Oh how I missed Call of Duty on the PC. Call of Duty 3 was a console only release but it wasn`t by the folks at Infinity Ward. No, they had something better in mind and it takes the Call of Duty series to the modern era. No more World War II setting and that`s perfectly fine with me as I think that period`s been done to death. It`s time to move on and Infinity Ward has moved on in a very, very big way. Simply put, Call of Duty 4 is one of the best to come out this year.

There`s a certain checklist that I go through when I play a Call of Duty game. Let`s start with characters. Multiple characters that you will control? Check. You`ll step into the shoes of a few different characters but I would say the main guy is "Soap" MacTavish . You`ll be a member of a unit commanded by a familiar character to those that have played other Call of Duty games. The commander must be an Immortal as he looks pretty much the same as in the World War II era games. In any case you`ll step into the shoes of a few and you`ll travel to a few different destinations between them leading up too the final few missions where the British and US forces combine. You`ll start out going after a terrorist named Khaled Al-Asad but will shortly find out he`s not the only one you need to take out.

A beginning that grabs you and makes you say wow? It`s in the game. You`ll run through a quick training course and setup the difficulty level you`ll want to play in. The first mission puts you on a barge that sways back and forth with the waves. It`s a nice little setup mission that ends in a bang, literally. What follows after the first mission is a pretty intense sequence that serves as the beginning credits of the game. I won`t spoil it for you but suffice to say you get to look through the eyes of a person in an unhappy situation. Rather than showing you a generic cut scene, you get to look around a little. When the beginning credits ended, I couldn`t believe what I just witnessed but it was pretty sweet.

If it`s a Call of Duty game, you have to have some rail shooting sequences on some vehicle and Call of Duty 4 has a great sequence on an AC130 as well as launching mortars from a Chinook. If you have ever seen those black and white videos of a helicopter unloading on terrorists where their bodies explode from the gunfire, the AC130 mission looks exactly like it. Friendlies blink from their beacons so you pretty turn any non-blinking person into Swiss cheese with your machine gun. For clearing small or large areas, you get access to some pretty powerful and destructive shells. You`ll see bodies fly as you bring the rain on the enemy below. I`ll admit I got a rush taking out all those terrorists with my powerful machine gun. The Chinook sequence is a little different as you`ll actually run in and out of the helicopter during the mission. First you`ll start out flying around and clearing the area below. Then you`ll actually travel on foot to help rescue some of your comrades. You`ll go back to manning the gun but will have to get out again for another part of the mission. Finally, no Call of Duty game would be complete with a car sequence and this one has one as well. It`s a nice change of pace switching back and forth from being a rail shooter to a first person shooter.

Speaking of changing paces, the folks at Infinity Ward have done a remarkable job at changing the pace between missions. Sure they`ll be plenty of heavy gun fights that rely on your quick instincts but you`ll also partake in different missions that are in a different tone. The AC130 sequence that I mentioned is a little slower paced and you`ll also experience a pretty cool sniper mission that takes a lot of stealth to get through. A firefight in a close quarters TV studio will have you one your toes as you take out all the enemies stationed in the building. The change of pace offers up a nice variety and keeps the game from feeling r...