Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Overview

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth main game in the Call of Duty series and the first to leave World War II behind for a modern setting. It came out in November 2007 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows, with a Wii port by Treyarch following in 2009.

You play the campaign from several points of view, including members of the British Special Air Service and the United States Marine Corps. Missions are objective based, with a compass pointing the way to checkpoints, enemy positions and explosives to plant. Finishing the campaign unlocks Mile High Club, a short extra mission about rescuing a hostage from a hijacked aircraft, and there are 30 pieces of enemy intel to find that unlock cheats and visual filters.

The story starts in 2011, with a civil war in Russia and a coup in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. New SAS recruit John "Soap" MacTavish joins Captain Price and Gaz, while a Marine named Paul Jackson fights in the American invasion. The two threads meet over a nuclear device and the hunt for Imran Zakhaev, the leader of the Russian Ultranationalists.

Multiplayer has free for all and team modes, with experience points that raise your rank and unlock weapons, attachments and perks. Players build their own classes with a primary weapon, a sidearm, a special grenade and three perks. On consoles, reaching the top level opens Prestige mode, which resets your rank for a new insignia and can be repeated ten times. Killstreak rewards give a UAV at three kills, an airstrike at five and an attack helicopter at seven.

Infinity Ward made the game over about two years with a team of roughly 100 people, after deciding to move away from World War II. It runs on the studio's IW engine and targets 60 frames per second. Stephen Barton wrote most of the score and Harry Gregson-Williams wrote the main theme.

It was released in North America on November 5, 2007, in Australia on November 7 and in Europe on November 9. Reviews were very strong, with praise for the move to a modern setting, the set-piece campaign and the multiplayer, and some criticism of how short and linear the campaign is. It won several Game of the Year awards.

It was the best selling game worldwide in 2007 and had sold about 15.7 million copies by November 2013. In the United States in November 2007 the PS3 version sold 444,000 copies and the Xbox 360 version 1.57 million. Many critics now rank it as one of the best games in the series, and its multiplayer introduced XP levelling, Prestige, create-a-class, perks and killstreaks to the series. A remaster by Raven Software came out in 2016 and 2017.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

First-person shooter

Developer

Infinity Ward

Publisher

Activision

Series

Call of Duty

Engine

IW 3.0

Composers

Stephen Barton, Harry Gregson-Williams (main theme)

Designers

Todd Alderman, Steve Fukuda, Mackey McCandlish, Zied Rieke

Writers

Jesse Stern

Producers

Mark Rubin

Directors

Jason West

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

18

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Trophies

Platinum

0

Gold

0

Silver

0

Bronze

0

Total

0

Points

0

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 5.2 GB

Update patch01.40

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

The Variety Map Pack added four multiplayer maps. It went to Xbox 360 first, and a PS3 release was announced for April 24, 2008.

Items

Name	Date	Adds
Variety Map Pack	2008-04-24	Four multiplayer maps: Broadcast, Chinatown, Creek and Killhouse

Playable today

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	94	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9.4	10
GameSpot	9	10
Game Informer	10	10
Eurogamer	9	10
Official Xbox Magazine	10	10
GamePro	5	5
GameSpy	5	5
X-Play	5	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Developer	Infinity Ward
Publisher	Activision
Director	Jason West
Producer	Mark Rubin
Writer	Jesse Stern
Composer	Stephen Barton
Main theme	Harry Gregson-Williams

Notes for collectors

• The PS3 version has no trophies. It came out before trophies existed and was never patched. The 2016 remaster is the one with a full trophy list.
• On PS3 there is one patch on Sony's servers for every disc ID, version 01.40, and it needs system software 1.90 or newer.
• The Variety Map Pack set a record for paid Xbox Live downloads, with over one million in nine days, before it came to PS3.
• The rap song over the end credits was performed by Infinity Ward lead animator Mark Grigsby.
• The Mac version came from Aspyr in 2008 and the Wii version, Reflex Edition, from Treyarch in 2009.
• There is a separate Japanese disc, covered on its own page.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 7 hours