Maybe, if I'd played this 15 years ago in an arcade with a light gun, I would have been more impressed. Call of Duty 4 is a pure arcade game. There are no tactics or thought involved. It is purely reactionary. I'm not knocking the game because of this. It is a great deal of fun while it last, but I wasn't exactly blown away.
In many ways COD4 feels like a step backwards. First, there is the AI or lack there of. Enemies always spawn in the same places and take cover behind the same things, and it's not just once. As soon as you dispose of one enemy another immediately takes the same place. It seems as if their on infinite respawn or at least very near. It gets pretty ridiculous looking when 15 guys have come out of one closet, and there is a pile of bodies from the floor to the ceiling. Although they will occasionally move from one cover spot to another, it doesn't seem like there is any intelligence to it. They never try to flank or use any sort of squad tactics. Although they will, on occasion, haphazardly through a grenade. Your just sitting there waiting for them to stick their heads up, so you can blow them off. Crappy A.I. combined with the game's recharging health system (something else I'm not a big fan of) mean that the only thing making it challenging is the sheer number of enemies. If I wanted endless waves of mindless enemies, I would be playing Space Invaders. The friendly AI isn't any better. They never use any tactics when they're in the wild, only when part of a scripted sequence. Them taking the short bus to battle doesn't seem to matter though, because apparently bullet wounds to them are like mosquito bites. There more annoying than anything. After you see one of your men get shot 15 times point blank with an assault rifle, and then push on like nothing happened, it makes you wander why these immortal supermen can't just take care of the mission (or the war for that matter) there own damn selfs. But, then you remember that, as tough as they are, their still retarded and depended on you to complete all the tasks. This is for the friendly AI that is important to the story. All of the others are just set pieces, and seem to be on the same infinite respawn as the enemy AI. All the enemy NPCs might as well be popup targets, and all the friendly NPCs might as well be talking crates.
Then of course there's the physics system or again, lack there of. NPCs ragdoll when killed, but thats about it. There is no destructible cover in the environment thats not part of a scripted sequence. You can shoot through walls, but this is not new. STALKER, FarCry, and hell even the original Half-Life had it to some degree, and I'm sure there are probably others. It seems a bit inconsistent, too. You can shoot through a plaster wall just fine, but when there is a machine gun nest in a boarded up window all of a sudden your shooting rubber bullets.
Lastly there are the graphics. I must not be seeing what everyone else has been, because I was not impressed. The only good thing is that I was able to peg all the settings and forget about it. When it comes to atmosphere STALKER is a great example of how fantastic artistic direction can make up for somewhat dated technology, and Crysis is a great example of how shear graphics technology and power can make up for mediocre art direction. COD4 is a perfect example of to screw it up in both aspects. Of course the god awful AI and the inconsistent and under underutilized physics hurt just as much.
Now there are somethings I did like. Actually there is one thing. The level called All Ghillie Up, is an example of a stealth, escort, and defend mission done right. It's such a departure from the rest of the game and a welcome one at that. Although, it does fall victim to some of the same problems as the rest of the game.
People criticize Crysis for not being some monumental leap forward in gameplay, but at least it tries to some degree. In fact the whole experience with COD4 has me looking far more favorably at Crysis, even with the fairly major problems I had with it. COD4's setting may be modern, but the gameplay feels extremely dated. I can't comment on the multiplayer, but when it comes to the SP I would have to say don't waste your time.
In many ways COD4 feels like a step backwards. First, there is the AI or lack there of. Enemies always spawn in the same places and take cover behind the same things, and it's not just once. As soon as you dispose of one enemy another immediately takes the same place. It seems as if their on infinite respawn or at least very near. It gets pretty ridiculous looking when 15 guys have come out of one closet, and there is a pile of bodies from the floor to the ceiling. Although they will occasionally move from one cover spot to another, it doesn't seem like there is any intelligence to it. They never try to flank or use any sort of squad tactics. Although they will, on occasion, haphazardly through a grenade. Your just sitting there waiting for them to stick their heads up, so you can blow them off. Crappy A.I. combined with the game's recharging health system (something else I'm not a big fan of) mean that the only thing making it challenging is the sheer number of enemies. If I wanted endless waves of mindless enemies, I would be playing Space Invaders. The friendly AI isn't any better. They never use any tactics when they're in the wild, only when part of a scripted sequence. Them taking the short bus to battle doesn't seem to matter though, because apparently bullet wounds to them are like mosquito bites. There more annoying than anything. After you see one of your men get shot 15 times point blank with an assault rifle, and then push on like nothing happened, it makes you wander why these immortal supermen can't just take care of the mission (or the war for that matter) there own damn selfs. But, then you remember that, as tough as they are, their still retarded and depended on you to complete all the tasks. This is for the friendly AI that is important to the story. All of the others are just set pieces, and seem to be on the same infinite respawn as the enemy AI. All the enemy NPCs might as well be popup targets, and all the friendly NPCs might as well be talking crates.
Then of course there's the physics system or again, lack there of. NPCs ragdoll when killed, but thats about it. There is no destructible cover in the environment thats not part of a scripted sequence. You can shoot through walls, but this is not new. STALKER, FarCry, and hell even the original Half-Life had it to some degree, and I'm sure there are probably others. It seems a bit inconsistent, too. You can shoot through a plaster wall just fine, but when there is a machine gun nest in a boarded up window all of a sudden your shooting rubber bullets.
Lastly there are the graphics. I must not be seeing what everyone else has been, because I was not impressed. The only good thing is that I was able to peg all the settings and forget about it. When it comes to atmosphere STALKER is a great example of how fantastic artistic direction can make up for somewhat dated technology, and Crysis is a great example of how shear graphics technology and power can make up for mediocre art direction. COD4 is a perfect example of to screw it up in both aspects. Of course the god awful AI and the inconsistent and under underutilized physics hurt just as much.
Now there are somethings I did like. Actually there is one thing. The level called All Ghillie Up, is an example of a stealth, escort, and defend mission done right. It's such a departure from the rest of the game and a welcome one at that. Although, it does fall victim to some of the same problems as the rest of the game.
People criticize Crysis for not being some monumental leap forward in gameplay, but at least it tries to some degree. In fact the whole experience with COD4 has me looking far more favorably at Crysis, even with the fairly major problems I had with it. COD4's setting may be modern, but the gameplay feels extremely dated. I can't comment on the multiplayer, but when it comes to the SP I would have to say don't waste your time.
