Currently Playing: Call of Duty 4

The last (for me anyway unless Haze turns out to be PS3's Halo beater) of the big FPS releases of the year turns out to be worth the wait. Modern Warfare may not be combat evolved but it certainly captures the atmosphere of 'Shock' and 'Awe' our american friends love so much.

As you'd expect from this gen's big guns presentation is flawless. Call of Duty 4 starts with a similar training mission to the previous games. Pick up a gun, some grenades and then there's a plywood "tanker" mock up for you to practice on.. Then it's straight into the game proper. The missions alternate between you as raw SAS recruit and US marine. You start as the former and are tasked with rescuing a "package" from an actual tanker. As the first mission there's little in the way of resistance and you and your team have soon sent the crew to meet their makers.. Incoming enemy aircraft means a hasty retreat has to beaten and so the first mission ends..and then the title sequence kicks in. You feel most Bond like.. It's a nice touch.

Theirs some nice variety of missions between the SAS and the Marines with the later favouring kicking ass and asking questions later over the SAS's more studied approach and generating some exicitng stand offs and gun battles in the desert streets. Infinty Ward certainly know how to capture the noise and danger of a warzone.

After the more thoughtful adventuring of Half Life 2 and the let down of the solo campaign that was Halo 3 I'm throughly enjoying my tour of duty.