there's always a niche that can be filled whatever your preferred playing style or ability. The RPGesque enhancement system regularly rewards good play over a few games with a higher rank and a roster of weapons and special abilities such as higher health and better aim, making for an incredibly moreish experience- who could possibly turn off when the next match might unlock that sniper rifle they've been pining over?

The only major complaint that can be made against CoD4 are that it's rather short - the single-player campaign can be cleared in a weekend - but with the option to replay it on higher difficulty levels or via the superb Arcade mode, and with the exceptionally addictive multiplayer game, this isn't a game that will easily find its way into the bargain bins. It's a big-budget, beautifully crafted slice of next-gen promise kept; on many levels it's one of the best first person shooters released in a year of strong rivals, and perhaps even the best PlayStation 3 game released so far.

Rating: 9 / 10

Words by Colin Whiteside