Game: Call of Duty 4

Now if anyone has been reading this so far, they would have read my previous Halo 3 review and how I would nowadays give it a bit of a lower score than my first impression was worth.

Call of Duty 4 is the reason why.

As much as I try, I can think of almost no problems with this game. The single player campaign is expertly crafted, and takes more chances with plot twists and taboo subjects than Hollywood would dare take in this post 9/11-Iraq War era. Every weapon in the game packs a punch when used in the right hands, the sound design is deafening with explosions and bullet ricochets abound...this is just a phenomenal, PHENOMENAL game.

While it isn't very long, the single player mode is worth the price of admission alone. Simply making it through the first three levels, including being stuck in the point of view of a doomed middle-eastern leader, is such a rush that you'll play it right over again to try and see things you might have missed the first time around. You play as either the British SAS or the US Marine Corps over the course of the game, and even take a trip to the outskirts of Chernobyl at one point.

Halo 3 will surely remain the multiplayer king for some time, but Call of Duty 4's multiplayer is, in my opinion, much more polished. While every player starts with a skin-and-bones weapons set, the weapons are good enough that you could play the entire online mode with them. The better one gets, the more weapons choices one gets, but the weapons are so well balanced and the levels so well designed that there is really no "unfair" way to play, which is what I found to be the major problem in Halo 3's multiplayer; there most assuredly ARE unfair ways of playing Halo 3, and certain weapons are far better than others. Call of Duty 4 is completely skill based, so more more you practice and play, the better you get. The ranking system is equivalent through every game type as well, and there are many, MANY game types.

Call of Duty 4 is much more serious than Halo 3 is. It has a higher learning curve, plus no health bar, but I think this is a good thing. You have to be careful around every corner and have eyes in the back of your head at all times, but it isn't as strict as, say, Rainbow Six Vegas. Its a perfect balance of fun and skill.

Score: 9.7 out of 10. This is the best game I have played in 2007, and there were MANY games this year. Ask for it for Christmas, go out and get it now, do everything in your power to get this game.