Call of Duty 4

Awesome game, i completed it on "normal mode" in my first sitting. This is an exceptionally well crafted game. The action is paced perfectly with nice breaks for sniper/stealth elements before going back into hardcore arcade action.

The scripting is ultra tight it made me think it was pretty old skool in it's design really, in some ways you can compare it to asteroids/space invaders/galaga. Obstacles compare in some respects to the bases in space invaders, but where the player must move up the playfield to the next trigger point to activate the next set of waves. The qty of enemies and relentless pace of the action settings also harks back to the old days of action gaming. Levels are essentially small subsets of map with occasionally respwaning bad guys, but even the respawning is generally in context with the game ... just as recruits on your side fill in for your fallen comrades from the back of the map, enemies respawn within a building or from a helicopter drop in (vertical wave). I rarely used any of my smart bombs (air strike/Grenade launcher) as i had largely forgotten about the d-pad functions.

Invisible walls are replaced with radioactive areas, which prevent you straying from the gameplay.

Squad members are essentially hints and tips and audio/visual feedback systems. They keep the environment busy with the sound of commands, weapon fire and death = when your in the heat of battle your extremely aware of it or The audio signifies the pace of the game (space invaders)

Squad also serve as navigators ("follow me" "meet me at"), but more importantly they fire at/are killed by enemies clearly showing the player where the action is and where to aim.

The "shoot from the hip" semi lockon system is what i will be focusing on my second playthrough .. i hit some nice wave mulitplier (six of a kind achievement) on the few times i purposely took on waves in this way .. i know this is the second level of control skill i will need.

There's no upgrades or any of that shit in the single player.. i am the character and there are weapons in the environment .. a few times this suspension of disbelief was broken - mainly by not being able to jump over all objects (the fences outside the barn, for one) even though they were the same size of obstacles i had lept previously

The story is beautifully crafted and extremely "mature" not in the sense of nudity/violence or language but their is meaning and purpose within the narrative which is expressed without cheesy dialogs/scenes. In some ways Call of Duty 4 is a thought provoking war drama (no spoliers) which moves you in a similar vein to one of the great war movies (deer hunter/full metal jacket etc).

On completing the first pass i quickly started on the next difficulty up, knowing that the action will be more intense and there were plenty of "routes" through each scenario for it to feel fresh even for a 4th or fifth playthrough

The cynical could say that the single player experience is simple training for the multiplayer game (training in combat/stealth/weapons/ melee) but im finally itching to get addicted to a multiplayer game on the Wii603 generation .. and that's what this weekend i will be spending most of my time doing....

I'l take the 5 hours of "almost perfection" and see if i get my monies worth out of the multiplayer...