Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (DS) Review
While Wii owners have missed out on an iteration of the Call of Duty series this year, DS owners have not been left out in the cold with the series now making its first landing on a portable. Developed by N-Space, who are only one of two developers apart from Nintendo to try the FPS genre on the Nintendo DS, Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat follows its console cousins with a move into the 21st century. The series finally leaves behind the WWII setting of all the previous games and starts afresh. We have to ask developers why they have left it to N-Space to again pick up the FPS mantle for the system. This time around N-Space have done a fabulous job.
While the box art is the same and the story and missions are similar, Call of Duty 4 DS offers a very different experience on the DS. The atmosphere is different and its mainly due to the obvious power difference between the consoles. That being said the developers have used every trick in the book to get COD4 looking as great as possible, with the levels and environments looking detailed in some places and sparse in others. The levels in some places may be sparse however with planes flying overhead, rain pouring down, great smoke effects, drivable vehicles, and destructible vehicles the environment feels alive. The environment and the world the that game is based in is real and gritty, from the trenches to the valleys to even a cargo hold the world is detailed and alive; as we said before the atmosphere is different but not worse. While not an FPS the closest COD4 has for competition in the shooter genre is Brothers in Arms DS and were happy to report that COD4s frame rate and animation are improved on its competition and its amazing to see what a couple years later they are getting out of the DS.
To complete the great graphics the developers have also topped off the game with a great aural experience. We mentioned the jets flying over earlier and within the first couple of minutes of playing youll notice that the game has faux-surround sound and that it works well. Ive spoken a bit about atmosphere and the sound adds to that; as well as the jets there is gunfire all around, people screaming orders, the enemy screaming for your death, missiles flying over head and blowing up the building in front of you. The sound adds to the frantic action experienced through the game, and its even greater when you plug in a set of headphones. The games orchestrated music score also delivers, from the Battlefield to the Menu the music is above ninety percent of DS games out there.
The controls for the game work as you would imagine, the map on the bottom screen, weapon and grenade controls are all there. If you have played an FPS on the DS before youll be right at home, if youre new to the DS and the genre they are easy enough to get a hold of. However its not all smooth sailing with a spanner being thrown into the equation every so often. During some missions you will be called upon to call an air strike, take an enemy especially and this happens rather quickly and sometimes while you are still in the middle of killing ten other enemy soldiers. It doesnt happen often, it might only happen once, but it might cause your death. Dying in this game is not easy, you can take a fair few bullets before youll get taken down as it is the same with your enemies, its far from realistic but then again we are playing games to have fun right? Enemy spawn points are obvious with the game clicking as you walk over invisible action points causing enemies to spawn, often in front of you. This instant spawn of enemies can often catch you unaware and thankfully the health system allows you to walk this off as you will often find yourself retreating when about 5 enemies spawn in front of you as pass of invisible check box.
Another quirk with the games artificial intelligence system is that while some enemies will duck and take cover at strategic hiding spots it seems if enough enemies join the action there is not enough CPU power to go around. This lack of CPU power instead of trying to get some enemies to act some just defaults the bad guys to a stand until I get killed default. While its not a game breaker it leads to a, pump a guy full of lead, run back reload and regenerate and go back and shoot the next one, that can get tedious.
Now onto where the game comes undone, with the cart packed to the brim surely something is going to be left behind and that is the overall length of the game. Its not too short of a game and you will probably need to split it up into a few play sessions due to cramps. You will be able to breeze through the game rather soon but the story and experience will be packed from start to finish. So after it is done, what is there to come back too? You can play through all the missions again in any order, so if there is one you like then you can jump straight into that. But the main reason to keep playing the game is Multiplayer, and sadly its only local. If you are lucky enough to have 4 mates to setup and organise a time to play it youll have a blast but with less players there is less enjoyment to be had. Online play is missing and its missed, hopefully it will be in there next year.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat DS is a great example of the FPS genre done right on the Nintendo DS and we are glad we got to play this one, its high production values and atmospheres are second to none for the Nintendo DS. If you liked Metroid Prime Hunters and maybe even if you didnt, COD4 DS shouldnt be overlooked simply because its on the DS. Its a great experience just let down by length. Bring on next years.
