Call of Duty 4 Demo Review

This feature is going to take a look at the recently released Call of Duty 4 demo and analyze what game play changes were made to the game.

What’s new?

Well to start off, a lot of things are new, and that is usually the case with brand new games. Some things are basic extensions off of CoD2 and CoD-UO, however most of the features are unique.

The Guns

One of my personal favorites of this game are the guns and how they look. I thought the development team did a great job with the gun models, taking every bit of detail into consideration. I felt that some of the shooting sounds could have used a little more punch, almost like the CoD2 sounds, but hey, most of the time we all run around with our mp3s on =D.

Something brand new to the game is the ability to add attachments to your rifles and machine guns. The attachments are: silencer, grenade launcher, ACOG(scope), and a Red-Dot Iron-sight. Some attachments modify the original attributes of the gun, either changing damage or range.

The Knife

A must for any FPS game, and CoD4 didn’t hold back. They took out gun bashing and added a new type of melee attack. The model, when instructed, takes out his knife and does a swift melee swipe with it. If the opponent is caught in this swipe, the model stabs the opponent, killing it in one blow. The screenshot below does a good job of illustrating this. It is a very fast maneuver and is really satisfying, unless you of course are the one on the receiving end =D.

Flashbangs

Something most of us are familiar with from Counter-Strike is now on our side of the fence. Flashbangs offer a very strategic approach to game play that I find to be an incredible addition. I like everything about the CoD4 flashbangs, from it’s timing, to its effects.

Another interesting part about the CoD4 flashbang is the fact that the model shows disorientation when getting flashed. Here is an example of this:

If you notice, the models are not only disoriented, but their hands are covering their eyes. If the multiplayer shows anything similar to this picture, then it is going to be a good sign, because it shows that the developers paid attention to details well.

Grenades

One thing that you instantly recognize in CoD4 is the distance that grenades can be thrown. It is a lot shorter than CoD2 and CoD1. This is a good change because most of the frags in competition of CoD2 came within the first 6 seconds of the round by nades going across the map. Another aspect of the grenade that is from UO is the ability to prime the grenade or “cook it” by holding down mouse1 (not too long though =D). The next feature, and probably the coolest out of the grenade changes, is the ability to throw grenades back, after they hit the floor. This is sort of interesting and can make for some DoD-like game play.

Sprinting

Some of the UO guys wouldn’t consider this new, however to most of the pack, sprinting is something drastically different in CoD4. It changes the way you navigate, the decisions you make, and the pace of the game. Doing this action brings the gun off of your screen, making you unable to shoot. You run about 100% faster while sprinting, however you can only move the direction you are facing. One of the complaints about sprinting based off of the demo is that you can sprint and jump in one motion, making your jump go about 30% further and faster. This is what the sprint looks like when you are in the middle of it. As you can see the gun gets placed at the bottom of your screen and the HUD slightly fades, disabling your features.

The Environment

Almost everything non-metallic can be shot through (depending on thickness) with rifles. Most of us replace that last sentence with “walling,” a technique made popular by Counter-Strike. Aside from that though, there are other aspects of the environment that affect game play. For example you can blow up cars on the battlefield.

Conclusion

It’s hard to made judgments on multiplayer based off of single player demos, because Infinity Ward has a track record of releasing demos that are hardly like the online experience. The foundation is there to have what most expect to be a great sequel to the series, and IW already announced they would be including CVARS to manipulate our game settings upon release. It’s not fair at the moment to say what should or shouldn’t be included in game play until the game actually comes out. You can pre-order the game directly through this demo, and the launch date is for November 6th.

If you want to play the demo with an interesting experience, go to http://www.gotfrag.com/cod/story/40305/ and follow the instructions to enable cheats. Once you get to the part of the map where the enemies shoot at you from the overpass, simply type /give all (gives you every weapon included in the demo with ammo) and /noclip up to the overpass. This part of the map spawns over 15 enemies every 10 seconds, and is a fun way to go nuts. Don’t forget to throw on God mode by typing /god.

Thank you for reading this review! I hope that it provided you with some useful information about Call of Duty 4. I will be following up on this piece with a post-release writeup, so stay locked to www.teampandemic.net for that article in the near future, stay classy San Diego =D.