Activision Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

A prolific single-player campaign, full-featured multiplayer, and an intense photorealistic depiction of modern-day war, makes Call of Duty 4 the most solid first-person shooter we have ever played. Yes, in our opinion, it's even better than Halo 3, Half-Life 2, and Bioshock. In fact, we're declaring CoD4 as our choice for the one must-have game of 2007.

Get with the times

Taking Call of Duty out of the bastardised World War II videogame genre was a genius move on the part of developer Infinity Ward. The genre had out stayed its welcome and the modern day setting is a refreshing change. The game still retains the trademark Call of Duty style, however, and the two components combine to form a visceral and realistic experience that truly lives up to the high standard set by the original Call of Duty.

Let me also address the concerns over the length of the game's single-player mode: rumours had it pegged at five or six hours on the normal difficult, which is more or less accurate. But what gets lost in all the noise is the fact that it is an intensely action-packed experience. We played through the game on the Hardened mode, which the developers feel is the most fulfilling setting, and it took us about eight hours. Keep in mind that we were rushing through the game due to time constraints but we hardly realised how much time had passed: we were too busy having fun.

Think about it this way: would you rather play a mediocre game for 20 hours or play an amazing game for eight? We thought so.

Pick up the pace

Now that we've done our own bit of complaining about complainers, let's talk about the actual meat and potatoes of the game. So as not to ruin any of the surprises, we'll take you on a quick walkthrough of the first two levels of the game. The opening levels do a great job of immediately setting the in-your-face tone that pervades the rest of the game.

The first level places your team on a ship in the middle of the Bering Strait of the Pacific Ocean. Once you've infiltrated the ship's bowels and its storage facilities to gather intel, a submarine missile tears a considerable chunk out of the ship's hull. You run behind the other members of your squad as the ship begins to tip and sink but do you make it out alive?

In typical Call of Duty fashion, the game's action melds seamlessly into such cinematic moments, but it's the second level that truly gives you a taste of Infinity Ward's storytelling prowess.