Graphics: COD4 boasts exceptional graphics. While they’re technically not as good as Crysis, the difference is negligible for most systems, but is significant for users with Vista and DirectX10. Where the graphics really shine is with the visual portrayal of the various weapons. The game really gets the small details right, and since the weapons you hold are close to your HUD, you spend a lot of time looking at your own weapon and its sights. I was also impressed with the way smoke effects were handled.

Interface: This title’s interface is Spartan in appearance, but that shouldn’t be taken as a problem. Quite the contrary, the simple interface is easy to understand and it stays out of the way of the shooting when you’re busy, while being just out of the corner of your eye when you need to glance at ammunition or radar. Furthermore, hardcore rules in multiplayer turn off most of the HUD, giving the game a stripped down mode of play. My only complaint about the interface is that there aren’t enough filters to help you select an Internet server to play on. There really should be a filter for hardcore servers and for certain kinds of mission rotations to prevent jumping into a game you really don’t want to be in.

Gameplay: To understand why COD4 is such a finely crafted bit of gaming software, you have to understand what Infinity Ward did right in how they designed it. Instead of trying to blow us away with something we’ve never seen before, they chose to do things we’ve seen before, while finely executing all of them. From single player to multiplayer, there isn’t a single part of the game I don’t enjoy. There’s enough variety that you never feel like you’re “grinding” in multiplayer to get XP or awards, and various single player missions are worth replaying in order to try something new or beat an old score.

Multiplayer: All the old standbys are here, including deathmatch and capture the flag. There’s also sabotage and search & destroy, which involves getting explosives to a target, planting them and preventing the enemy from defusing them. (You still win if your team is completely eliminated but the bomb goes off.) Yet, with the various rule modifications, not only is there a wide variety of ways to play the multitude of games and maps, but you can also hunt for a server that caters to your style of play. I’ve mentioned my preference for hardcore, but some gamers will no doubt prefer servers with regular rules and longer spawn times, while still others will want to play sabotage games where everyone has the bomb, not just the one person who normally carries it. I’m also happy to report that most of the online community seems to be polite and mature, so you don’t generally have to worry about racist or rude players mocking you as you learn the ropes.

Sound FX: Everything in this game sounds the way it’s supposed to sound. What that means for gamers is a rich variety of sound cues for which to listen. Every weapon has a unique sound, not to mention the sound of people walking with different equipment. When you’re sneaking around, paying attention to sound cues is vital to success; conversely, in the middle of a firefight, it’s practically impossible to single out individual enemy positions by sound alone. This is as it should be. In another fine bit of sound engineering, when you’re victimized by a flash bang, not only do you go blind, but all of the sound in the game is muted and replaced by a ringing sound in your ears which is only slowly replaced by the sounds of battle. In addition to all of this, the dialog is pretty good, too.

Music: The music for the game is sparse, but then again, as this is a first person shooter, the last thing a player needs is music blaring while attempting to complete objectives. What little there is is well done and always suits the mood. It also chimes in and fades away as the situation dictates, obviating my normal procedure of just turning it off so I can hear sound cues easier.

Difficulty: In single player, the game has four difficulty levels. The first mission is actually a training course designed to test your reflexes and tactical skill. Based on your performance, the game assigns a difficulty on par with your skill. Since you can rerun the course as many times as you want, you can always try for a different difficulty level and tweak your control set until you get everything just right. This method of setting the difficulty is surprisingly accurate, and I rarely felt the game was not keyed to my level of skill. It always stayed difficult, but not impossible to beat.

Intelligence: The AI understands that just running around shooting will get you nowhere in a game like this. The developers have scripted the AI to instead take shelter and attempt to cover one another as they advance or withdraw. In some missions, the AI showed a frightening level of competence in flanking defensive positions while laying down suppressing fire. The AI also understands that walls can be shot through and grenades can be bounded off walls to get around corners, so consider yourself warned.

Overall: Combining a single player experience I feel the need to replay and a multiplayer experience that has me convincing my friends to pick up copies, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the kind of first person shooter that regulars of the genre should choose over all the others we’ve seen come out in the past six months. Given the quality of releases such as Crysis, Time Shift and Quake Wars, that’s saying a lot. Right now, this game is the cream of the crop, and I can’t imagine a better title upon which to bestow the Adrenaline Vault’s Seal of Excellence.