After a few teases, the single-player demo of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for PC is here. The demo samples one level, The Bog Rescue. If the level strikes some as familiar, then you may have seen some videos showcasing the level. But trust me, folks– there’s a difference between watching and actually playing, and playing certainly does it more justice.
One of the biggest surprises came with the game’s performance. I’ve read comments from Infinity Ward in the past on how they’re really focusing on optimization, but holy cow, I’m shocked on how well the game ran on a mid-range PC I tried it on. It looked and ran fantastic on a Semprom 3000+, 2GB of RAM and an X1600 Pro.
The game’s presentation is also excellent. It’s a relief from the WWII theme and it really felt like I was battling the evil insurgents. There’s a feeling that occurs when playing Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty games, and it’s hard to describe it without using the word epic. Charging straight into enemy fire with your squad mates and guns blazing just entails this grand feel that you’re part of this insane war.
Case in point, there’s a scene when you and your squad switch to night vision in order to sneak up on a group of insurgents. There was something about this moment that really made the game pretty exciting; a stealth approach complete with muffled sounds, laser sights and the distant sound of gunfire definitely made it great experience.
Being a PC guy, I was a little turned off of the console-implemented mechanics, such as the complete lack of a heath bar, indestructible environments, lack of a physics engine and the regeneration of health while hiding. While these staples are slowly becoming mainstream, the critical response to these mechanics are still mixed. In an FPS environment, searching the levels for health packs seems a bit wackier then hiding behind cover to regain your health, so it’s really up to you. Personally, I still yearn to search for health.
I’m still wondering how the long the game’s single-player campaign will be. But knowing that the previous games were action-packed, at least the experience will be awesome. Also remember, almost all PC owners don’t have any hands-on with the game’s multiplayer portion.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is set for release on November 5th for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
