OXM's COD4:MW Review

The last game that I was this excited about was Halo 2.  I am nearly counting the hours until COD4 is released.  I am hurriedly trying to finish Half Life 2 to free up my schedule for non-stop COD4 on its release.  And, my excitement is based almost exclusively on the MP beta, since I haven't seen or heard much on the SP campaign.  Well, I got my November issue of the Official Xbox Magazine yesterday, which incudes a 6 page review of COD4 and I thought that I would share some of the highlights from the review for those that don't subscribe to OXM.

- "In fact, what is most surprising about [COD 4] is just how much better it is than the studio's previous effort, Call of Duty 2.  The fact that [COD2] was good enough to snap up an OXM Editors' Choice award at the 360's launch makes [COD4]'s evolution all the more amazing."

- ". . . the impact of the amazing visuals is made all the more shocking by the constant 60-frames-per-second smoothness of the action . . . ."

- COD4 "manages to cram something awesome into each and every single-player mission.  And somehow, each level seems to be more gorgeous than the last."

- "In [COD4], however, the wildly different flavors in pacing -- and the fact that when characters die, you actually care -- lend a welcome newfound narrative gravity to the franchise.  The campaign is completely worthy of a 10 on its own, in fact; but it's the multiplayer mode that solidifies the game's instant-classic status . . . ."

- "Party system a la Halo?  Check.  An onslaught of quality game modes, including standard deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Domination, one-on-one duel, a one-shot/one-kill hardcore mode, a higher-jumping/weapons-via-pickup-only old-school mode, and old favorite Headquarters?  Check.  Matchmaking playlists?  Check.  Plenty of fun maps to game on?  Try 16 of them out of the box!"

- About the MP's leveling system: "You're not simply unlocking just-for-show armor permutations a la Halo 3."

- "Simply put, [COD4] does everything right and nearly nothing wrong.  But where it elevates itself above even the best 360 shooters is how all of the good stuff is ludicrously good.  The campaign never lets up, while the multiplayer is a triple-A affair in itself."

Rating: 10 of 10.

The only negative comment that I could find in the article is that there are "A few frustratingly tough areas on the higher difficulty levels."

Later in the magazine, when talking about BioShock, OXM mentions that BioShock got its third ever 10 rating.  Since then, Halo 3 also received a 10 rating.  So, COD4 is OXM's 5th ever 10 rating.

I didn't think it was possible, but I am now even more excited about this game.