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Fun: This will be a review of the Xbox game Call of Duty 4 - and only of the single player part of the game. I don't have Xbox Live so I can't comment on the multiplayer experience. After seeing all the 5-star reviews I've decided perhaps a little level-headedness is in order to offset the rave reviews from folks who seem to be unable to see anything wrong with this game. No doubt that very statement (and this review's title) will garner a few 'unhelpful' votes, but what the heck, I'm doing this to help folks, not to be popular. Now don't get me wrong - I like the game very much, BUT I feel that a review has to point out potential drawbacks with a game if it's to be any use to readers. Often we have to wade through tens of reviews that don't mention a single drawback - those reviews aren't helpful because they don't really tell players anything about the game. After waiting in vain for any truly helpful reviews on Amazon or elsewhere I decided to buy the game anyway and I've decided to post here in the hope that my review can help people like me who have been sitting on the fence. So here's a critical review so that other potential buyers can know what the game truly offers and where it has problems. After all, if a buyer is forewarned he can't be disappointed when he gets the game. So what I'm going to do here is tell people all the stuff - good and bad - so that they will be able to make an informed choice. I think warning people about the bad stuff will help them to like this great game even more. Anyway, on with the review... The game is very fast-paced and feels like the previous CoD titles. It looks and feels very realistic, so players of previous CoD titles will not be disappointed. As in previous titles the player is thrust into a number of different personas - in this case a British and an American soldier (and a little vignette at the start where the player plays the president of an Eastern European nation). The controls are exactly the same as in previous CoD titles, but there are a few more controls to get used to for planting Claymore charges and for using night vision and other tools of the modern battlefield. While these extras make the game a bit steeper in terms of the learning curve their use is relatively rare in the single-player part of the game and the game tells the player what to do when their use is necessary so I think most players will be able to handle this with little frustration. The graphics seem better than CoD3 - it all seems to be in higher definition and it looks great on my 61" widescreen TV. CoD2 and 3 looked a little bit pixellated but this one is just fine. We're not at photorealism yet though, so some images are a little bit off in terms of shading (especially in the intro movie) and characters' faces are a bit cartoonish, but this is not really an issue - after all it's only a game and the characters' faces aren't really that much of an issue when you're hopefully going to kill most characters while they're a hundred yards or more away. The game experience is very fast-paced and the difficulty is about the same as CoD3, but in this game the save points seem to be much closer together so we don't have the same frustrations of nearly getting through a level and then having to go waaay back if we get killed. The developers have done an excellent job here - I wish the people who made Rainbow Six Vegas had instituted a save point system as good as the one in this game - that would have stopped me from throwing that game's disc across the room in frustration and vowing never to buy another Rainbow Six game. Now for a really tough criticism: the single player game is very short. I'd say it's quite a bit shorter than the previous CoD titles - or at least it feels that way. As a player who does not have Xbox Live this is a serious flaw. However, the game is very fast-paced and involving so I guess it could be that the game just seems to go by so very fast because of the involving storyline. Anyway I timed my first play-through at around 6 hours - I think that's a bit short. Another harsh criticism: no co-op mode. To me it is astonishing that so many modern console games don't have a split-screen co-op mode. I want to play this game with my wife but we can't. Too bad! I realise that CoD games don't usually have co-op mode but can we not evolve? Another issue is that although the game is extremely involving and exciting with some key moments that will live in the memory for years, it doesn't seem to have the historic feel of CoD2 or CoD3. I suppose that's to be expected from a game set in a fictitious modern day setting, but nevertheless I did feel a little something was missing due to this issue. Also, although the setting IS original it SEEMS a little unoriginal. I've played a lot of modern warfare games and this one seems much like them - Full Spectrum Warrior comes to mind and although CoD4's storyline is a bit more complex than FSW the general situation seems very much like deja vu: we keep nearly catching the bad guy and he keeps just eluding us. But then again with a game like this that's based on modern day terrorist warfare maybe that's always going to be a drawback - after all the game has to keep us thinking that big things are at stake, and this game manages that very well. On a more positive note some of the scenes in the game are amazing - a couple of times I just stood in awe at the stuff that was happening, and to the developers' credit they allow you enough time (but not too much) to appreciate these awe-inspiring moments. Without giving too much away, the last part of the film had me impatient to get the mission done - it really draws the player in and gets him committed to an extent that I haven't felt since I played Knights of the Old Republic a few years ago. This game doesn't have any amazing surprises like the one in KotOR, but some moments come close in that "Oh my God that is AWESOME!" kind of way. As I've mentioned before I can't comment on the multiplayer aspects of this game, although judging by the single-player experience I'd say it would have to be as good as or better than any other similar game. The player is realistically bound to a real-world movement speed so I expect this will make the game more realistic in online play. On the other hand, there's not much cover to be had, and the cover there is seems to be very easily shot through, so it may not be as good as Rainbow Six Vegas or Gears of War in that regard. But anyway, as I said, I shouldn't really comment as I haven't played in multiplayer. All-in-all from a single-player perspective this game is excellent in terms of fun value, but overall I knock off a couple of stars because the game is just too darned short and there's no co-op mode. I toyed with knocking just one star off for this, but the game does seem annoyingly short - I'd say it needs at least another hour of play, and maybe two or more in order to be really satisfying. Added to this, the lack of co-op mode is infuriating. Still, I'm definitely glad I bought the game - after all I got much more fun than I'd get from a great movie on DVD, but I got about three times more fun time for only twice the cost of a DVD. After reviewing my review maybe three stars is, after all, a bit harsh. Sadly I can't adjust my initial rating without deleting the review and resubmitting it. Ah well, maybe it serves to offset all the fanboys' overblown 5-star ratings. So, I advise people who have Xbox Live to run out and buy this game right now! Those who don't have Xbox live might want to consider their purchase a bit more. But if they don't find my review daunting I don't think they'll be disappointed - I've pointed out all the bad things that I can see in the game, so no one can say they haven't been warned about the bad stuff (which is mainly the game's short length and the missing co-op mode). Comments (68) | Permalink | function showYesNoCommunityResponse(uId,result,value) { var msgLayer = getElement("thanks" + uId); if ( result == "SUCCESS" ) { msgLayer.innerHTML = "Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided to other Amazon.com readers and reviewers. 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