"Official" Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review and Discussion- by yours truly

Writer : The Forerunner
Editor : Crimsonman

About the Review

Hi and welcome to the review of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This is my second game review and was chosen based upon requests as well as my personal preference. I am always taking requests for future game reviews and as of now it seems that I will probably review Gears of War or Crysis in the near future. Comments, criticisms, and questions are always welcome so that I can improve this review and reviews in the future. If you find any mistakes or factual errors please feel free to leave a post and I will take care of it. If you find the review helpful feel free to rep me and any helpful comments and suggestions will merit rep for you.

I would like to acknowledge Crimsonman for doing a wonderful job as my editor. He has helped give wonderful insight and comments to my review and overall was an integral part of the review so he deserves rep as much as I do. Also would like to thank the NBR graphics team (especially Sam) for my cool new signature which reflects the games I've reviewed. Hoping to add characters from different games to that soon. Click the link under my signature to get a cool new signature of your own for free!

With that said enjoy the review and feel free to leave any comments!

What is Call of Duty?

Call of Duty is a series of first person shooter games based upon infantry combat during World War II. The call of duty series has been critically acclaimed due to the overall sense of realism and level of immersion. The original Call of Duty was developed for the PC by developer Infinity Ward and the entire series was published by Activision. Infinity Ward created the sequel Call of Duty 2 while its sequel Call of Duty 3 was developed by Treyarch. Call of Duty 3 was also the first game in the series not to appear on the PC which upset the PC fan base. However, the series has made its return to the PC as well as its original developer (Infinity Ward) with the newest installment, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.



What is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the newest installment of the Call of Duty series and is once again developed by Infinity Ward. The game was put into development soon after the release of Call of Duty 2. It is the first game in the series which is not based upon WWII but instead takes place in the modern era. It is also the first game which is not based upon historical events but rather based upon fictional events.

The detraction from the WWII premise was something that Infinity Ward was looking forward to. They felt the shift to modern weapons, gadgets, and equipment makes the game faster paced and intense while still holding true to the series. Infinity Ward has gone to extensive lengths to study the modern weapons and equipment to accurately reflect warfare in the modern era.

System Requirements

Minimum:
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.4 GHz or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) 64 2800+ processor or any 1.8 GHz Dual Core Processor or better supported
RAM: 512MB RAM (768MB for Vista)
GPU: NVIDIA(R) Geforce(TM) 6600 or better or ATI(R) Radeon(R) 9800Pro or better
HD: 8 GB of Free Space

Recommended:
Processor: 2.4 GHz dual core or better is recommended
RAM: 1024MB RAM (2048MB for Vista)
GPU: 3.0 Shader Support recommended. Nvidia Geforce 7800 or better or ATI Radeon X1800 or better
HD: 8 GB of Free Space

My Setup
Notebook: Asus C90s
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHZ (Overclocked 10% on Gaming Mode)
GPU: Nvidia 8600M GT 512MB DDR2
Ram: 2 GB Corsair PC 5300 DDR2-667
Hard Drive: 160 GB Seagate Momentus 5400 RPM
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z-2300 2.1 THX Certified
Mouse: Logitech MX 518 1600 DPI Gaming Mouse

Performance
Stock (475,400)-1280 x 1024 (2x AA, All max) AVG FPS-24 1280 x 1024 (No AA, All max) AVG FPS 31-32
Overclocked (550/490)- 1680 x 1050 (2x AA, All max) AVG FPS-30

Call of Duty 4 is surprisingly runs well on my laptop at its native res of 1680 x 1050 when overclocked. The demo stuttered a bit but it seems more optimization has occurred because I experience no stuttering now. The load times in this game are very very quick and the mission briefing while loading makes the loading even less of an issue. Let’s see if Nvidia comes out with call of duty 4 drivers to give us a boost, though on the bright side no glitching or bugs yet (knock on wood) so maybe drivers won't be necessary for those reasons.

NOTE : All screenshots taken at 1680 x 1050 with 2x AA.



Gameplay-Campaign

First of all, do yourself a favor and do not play this game on regular. Experienced shooters like most of you reading this review have to play on at least hardened to enjoy the game with the intensity it’s meant to be played with. Regular is simply a bit too easy while hardened requires a greater amount of skill and patience. You can get away with run and gun tactics on regular but on hardened (even less on veteran) you pay the price for those kinds of strategies. I tried the game on regular after beating it on hardened and it's far less enjoyable and alot more boring on this setting. My advice is to play the game with the more difficult setting and give yourself the experience you deserve and play the game “the way it’s meant to be played.” TM



The campaign overall was a big success. The plot is interesting and engaging and there are a few surprises thrown in too. While you may think most of the levels are the same that is actually far from the truth. The missions are very varied and well designed. There are your typical missions where you move and kill but there are also stealth, rescue, and evasion missions. They range from defending hills from an onslaught of enemy soldiers and tanks to being stealthy and silent when attempting to assassinate someone. Hell, one mission basically has you trying to run for your life for most of the level (literally). The game also throws in some unique elements (don't want to give them away) which are new and memorable simply because they have never been done before. Some of the cool little features of the game also impressed me though they are nothing major. The use of the space bar to jump over objects was interesting because it reminded me of tactics soldiers actually use. Instead of walking around low walls and objects which provide you with cover you can duck behind them then stand up and jump over quickly and then crouch and move to cover again. Also when sniping by holding down the shift key you can hold your breath to steady the weapon (yes I know it was done before but this is so realistic) but hold too long and he will sputter for air and your aim will violently shake. While these are nothing major they are just intuitive steps Infinity Ward has taken to make the game feel alive.



The A.I. in the game is pretty impressive. The enemy is rather advanced while not perfect in this game. They know when to take cover and how to use grenades to flush you out of rooms, buildings, or generally where your hiding. Their uses of flashbangs are also great because of the ability to coordinate attacks with each other. One soldier may throw a flashbang while the other throws a grenade or moves in to fire. One memorable (though painful) incident was when I was hiding behind a tree only to have a flashbang blind me. When my vision finally recovered it was only to see the butt of rifle about to be smashed on my face. The only gripe with the A.I. is their inability to flank. Most of the deaths you will experience will be caused by grenades and what that does is essentially does reduce the importance of guns for the A.I. Before you go "WHAT?!" let me explain. The enemies' use with guns is fantastic. Try any run and gun tactics and you'll see bullets flying at you from every direction. However when your hiding the A.I.'s typical response is to lob a grenade. While this still is realistic and intense it would have been nice to seen the enemy use more flanking techniques.



Allied A.I. is a whole different story. Allied soldiers in this game have fantastic A.I. The game often gives you different pathways to flank enemies and often it seems intuitively the A.I. knows when to follow or when to stay to provide a distraction. This makes it feel like a tactical shooter only without the hassle of commanding troops to hold, move etc. Often the A.I. will even break into groups and split to attack the enemy from multiple flanks. Your allies are also advanced enough to save you from grenades and enemies. Often when a grenade is too close to run away from but too far to reach in time to throw back it, a squad mate will quickly grab it and throw it away from you. They also attempt to protect you when an enemy suddenly springs up on you from a different pathway and basically cooperate like a real squad. It’s great because it really makes you feel like your part of a real military trained squad who look out for each other.



Another excellent feature of the game is the physics. The game hosts its own physics engine which really shows in the ragdoll physics of soldiers as they die or something explodes nearby. They crumple and fall realistically and sometimes its eerie to see piles of corpses stacked up. The more interesting feature it is implemented is in the physics of bullets. Bullets can actually penetrate through solid objects and kill enemies on the other side. This is determined by the type of wall or object as well as the type of weapon. The game actually calculates the physics if and how far the bullet will penetrate on a wall. Some I have actually seen make it through but are stuck on the wall. This facillatates constantly moving so you realize the fact that hiding behind a wooden fence is not really going to save you. Another excellent feature that further draws you ino the game.



While the campaign is rather short and is estimated to be 8-10 hours on hardened I found it very satisfying. The range of weapons is great ranging from silenced pistols to behemoth machine guns. The modern weapons are faster and more furious and intriguing because of their attachments and scopes. Though there are no drivable vehicles often you get to use turrets and man the weapons systems and wreak havoc with the vehicles of the modern warfare. This culminates into the famous level where you literally man a gunship and wreak havoc. Though the game is somewhat short it definitely mixes it up and keeps you on your toes defining the phrase "short but sweet."




Gameplay-Multiplayer

Unfortunately I can't give a full on review on how great multiplayer is because I simply haven't played it enough to advance to the higher ranks where you unlock the goodies. I've advanced enough ranks to be able to create a class but there are no real options except what I have (give me a break I played for an hour or so.) From what I've played the game is fantastic. Its fast paced nature and chaotic environment like campaign gives it that realistic feeling. At first call of duty looks like your typical multiplayer game but under the surface is a whole different world. It’s called customization and it’s used alot in this game. Advance your ranks by gaining experience and you unlock new weapons, scopes, attachments, and even outfits (ghillie suit anyone?). When you first start off you only have a few classes to start off with such as assault and light machine gun. After only killing a few people and jumping classes quickly I was unable to unlock sniper, special ops, and demolitions (The remaining preconfigured classes). Each class is prefitted with their own weapons. At level 4 is where the fun begins...



As of right now I believe I only have a one or two options in all the types of guns. These range from typical assault rifles to long ranged sniper rifles and everything in between. You can view the stats and experience needed to unlock the weapons especially if you are looking forward to one. In create a class you can also customize your perks. What are perks you say? They are a brand new element to the game because they are essentially special attributes that you assign your character. There are 3 slots for perks and many options to choose form though initially (what a surprise) your only limited to a few and must unlock more. They range from simple things such as increased health to more powerful attributes such as being able to eavesdrop on enemy chat or make your bullets penetrate more through walls. While the amount of unlockables can seem daunting at first there are nice challenges to help you gain extra experience. There a host of challenges for each class and in general which allow you gain experience simply by achieving them. They range from simply killing a certain amount of people to getting headshots with a certain weapon. In the beginning getting one or two kills is enough to promote you a rank but as the game progresses you need to kill more to achieve a higher level. The challenges operate in a similar fashion starting off rather easy but becoming harder (but with bigger rewards) thus making multiplayer have an easy learning curve.



The multiplayer action is great. With a whopping 16 maps which look and feel great (of the 5-7 I tried), they are varied and provide a range of environments to wage war in. Teamwork isn't essential in this game but it’s recommended and certainly pays off. Surrounding and flanking enemies can put your team in the lead quickly and experience in your pocket. Teamwork also pays off because even if you aren't the one who killed the target you accumulate experience through an assist. While I was playing I noticed a few people with more advanced weapons and in all fairness while it plays a factor in balance it is not that huge of a deal. Beginners can jump right into the action and not feel overwhelmed due to their basic weapons. The main part is to use cover and knowing when to strike. The game rewards streaks through an interesting manner. Get 3 kills in a row and you can call in a UAV which tells your entire team for a brief period of time where every single enemy is located on the radar. Get 5 in a row and you can call in a tactical strike on the location of your choosing. Get 7 in a row and you call in helicopter support which flies around guns blazing and does tons of damage. 7 kills in a row is easier said than done but I did manage 5. Also due to the bullet physics the game essentially reduces camping. Now hiding and shooting behind the same object all day long is not efficient and often when you are hiding behind impenetrable concrete walls, they are made in such a way to be vulnerable to grenades, point is: never stop moving. (Exaggeration but you know what I mean.) Especially since once you kill a person it goes through a quick replay of who killed them (called killcam) and even goes to their first person view to show them exactly how they got killed. So if you stand in one spot you can bet your ass that person will be ready for you next time. The game also hosts a wide range of multiplayer times. From classic such as Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch to unique types such Search and Destroy where teams try to plant bombs on an enemy site. One the more challenging modes is hardcore. In hardcore there is no radar, no hud, friendly fire is on, and bullets do realistic amounts of damage so this is truly for people who want to enter the battlefield while still in their chair. With 12 game types in all theres always something new to try.




Overall with 16 maps, 30 weapons, 12 game types, tons of challenges, tons of perks and even suit and weapon customization this game is going to draw you in (big time). It creates an fps with a moderate dash of rpg elements. In the multiplayer aspect, call of duty 4 has just raised the bar...

My profile is Forerunner (what a surprise), see you online!!

Visuals

Aesthetically mind-blowing. (period!!) Call of Duty may have taken a backseat to Crysis in terms of its visual hype but I can assure you it does not like being ignored. Many have actually called this game the "sleeper" title of the holiday season because of the hype surrounding other big games such as Crysis, Gears of War, and UT3. I could not agree more (I actually believe it looks better than Crysis, crap hope I didnt start a cod4 vs crysis war). For those of you who played the demo let me just say that level was actually in my opinion one of the less detailed and visually appealing levels. First of all the environments are fantastic. The range of locales you visit are varied and beautiful in their own right. They range from claustrophobia inducing small Middle Eastern cities to wide open meadows and even a naval ship. The variation in the game mixes up your experiences so you are not looking at the same type of building after another or the same tree over and over (bad experience in Oblivion, don't ask).



The key to this game's impressive visuals is details. The world feels like it is alive because of the details. The beauty of nature can be appreciated through the various types of flowers, shrubs, trees, and even animals. Right down from the simple breeze to the complex dynamic lighting and shadows the world feels likes its alive. One memorable (though frustrating) moment was when I was positioned to snipe an enemy while proned only to have the wind blow a blade of grass and obscure my view and cause me to miss my shot. The world acts independently of you instead of feeling like its telling you to move along. The time changes realistically causing realistic shadow changes along with it. You can appreciate the beauty of the world, at least until you load your gun...



"War is hell." This game truly proves that quote. It’s satisfying and chilling to see the amount of chaos and damage even small skirmishes cause with our modern weapons. Chaotic fire leaves bullet holes everywhere while explosions char the ground and environment. In one particular tense moment I was running for my life near the brink of death to take cover behind a building only to hear gunfire. I made it alive but turning my head I saw a bullet hole a mere centimeter to where my head was. It was also impressive to newspapers floating around realistically while I entered what would appear to be a deserted area. The character models are also fantastic in this game. Characters are very detailed both in their appearance and their movement. Soldiers have textures and detailing right down to their boots. Let’s not forget the weapons. Each weapon looks very realistic and it’s satisfying to see the shells and clips unload from these instruments of death. The iron sights views are fantastic especially due to the depth of field effects which blur the objects close to you giving that realistic effect our eyes experience.



Overall the graphics are very impressive and do justice to the Call of Duty series' sense of immersion. The research done by Infinity Ward is reflected well by the realistic nature of how squads and soldiers operate. Though I am in no way claiming it is a real substitute of war, this game was actually an insightful view into the lives of soldiers. The last time any form of media gave that sense of realism was in HBO's Band of Brothers series.




Sound

The sound is simply amazing in this game. The gunfire and explosions are very realistic and are varied. Often games have generic sounds for their weapons and effects but not here. Within each of type of class of weapon and among them the sounds are varied even among explosions. The environmental effects of the game allow a player with a keen ear (and speakers) to know exactly which specific weapon that is being fired and often prepare themselves accordingly. Sniper fire alerts players to be wary of walking into areas with clear lines of sight while a roaring submachine gun means close range combat is about to ensue. The different types of explosions are even recognizable whether it is cars, tanks, rockets, grenades or C4. While this may not seem important often it is crucial because being able to recognize C4 explosions is a sign to be wary of traps around the corner.



The voice acting in the game is great. Both enemies and allies sound very realistic. You can detect the desperation of your allies when calling for help or the urgency in the voice of your officer when giving you orders. Enemies’ shouts of panic and anger can be heard among the fighting and hearing yelling from both sides makes it feel like an actual battlefield. The music in the game is also fantastic. Parts of it were done by famous composer Harry Gregson-Williams who composed for many of the Metal Gear Solid games while the majority of the game's score was handled by his "pupil" Stephen Barton. The music is great for setting the tone and ambience for the game. It ranges widely from heart pumping action tunes to suspenseful thrillers which keep you at the edge of your seat when the tension is running high. Sounds are just as crucial when the bullets and explosions are booming as they are when stealth is necessary and sounds enable you get an idea where the enemy is. Overall the blend of these fantastic sounds creates one immersive experience.


(Flashbang effect, very disorientating)

Conclusion

Pros
+Beautiful Graphics
+Engaging Campaign
+Addictive and Deep Multiplayer

Cons
-Campaign is on the short side

Bottom Line: Simply a must have for FPS fans.

Bottom Bottom Line: Ready for this? PC GAME OF THE YEAR!! Done Deal.

NBR Player List

The Forerunner---------- Forerunner
DjOtaku------------------Hijikata
jbannick------------------Kikuta
usapatriot----------------USApatriot
sgtmatt1-----------------SgtMatt[BE]
maksin01-----------------SiNisTer
blackbird-----------------fragsta

 

this game really isn't as good as you've reviewed it.

 

anybody else have this problem?

some objects and some characters appear really dark/black.

i have a 7950GTX and have used the 163.71 and 163.75 drivers, but neither ones gets rid of the effect.


as you can see, the grass in this screenshot is really dark/black, which is not how its supposed to be.

also, does anybody know how to get rid of the annoying popup that occurs when you open the game. the one where it asks if you want to "optimally configure your graphics settings because it has detected a hardware change"........man its annoying, i think its just because of my processors power saving features, which causes it to change frequencies.

 

wow, looks really good. i want it! are the controls hard to master?

 

i think i will be playing CoD1 for a while yet

 

Nice review! Just been playing multiplayer nonstop for 2 hours after I bought the game and played 10 minutes of singleplayer. 4 more kills and I shall unlock the red dot sight for my AK47.

 

Good review.

I just got done playing 4 hours of straight multiplayer (on the xbox 360) and all i can say is awesome. This is the most fun i've had in multiplayer ever.

Go out and get it!!!! Game of the year!

 

Why do you say that? Its getting top reviews from all sorts of magazines, websites, newspapers, from around the world. But I suppose if it isn't your thing. I honestly thought it was great. Much better than bioshock in my opinion.

Nah just like your typical fps, not hard at all. Trying to rep you crimson but says I gotta spread out my rep more.

Your missing out...

Oh I was opposite. Finished singleplayer than played a bit of multi. Glad you enjoyed the review.

Frisco no idea. Try reinstalling the game. I have no idea.

 

If you want a bit more performance turn of AA, it makes a lot of difference and you really don't need it at the higher resolutions

 

Nice review!

How'd you get it up so fast? it comes in stores on Wednesday(tomorrow).

 

well I'm glad this guy isn't the official games reviewer. It's fine to disagree but making a passing remark that you don't think it's good is not telling me a whole lot other than you don't like the game. For everyone that likes something there's always another that doesn't. That's not exactly news.
So why isn't it good? What do you consider is good?

Good review btw Forerunner. Very prompt and yet detailed as well. Gonna get this soon

 

Great review. And I agree that CoD 4 looks very nice, especially since it's all DX9 based if I remember correctly.

I wonder what are the chances of CoD 4 coming to Mac since all the previous PC releases eventually made it over? Hopefully Aspyr will do a native port instead of a Cider one. I believe the entire CoD 4 engine including physics is completely self-developed and proprietary, which should helps things since there is no need to license middleware.

 

Yeah I should but I'm a jaggy freak, this way I have absolutely no jaggies.

I pre-ordered and official release date was today.

Yeah thx morphy. + Rep. I was gonna say something about his comment especially since thats not the first thing you want to hear after putting a decent amount of work into something.

Glad you enjoyed it, see you online once you get the game.

You are correct sir I'm pretty sure its proprietary. Its pretty damn imrpessive too.

 

SAME!!! someone on my dorm floor just got it, we got the big screen out in the lobby and thats all we've been playing. its awesome!

 

That is so weird I always have to scroll horizontally for your reviews...I want a WSXGA+ screen.

 

what is AA?

also, running with a 256mb 8600M GT, how will it hold up? will i still be able to play smoothly on low settings?

what else can i do to optimize it?

 

dude, that's the same card forerunner has, i believe(besides the fact that his is 512mb - which is in no major way different). u should be fine playing it at max settings w/o aa(anti-aliasing)

 

I just played this amazing game (demo) on 1600x1200 settings maxed out and it played great! I even tried putting on 2x AA and it was still playable (though not to my liking). I really hope to see the same performance in Crysis!

 

Excellent work! Looking forward for your GoW review.

 

I tried on my 8600GT and get an average of 25fps at 1280x800 medium, max kills it stone dead and would place it the same as my X1800XT? I'm just a bit spectical of claims that the 8600GT DDR2 can run this game at 1280x800 max and even 1680x1050 max with some overclocking.

 

Just finished the campaign ....Too bad it's short

PS layed @ 1280x800 with 2xAA rest high.VGA Card 8600M GT OC (572/472)

 

maaan, The game comes out the 9th here
Is it really that short?

very nice review by the way ^.^

 

The Gamespot reviewer took about 5 hrs to play through it, but have heard 8 hrs as well. About half of the average FPS game. It's just more of a multiplayer FPS than anything else.

 

The Forerunner: are the pictures 500 pixels?

 

I've heard its short but amazing (~6 hours), but it does have great replay value.

 

campaign....Ah..It took 7 + hours .
BTW It's really nice game.

 

long night for me :S

Forerunner, thank you for this. I dont now if i buy this or Crysis, or UT3 :S

Damn, why i dont have rich parents ? ... or lottary ticket :S

 

Do some part time job like me

 

I have the relative numbers if you would like. My overclocked processor may help. Also my c90 is compleletly tweaked. Registry, processes, services and absolutely non-mandatory is disabled. Also I have done alot of the stuttering tweaks. It averages about 30 including indoors. Indoors gives you a huge boost in fps while outdoors while fighting or zoomed in the fps might drop to a low of 25. IN general walking around and such gives me about 30.

Also not to be defensive but I'm not here to write lies. IF you see my review pictures they are all done at 1680 x 1050 and I can assure you I did not go through the entire game at that res with poor fps just to claim my 8600 can run it. In fact why would I lie in a review? If it ran terribly on my laptop and I claimed it ran great it would just ruin my credability and I'm just trying to help people out.

Thanks for the rep and props people!

 

I love the game, yes, but it's not game of the year in the slightest. Graphics wise, it's not that great, sound wise, it rocks! especially if you have a fully set up surround sound system, gameplay is really old, but it's still great and very enjoyable, AI still isn't that great IMO but it's better than most games. I haven't beat it yet, but from what I hear it's short, atleast there's MP!

So, I think it's a great game, but nothing new.

 

^Thx for a great example of a valid negative response.

What should be game of the year in your opinion? Definitely not bioshoc in my opinion. That game was very repetitive. Orange box is up there for sure and so is this.

 

Idk, I mean it could, I'm just hoping for something reeeaaally unique.

I'll wait until the end of this month to truly say what I think should be GOTY.
I'd like to get the final version of crysis, mainly because like many others, I've been waiting years for it, and was WOWed by the demo, and it's extremely fun to use editor. It's going to come down to crysis vs COD 4 for shure though.

And yea, I agree, bioshock really did get repetitive, and I hate that they said it would be less linear, but most of the game was go here, down this small corridor, then grab this, go back, etc.. I expected it to be FAR more open ended.

 

COD4 is Game OF Year For Me.i think people will think twice before they buy unoptimized crisis (Take too long to develop & unoptimized like DIRT).

 

I just finished it and it was fun. I thought it was better than a lot of the popular modern combat games like BF2, Far Cry etc. More of the same intense COD style gameplay, which is good thing imo. I was suprised it ran so well on my wimpy 128MB X700 @ 1024x768 (shadows disabled), average of 45fps. The two major things I liked were the weapons and atmosphere. Compared to TF2 which is more focused on teamwork, I think COD4 MP would be more focused on the weapons and huge team battles which I personally prefer.

Oh, and how cool was the car ride scene? First 15 minutes or so of the game was like a movie

 

ugh.. i HATE it when people say this.. cmon, just say you dislike crysis, stop calling it unoptimised, the game renders on average about 20 times more per frame than COD4, it's extremely obvious why it runs so much worse, it has nothing to do with optimisation, it's simply because of how much they put into it.

now Dirt, was unoptimised, but the most unoptimised game so far has been R6 vegas.

 

Nice review, only thing i don't like about COD series is that you cant always jump over or climb on objects that a normal soldier should have no trouble doing.

Like jumping over a bunch of logs to get to the other side instead of having to go the way the game wants you to go...makes it feel more linear than it already is I guess.

 

Another great review Forerunner, I hope you keep doing them.

As for me, I think I'm going to pass on CoD4 for at least a while. I've just really had my fill on shooters for a while - with so many good ones I have to wait for some of them to come down in price.

 

Aren't there drivers coming for cod4 (like there came drivers for crysis ) That would be NIIIIICE.

But i don't think so

 

Im having the same problem with my game and i have the same video card as you its the Evga 7950GT Ko 512MB. I wish i could do something about it because it looks really bad.
What rez are you ruining your game at because it looks like your FPS is kinda low mine stays above 50fps and thats on 1024*768 no AA with textures at high and everything els turned on, The game looks amazing other than the black grass.

If anyone knows whats going on can you please post so i can fix this.

 

I wasn't expecting much, but I'm really surprised with the quality of the review. Excellent job. I ordered on steam, so I can't play it until the 12th, however once I do I'll most definitely take your advice on playing it on Hardened.

 

Try a Windows Update or download the 169.04 driver of laptopvideo2go.com...
I am definantly going to buy this game. It has an incredible ambience, and the firefights are so stunning that you can almost just sit back and enjoy the show. I like both the more tactical shooter (GRAW2) in multiplayer but also games like this and BF series where its more two armies clashing. Can you utilize vehicles like tanks? I havn't played CoD before but I very much enjoy it in BF. It's not realistic, i know, but it's so much fun to take 3-4 soldiers out with 1 artillery round. I would like also like to see som mortars in a FPS. It would optimize the more strategic aspect of the game.

 

This is very good Forerunner. I like that youve done the reviews as soon as the games have come out. Its also good that you include your average FPS to give users a good feel of the performance to expect. The only thing I would improve is adding screenshots of the in game settings. Some peoples interpretation of "max" is different than others. It creates a lot of "what about ____ setting?" questions. Im just not sure if you remembered to turn ALL of the settings to max. This is a small improvement and the review is excellent and a great idea. Thanks

 

What command in the console should you use if you want the FPS to be shown in-game?

 

I thought the ending was excellent. One of my fave endings for a game.

 

The Witcher, no joke.

9.4 reader average from IGN, 8.9 reader average from Gamespot, 9.6 reader average from Metacritic, 9.0 from Gamebanshee.com (only RPG review site that matters)

 

COD4-
Press average for COD4 is 93 while Witcher is 88. Reader is 9.3 while witcher is 9.5.

Official xbox gave it a 10/10 as well as playstation magazine
gametrailers gave it a 9.4 and game informer gave it a 10/10.
Gamespot a 9 and Ign a 9.4

Haven't tried witcher because not a fan of rpgs.

 

The witcher,, gah.. I normally wouldn't make it a habit to buy games that visaully look worse than those of 4 years ago.

Anyone who gave it a graphics score of anything over a 6 should be considered an invalid/retarded review. Even the commentors of those reviews seem to be very mixed.

Witcher vs COD4, COD4 wins by default since it's a COD game, and an FPS

 

I hate hijacking threads but I have to disagree it doesn't look like a 4-year old game to me (even though its based on a 4-year old engine ).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9h_bJvpUN0

I understand it won't be GOTY overall because lets face it this year is loaded with so many other amazing games, but I think it will take the RPG award easily unless assasins creed is mind-boggling.

 

Well I should give one of these rpgs a try. I don;t hate all rpgs just most. Some of them aren't exciting. Last good rpg I played was jeanne d arc on the psp, very addictive.

Aww man just made it to sergrant in cod. Unlocked the carbine!! finally!! I also seriously underestimated silenced pistols. You can kill 3-4 guys before the enemy notices.

 

Yea I absolutely love using my silenced Mini-Uzi together with that perk which lets you sprint longer. I'm always running towards the enemy and have been getting so many kills with it although I do die quite often since I'm always very close to the enemies. :/