Special forces: Call of Duty 4 has been further enhanced with four online multiplayer maps

Review: Cliff Caswell

BEING armed to the teeth and dressed in the feared uniform of an élite Russian Spetsnaz trooper should be enough to ward off any but the most foolish of opponents. But the enemy in this killing zone is not afraid to have a go.

For 20 minutes, Soldier has been sneaking around the ruins of a compound in a Helmand province-esque landscape in a desperate attempt to wipe out an invading force. In every contact, however, our opponents have managed to take us down. It doesn’t help that they have the all-seeing top-cover of a helicopter gunship whirring around, spraying bullets like water in
all directions.

Thankfully it does not take too long to regenerate and re-join the war in one of the most impressive multiplayer games of recent times. And with this new map – which is one of four available to play online – the action in Activision’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is all the more intense and graphically impressive.

Players now have the opportunity to do battle in different environments. As well as the Afghanistan-like Creek map, they can storm a TV studio in Broadcast, fight on the streets in Chinatown or enter the world of hardened special forces training in a FIBUA (Fighting in Built-up Areas) facility, with the fittingly titled Kill House location.

In an exclusive interview with Soldier, Call of Duty 4 developers Infinity Ward refused to rule out further enhancements and online content for the game.

“It is possible that we could do add-ons although it is something that we would have to think through carefully,” said Mark Rubin, who worked as the producer on the title. “But whatever we do in the future, I know we will always maintain a certain sense of realism in our products.

“The introduction of the new multiplayer maps was based heavily on the feedback we had from our customers, and we wanted to include the elements they wanted.

“We created four different styles of play and you can have any number of people getting involved and fighting online,” he added.

There is certainly plenty of diversity to satisfy gamers’ itchy trigger fingers. Creek provides a rich, verdant environment complete with buildings, trees and other cover while Broadcast is a huge close-combat experience with twisting corridors and banks of monitors to hide behind.

“Kill House is a training area set in an aircraft hangar while Chinatown was inspired by people who wanted to see the maps from Call of Duty 1 and 2, both of which take place during the Second World War, reflected in a modern setting,” said Rubin.

“In the new map the action takes place in San Francisco’s Chinatown.”

With Call of Duty 4 now well-established, and with a strong online community, Rubin was confident that the latest maps would provide gamers with a further dimension to the title.

He was particularly pleased that the game had attracted a strong following in the British Armed Forces, especially as Infinity Ward had taken considerable time to make the kit and environments as accurate as possible.

“We always worked with a military adviser from the beginning of the project and had a soldier who taught our stunt actors how to move correctly,” he said.

“In addition, we pretty much got to fire all the weapons you can use in the game and visited military bases all over the place. It was amazing to be driven around in vehicles such as the M1 Abrams main battle tank.”

Rubin admitted: “While we knew that we had created a really fun game, it was actually a surprise that it received such acclaim.

“We were extremely happy with the response, particularly the feedback from serving soldiers.”

The acclaim is well deserved. The latest Call of Duty maps provide greater depth to an established title, cementing its position as the ultimate first-person shooter.