What Made Call of Duty 4 So Great?
- Thread starter Zeema
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The thing I loved about it (the campaign, specifically) was the atmosphere. It, more than pretty much any other realistic war game of its time, really captured the intensity of a warzone. It was wonderfully intense and atmospheric, and very few games before or since have done that good a job at that.
Of course now people blame it for starting the "realistic shooter" craze, which of course means it sucks. I mean, how could a game not suck when it was so good it inspired tons of crappy rip-offs? The logic is so sound! [/sarcasm]
Of course now people blame it for starting the "realistic shooter" craze, which of course means it sucks. I mean, how could a game not suck when it was so good it inspired tons of crappy rip-offs? The logic is so sound! [/sarcasm]
Because it dumbed down the FPS genre to a point where you no longer needed skill, tactics, or any sort of higher brain function to play.
It's basically random, and that means even a monkey can play it. And people don't like to think, they are stupid and thinking hurts their brains, so they appreciate just being able to derp their way through the endless torrent of nadespam and haxing, all the while thinking they're winning something.
That's why MW and MW2 are popular at all.
It's basically random, and that means even a monkey can play it. And people don't like to think, they are stupid and thinking hurts their brains, so they appreciate just being able to derp their way through the endless torrent of nadespam and haxing, all the while thinking they're winning something.
That's why MW and MW2 are popular at all.
You know, it's really hard to pinpoint for me what made COD4 so amazing. I say it's one of my favorite games all the time, but I really can't describe it that well when I get asked why. I'll give it a shot now, but don't expect anything great. I apologize in advance for the big paragraphs coming up.
Let's start with the campaign. Holy shit what an amazing thrill ride. I mean seriously, for a military shooter of all things, the campaign was so full and satisfying. One second you're in the heat of battle, the next you're sneaking around in a ghillie suit, and it all flows seamlessly. Not like MW2 or Black Ops where it can't calm the hell down and I certainly couldn't immerse myself in it. It's pretty much just like Yahtzee said in his MW2 review; it's like they couldn't believe how well the formula for COD4 worked, so they tried replicating it over and over again in the sequel, and just ended up over saturating it. All that, plus the ending was just immensely satisfying for me. I mean, I walked away from my xbox just feeling good on the inside with how well the story wrapped up. Even today I still remember how I felt at that moment about 3 years ago.
Now on to what made COD4 almost exclusively the only game I played for around a year after it's release; the multiplayer. I'm not quite sure what had me coming back day after day to the multiplayer, but it probably had something to do with the experience system. It was fun getting points for kills and planting/defusing the bomb and unlocking weapons and finding out what works best for you. (Red dot AK-47 for Deathmatch, silenced P90 for S&D) For me, it was a small circle of friends and we got in a party almost every night and just played the hell outta every mode for hours on end, and that went on for at leased a year straight; we just couldn't get enough. I still go back once in a while for a couple of sabotage games just for fun.
All in all, it was a perfectly rounded game with a roller coaster ride campaign and addicting as hell multiplayer that left an impression on my gaming life that's gonna stay with me forever.
Again, sorry for the long paragraphs, but I figured if there was a time for me to discuss in detail why I love COD4 so much, this is the topic to do it in.
Let's start with the campaign. Holy shit what an amazing thrill ride. I mean seriously, for a military shooter of all things, the campaign was so full and satisfying. One second you're in the heat of battle, the next you're sneaking around in a ghillie suit, and it all flows seamlessly. Not like MW2 or Black Ops where it can't calm the hell down and I certainly couldn't immerse myself in it. It's pretty much just like Yahtzee said in his MW2 review; it's like they couldn't believe how well the formula for COD4 worked, so they tried replicating it over and over again in the sequel, and just ended up over saturating it. All that, plus the ending was just immensely satisfying for me. I mean, I walked away from my xbox just feeling good on the inside with how well the story wrapped up. Even today I still remember how I felt at that moment about 3 years ago.
Now on to what made COD4 almost exclusively the only game I played for around a year after it's release; the multiplayer. I'm not quite sure what had me coming back day after day to the multiplayer, but it probably had something to do with the experience system. It was fun getting points for kills and planting/defusing the bomb and unlocking weapons and finding out what works best for you. (Red dot AK-47 for Deathmatch, silenced P90 for S&D) For me, it was a small circle of friends and we got in a party almost every night and just played the hell outta every mode for hours on end, and that went on for at leased a year straight; we just couldn't get enough. I still go back once in a while for a couple of sabotage games just for fun.
All in all, it was a perfectly rounded game with a roller coaster ride campaign and addicting as hell multiplayer that left an impression on my gaming life that's gonna stay with me forever.
Again, sorry for the long paragraphs, but I figured if there was a time for me to discuss in detail why I love COD4 so much, this is the topic to do it in.
Everything it did was fairly new at the time, but if you actually go back and play it it's pretty shit. also anyone who says COD2 was the best because 4 is dumbed down for consoles is an idiot because even 2 was dumbed down from 1(not that they're bad just not the PC master race game that everyone says it is).
It was the first (and really only) time I ever felt like I had played a quality big budget action movie. It's also the best combination of story and gameplay I've ever seen and can't remember a single time during the main mission where I practiced my juming while NPCs talked at me. Not the greatest story ever told by a video game, nor the best game play, just a seamless combination of the two.
This. Exactly. I still get sad when I think about Gaz getting shot by Zakhaev. That guy is SUCH a bastard.bahumat42 said:
i actually hated it being a big cod1 vanilla and cod2 fan i didn't like where they were heading with cod4, i thought the were just gonna sell out which got proven with mw2, but apart from my petty disagreement with the game, it did revive cod i just miss caratan and train kar98k ftw =)
