Mastering Achievements in Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ is filled with achievements both natural and grueling, and while few of them would be considered freebies, you don't need sheer luck and ridiculous skill to unlock the full 1,000 Gamerscore. Instead, good tactics and a healthy helping of dedication will do the trick. While the dedication is up to you, the following tips should help you along the way.

Soldier your way to a higher Gamerscore.

Every bit of the 1,000 Gamerscore points offered by Call of Duty 4 can be found in the single-player Campaign and most of those come courtesy of the Veteran difficulty level. This is a strictly single-player affair.

One inch at a time: More than anything else, Veteran difficulty punishes a player for running and gunning. Enemies are simply far too accurate, intelligent, and plentiful for you to find any success sprinting through levels across open ground. You must exercise a great deal more patience than you would normally allow for in a first-person shooter.

Time to push!: While patience is crucial when deciding when and how to move from cover, you must also be on the lookout for sections of a level where enemies seem to spawn endlessly. It's here that your only option is to push forward towards the checkpoint. If you don't, the enemy reinforcements will never cease and you'll be stuck right where you are. Try looking for that lull between the time when you've thinned the ranks and when the "new spawns" arrive.

Squad reliance: Your squad-mates in Call of Duty 4 are well-trained, effective soldiers that will reward you for sticking by their side. Try not to freelance too often on your own as long you've got squad members anywhere nearby.

Wall piercing: The ability to eliminate enemies by shooting through walls is just cool in the earlier difficulty settings, but on Veteran it's downright necessary. Use this to your advantage at every opportunity.

Pause map: Hitting Start to bring up the Pause menu is worthwhile just to catch your breath, but in Call of Duty 4 there's a more compelling reason. You'll find a map with highlighted enemy locations in the lower-right-hand-corner of your Pause menu. Use this consistently throughout each battle and you'll go a long way to avoiding ambushes and flanking attacks.

There's no multiplayer-specific achievements, so those without Xbox LIVE need not miss out on a single point.

Mile High Club

Of all the Call of Duty 4 achievements, and, indeed, any achievement across any game, the Mile High Club ranks among the toughest and most grueling to acquire. First, you must complete the game and watch through the end of the credits where you'll be granted access to this bonus mission. Second, you must play through and complete the bonus mission on Veteran difficulty. This may not seem initially daunting until you realize that you have but a bare minute to complete the whole mission.

Only the most talented gamer can hope to unlock this achievement after only a couple of tries, but there are a few tips that can at the very least ease the challenge.

• Trial runs: You won't score this achievement your first time through, so don't even try. Instead, use your first few attempts as reconnaissance to help you memorize every enemy location and their A.I. paths and patterns. Only when you can predict where they'll be and what they'll do is there a hope of success.
• Flashbang use: Tackling tight-knit groups of enemies in the cramped confines of an airliner borders on suicide. Once you've memorized the enemy's locations, gain the upper hand by immediately throwing a flashbang to stun them, and then charge in to finish them off before they can recover. Only use your flashbangs on groups and not on individuals.
• Sprint man, sprint!: You must sprint down every hallway and up every stairway when you're not actively engaged with the enemy.
• Shoot what's necessary: You can run by some enemies (especially the ones you stun) without having to engage them. This can help shave another second or two off your time, so unless they're in your way and shooting at you, ignore them if possible.
• Final shot: When the final door opens with the terrorist holding the hostage at gun point, don't shoot immediately. This is the moment of truth and an errant shot will ruin the mission. Instead, wait until the hostage's head is out of the way to get a nice, clear shot. 

Where's a RPG when you need one?

Ghillies in the Mist: Complete "All Ghillied Up" without alerting any enemies (20 points)

This flashback sniper mission is heavy on stealth and tension, and you're going to want to keep it that way in order to complete this achievement. Guarantee success by engaging only the enemies that Cpt. MacMillian asks you specifically to target. Otherwise, avoid every patrol and guard. This very much includes the guards that McMillian gives you the "option" of shooting. Always opt to let them pass. Otherwise, other enemies will find their body later on and raise the alert, effectively eliminating any opportunity for this achievement.

Down Boy Down: Survive a dog attack (20 points)

All that's needed here is to let a dog pounce on you and then click down on the right stick when the icon pops up on the screen. It's easy enough, except that there's only a few dogs found throughout the game. Make things easier on yourself by giving this achievement a go immediately following a checkpoint where you know dogs are present (All Ghillied Up is a good mission for this). Then, if you fail, you can immediately respawn at the checkpoint for another quick attempt.

Daredevil: Kill an enemy while blinded by a flashbang in the single-player campaign (10 points)
There's a number of opportunities to score this achievement throughout Call of Duty 4, but if you're having trouble getting the kill, try tossing a grenade instead of firing blindly. The blast radius will do what your eyes can't, find and eliminate the enemy.

Rescue Roycewicz: Save Private Roycewicz on the stairs (20 points)
You can find the location for this achievement near the very beginning of The Bog level in the first building you enter. When you've cleared the entrance to the building, find the flight of stairs on the right-hand side of the first hallway. You should see Roycewicz ahead of you. Simply run up ahead of him and take out the enemy at the top of the stairs.

Man of the People: Save the farmer (10 points)

The farmer in question is found in the Hunted level in the very first farm you approach. Once Captain Price opens the door to the barn, immediately head upstairs and run to the opposite end so you're looking down at the enemy soldiers and the hapless farmer. The trick here is that you can't save him until Cpt. Price gives the order, so wait patiently. Then, when he does, open fire on the soldier threatening the farmer and you should unlock the achievement.

New Squadron Record: Complete the cargo ship mockup in less than 20 seconds (20 points)

The cargo ship training course is found on the first level, and while it takes skill and speed to wrap this achievement up, the good news is that you can run the course as many times as it takes to get under twenty seconds. Here are a few tips to speed up the process:

• You'll knock off up to three seconds from your time if you're accurate, so use only a bullet or two for each target.
• Begin strafing around to the side entrance post-haste as soon as you land. You can shoot the first few targets through the wall if necessary.
• Memorize the flashbang locations and start "cooking" (hold down LB) your flashbangs before you even round the corner to throw them. This will cut off a bit of the animation time, helping you to shave an extra precious second or two off your overall time.

Straight Flush: Kill five enemies with one shot while in the AC-130 gunship (20 points)

You should be able to score this on the Death from Above level. Wait until the first platoon of enemies makes an appearance and target your 105mm cannon right in the middle of the group. You may also want to aim just a shade in the direction that the enemies are running to account for the time delay before impact.

Protect that pig!

Your Show Sucks: Destroy all the TVs showing Al-Asad's speech (20 points)

There are a couple of misconceptions that have prevented folks from nabbing this achievement. First, the only TVs you need to destroy are located in the Charlie Don't Surf level. You may see other TVs broadcasting the speech in other levels, but you don't need to shoot them for this achievement (feel free though, it's still fun). Secondly, the TVs are scattered throughout the Charlie Don't Surf level. They're not just found in the TV station, so make sure you scour the level thoroughly.

Three of a Kind: Kill 3 enemies in a row with your knife in the single-player campaign (10 points)

If you're having trouble with this achievement, try dropping down the difficulty to Normal or Easy and just bull rush the enemies. You take so little damage on the easier difficulties that you should be able to unlock Three of a Kind in no time.

Bird on the Ground: Shoot down an enemy helicopter with an RPG in the single-player campaign (20 points)

Again, confusion over the achievement's task has caused many a gamer to believe they have completed this achievement but not received the proper credit. Bird on a Ground requires the use of an RPG, not the more commonly found laser-guided rocket launchers. You can find both an old-fashioned RPG and a helicopter at the beginning of the War Pig level. The RPGs and the helicopters are found behind the bus located directly in front of you as the level begins.

Call of Duty 4 represents a rare chance for all gamers to unlock the full 1,000 Gamerscore. There's no multiplayer-specific achievements, so those without Xbox LIVE® need not miss out on a single point, and none of the achievements can be considered beyond the scope of a skilled and dedicated gamer. Good luck, soldier!

Article by Ryan Treit