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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare pre-release demo impressions

Posted Oct 18, 2007 at 3:10AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Previews, Titles, Genre Tags: Activision, Electronic Arts, Infinity Ward, Microsoft, Paul Jackson, pc gaming previews, Sony

Yes, we're definitely back again, and this time QJ.NET put on its combat boots for Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (also for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360). Infinity Ward's recently announced pre-release demo for PC first-person shooter fans took us for bullet-riddled dash across a bombarded, Middle Eastern city to save a malfunctioning tank and its crew from slaughter.

We've all donned our tactical helmets before for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's multiplayer beta over Xbox LIVE, but we never got the feel of Activision's true Call of Duty experience: the single-player campaign on Veteran mode. If there's anything the pre-release demo must boast about, then it would probably be the fact it made us ache for a whole lot more.

The demo starts out pretty with straightforward, full motion video (FMV) sequences detailing the United States Marine Corps' (USMC) progress in rummaging through the remains of a Middle Eastern capital city. This unnamed city is where the Call of Duty 4's main antagonist, Al Asad, is making his last stand against the Marines' ceaseless onslaught. And all of this was packaged in movie-inspired sequences, with a bit of Nuclear Strike FMV cinematography for added cut-scene awesomeness. You've just got to see to believe.

The demo features only one mission, one of which we've actually peeked into before. If you don't remember seeing the shots down below, then you might want to check out the pre-release Alpha video of Call of Duty 4 - the same one that beckoned CoD fans back into the fold. That mission is called "Bog Rescue" and places the player into the socks of Sergeant Paul Jackson of the USMC, who under Lieutenant Vasquez' command must rescue an Abrams tank from being overrun and put out of action.

From the starting sequence, you knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk. You had to fight all the way through enemy-infested streets and past fortified buildings toward the bog in the west. It was here that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's graphics took its time to shine visually. Unlike other new games, CoD 4 offered capable machines true image anti-aliasing and none of that intense high dynamic ranging (HDR). Detail without jaggy compromise, just how some graphics buffs would want it.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare pre-release demo - We can see you from here - Image 1

The immense visual detail we got as a result gave us the ability to spot enemy silhouettes from afar (even if only faint). It was so effective that with our stock M203-equipped rifle or M4 Carbine, we were as much a threat as camouflaged snipers with Dragunov rifles. The intense combat wouldn't give you seconds to marvel at the anti-aircraft fire-filled night sky, but while you had a breather or two, the game didn't cease to introduce something visually attractive to the mix. Queue in infrared laser sights and night vision.

Radio messages from command, Alpha Squad, and your squadmates on Bravo joined with the many sounds of gunfire and rumbling of anti-aircraft batteries throughout the city. Of course, now there was the occasional explosion and Cobra chopper passing overhead. And speaking of Cobras, guess who gets to point two of them toward an enemy fortification? Good guess.

Aside from the usual rifles provided by today's military technology, gamers not in-the-know behind military hardware will get a chance to try many out, including the FGM-148 Javelin - a hard-hitting, top-attack, guided anti-tank missile. We won't spoil anything for you here, though. The animations and character models didn't seem flawed at all, even for a pre-release, and we couldn't discern if the AI's human-like behavior was due to scripted scenes or to simply amazing programming.

Bottom line: the pre-release demo served us a plate of excitement and left us wanting the whole pot. So we're not worried about Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare appearing on retail shelves right next to Midway's Unreal Tournament 3 (also for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) and Electronic Arts' Crysis this November, because Activision and Infinity Ward's definitely got this game's back. And we're pretty sure war-shooter fans will agree, too.

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