Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Review

By Tyler Barber



In his comfortable apartment an overweight man sips coffee in-between respawns playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer. Perking up, Fatty notices a man in a business suit.

"Excuse me sir, but we've secretly replaced your testosterone-inflated shooter with a deep RPG experience."

Lowering his coffee mug, the well-girthed gamer's face shifts. Perplexed at first, then slowly changing shape into an angry-scrunched-butthole face exclaiming, "you son-of-a-BITCH!'

With one swift movement, his potato-sack-like arm flips over the coffee table along with the aforementioned coffee mug. The ensuing frenzy destroyed both the fat man's apartment and his macho facade. How could he admit to his buds that he's been playing a role-playing-game? That stuff's for pale losers who watch Anime all day about blue-spiky-haired 15 year olds' inability to confess their love to red-spiky-haired 9-year-old-transvestites-with-double-D's.

Not to worry my rotund friend. Yes, we have been playing an RPG, but it's not the type of RPG that removes your testicles. It's the fucking Call of Duty 4 multiplayer RPG. Well, technically it's not an RPG, and no one's calling it an RPG, but if you look at its core: a persistent character that you level up, unlock new weapons, perks and challenges, the lines start to blur.

CoD4 offers aggressive campaign and online modes set in the modern-day war-zone. If you've never played the previous Call of Duty games, then you're in for a treat, but if like me and you’ve played all the previous games, expect that same on-rails shooting-gallery experience of that established the series. Though its structure is a bit played-out, the campaign mode still offers some of the best tour-guide combat this side of Half-Life 2.



If the campaign is just good, consider the multiplayer excellent. Infinity Ward, the developers behind CoD4, have broken ground on the consoles offering a wide-range of customization, unlock-able items and challenges.

But be prepared to have your ass kicked. CoD4 easily hosts the most competitive online shooting on any console. And with matchmaking that isn't quite as good as Halo's, you'll be out-ranked almost all the time. Even so, with so much frantic action going on, even the lowest ranked member of the team can help.

Balancing all of these elements could be a nightmare, but for the most part, CoD4's weapons, perks and stages are balanced. But, one area that will have you calling foul are the bonuses you get with multiple kills without dying. Cap enough dudes in a row and you can call in an air-strike on any section of the map. Kill enough guys in the air-strike, and you'll unlock the ability to call in a helicopter that mercilessly guns down the opposition. Sounds sweet right? That's unless you're on the receiving end. If your team's getting their ass kicked, you could fall victim to several back-to-back helicopter and air-strikes, making it even harder to come back.

With a glut of excellent shooters hitting the consoles this season, CoD4 is definitely in the top ranks. Ultimately, between Halo 3, The Orange Box and CoD4, its more a matter of taste than pragmatic truth to which game is "better." I'd find it hard to believe that any fan of the shooter genre would be disappointed with CoD4.

Final Grade: A

Mass Effect (on your social life)

By Tyler Barber



Hello, my name is Tyler Barber and I am a Mass Effect addict. It started when I got my copy of ME early for review. That first day I thought, "I'll create a character, dabble with the game, and move on." Little did I know that hours later, I'd still be tweaking my customizable character, without even starting the game. I've had almost a week's worth of nights where the rising sun has been a sobering exclamation of, "hey, it's 6 a.m. loser, go to bed already!" But I can't help it. I'm out of control. ME has a grip on my life, and I'm here today to take the steps necessary to rectify my addiction, and become a productive member of society.

Unsurprisingly, developer Bioware exceeds in creating believable characters in a universe that you actually care about. As in their previous RPGs, (Knight of the Old Republic, Jade Empire) ME lets you play as an asshole, a push-over, or as some moody middle-ground. My recommendation: asshole all the way. The dialog options only show the sentiment of what your character is thinking. What you actually do say can be very unexpected, and oftentimes brutal.

The combat is extremely satisfying as the encounters are genuinely difficult. You'll have to juggle the right ammo and armor for each encounter, as well as control your character's special abilities (only if you want to). Be careful choosing your character’s class -- the abilities you'll use are dictated by which class you chose from the start. Which is one area where ME runs into trouble.



Another area where ME is lacking is that there isn't any kind of tutorial or guide to help the player understand the mechanics of the game. With little explanation of controls or tactics, players could easily become confused and/or frustrated. It's here where I think Bioware stumbles in capturing the non-RPG-playing audience.

Where ME really suffers are the numerous technical issues that plague everything from bad loading times, to horrible graphics pop-in. In a game that has so much of its creative talent and resources poured into sculpting an immersive universe, it's astonishing that there are so many times in the game where a technical problem pulls you right out of experience. Given that ME is a planned trilogy, there's hope that the sequels will rid themselves of these issues.

Final Grade: B+