Modern Warfare Revealed

Published September 13, 2007

More and more titles are taking the beta testing plunge on Xbox 360™ treating gamers to an early look of their title, and using that preview time and feedback to polish their multiplayer offering.

Red means dead. Fire!

Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ is the latest title to test the pre-release waters, and after a few hours of sensory overload, it's time to step away from the combat zone and unveil the method, mechanics, and madness of Modern Warfare's multiplayer mode.

The action in the beta is smooth, swift, aggressively tactical, and nearly always frantic.

The Essentials
For those unfamiliar with this latest Call of Duty title, the series has undergone some fundamental changes. Most obviously, the setting has shifted away from the familiarity of World War Two and embraced, as the title indicates, a contemporary military environment.

Authentic, real-world weaponry and equipment is put to devastating use. The change to the present day is striking in both its presentation and in its effect on tactics. Accurate automatic weapons, explosives, flash grenades and even air strikes make for an unprecedented tactical and wildly fast-paced experience.

Need to put some work in for that gun.

Class it Up
Distinct styles of play require distinct classes boasting unique weaponry, equipment, and abilities. Standard classes like Assault, Special Ops, Heavy Gunner, Demolitions, and Sniper fill out the classic roles, but far more impressive is the ability to custom craft your own class. This involves selecting:

• Primary Weapon: Assault rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles make up your primary categories. Of course, within each category lies a suite of authentic weaponry to choose from (such as the M16A4 assault rifle and M60E4 light machine gun).
• Sidearm: These of course are pistols, which include the M9, USP .45, and M1911 Colt .45.
• Special Grenade: Frag, smoke, and stun grenades are the order of the day here.
• Perk: Here's where things get really interesting and shift the differences between classes well beyond just equipment. Each class is allowed three Perks, which include, among other special abilities:
• Juggernaut: Increases your overall health, which helps immensely in surviving those one-on-one encounters with the enemy.
• Sonic Boom: Gives explosives extra kick for greater damage.
• Deep Impact: Bullets pierce heavier, thicker obstacles than normal.
• C4x2: Allows the use of remote-detonated C4 explosives.

Custom created classes on their own separates Call of Duty 4 from nearly any other multiplayer shooter. Their use and implementation go a long way towards immersing the player into their own unique soldier's role.

Pursuit of Rank
Each kill, captured flag, and completed objective rewards the player with experience points, which are used to unlock new ranks for your virtual soldier. While it's certainly a morale boost to look upon your name and see Sgt. Major staring back at you, there are more tangible benefits to the rank system.

Achieving a new rank can unlock anything from new weaponry to new game types, and weapon-specific challenges. For example, the more complicated Team Objective games are initially locked so that novice players don't feel overwhelmed when starting out. Don't worry though, only a short period of play is required to prove you're worthy of doing battle in a more strategic arena.

Beware the jets.

Weapon-specific challenges require you to meet preset goals to unlock related content. For example, completing the M16 Marksman challenge grants access to the red dot sight for greater accuracy.

Tactical Rewards
The use of radar to highlight enemy locations, as well as calling in carpet-bombing air strikes and helicopters to wreak havoc on the enemy, can be critical to changing the tide of battle. Access to these abilities is not based on class, but solely on performance. For example, if you score three kills in a row you can trigger your radar. Score five consecutive kills without dying and you can call down the thunder from a nearby jet squadron.

Inside and Outside
Most shooters are content to focus on purely outdoor or interior environments, but Call of Duty 4 excels in thrusting gamers into maps jam-packed with every conceivable environmental element. On a single map, you may find yourself holding down the shattered wall of a small market against an enemy force camped in the burning fuselage of a downed plane. Across the street, a friendly sniper may be perched in the third-story window of a crumbling building, while a raging gunfight erupts in a narrow side-street packed with rotted out cars.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare marks much more than a simple evolution for the franchise and that's just counting the multiplayer. The action in the beta is smooth, swift, aggressively tactical, and nearly always frantic. Even the few maps currently available rival anything yet seen on Xbox LIVE® and the class/rank system gives Modern Warfare a flavor all its own.

Article by Ryan Treit