A few weeks ago my cousin was logged into the dashboard on my xbox360 and saw an ad for a beta download of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The catch was that you had to register at the Call of Duty 4 site and then hope you get chosen as one of the lucky people to receive a redeem code which allows you to download the demo.

After watching the trailer for the game I most definitely wanted to get my hands on the demo so I signed up and waited. Two days later my e-mail with the redeem code came. Woohoo!

So how does it look?
In a word, nice. While it’s obvious that the beta graphics don’t look near as polished as those from the trailer, it’s still a pretty impressive looking game. There are a few glitches here and there but for the most part I’ve really been enjoying myself. There are several maps and game modes to play in the demo, so you get a pretty decent look at things. I should add that the game modes available are all for online play, so you don’t get to see what campaign mode will be like. Judging by what I’ve seen in online game play though, it should be pretty sweet. The maps available are fairly vast and full of places to duck and hide or just wait patiently to snipe at unsuspecting victims.

A bit about the game play
As I mentioned there are several online game modes to choose from but I’ve become most addicted to the free-for-all which is just as it sounds - every man for himself. When each game begins you can choose what type of soldier you’d like to be. You can choose between ones like sniper, spec ops or my favorite heavy gunner. Why do I like heavy gunner so much? Because I hate having to worry about accuracy in first person shooters. It bugs me. With heavy gunner your primary weapon is the M249 SAW and what a beautiful thing it is. Once you have someone in your sights the fun begins as you unleash an onslaught of gunfire, spraying what feels like a zillion rounds in your enemy’s general direction. If that’s not enough to drop him in his tracks you can always fling a grenade at him. You have to be careful though. Quite often an opposing playing will fall to the ground after being shot, pull out their pistol and pick you off before they die. So if you’re going to kill someone, make sure they’re dead.

Another very cool feature of online play is air support. If you’re good enough to pick off seven baddies in a row without dying this grants you the ability to call in the air cavalry. Sometimes it’s jet fighters and sometimes it’s helicopters. Regardless of which it is, it’s a great way to lay waste to several opponents at once, if they’re all congregating in the same area. Seriously, if someone calls in the air support on you, you’d better find a place to take cover. I have manged to shoot down the helicopter a couple times though which was a pretty awesome sight watching it go down in flames. Of course if you spend too long oohing and ahhing over your accomplishment there’s a good chance someone’s going to take you out from behind. There’s definitely no time to stand around and take in the sights.

So am I going to buy it?
Oh yes. I’ve never been a huge fan of first person shooters but the realism of them on the xbox360 certainly makes them much more enjoyable. The game is set to be released on November 5th of this year and I may just have to make a pre-order for it.

By the way here’s a look at some footage of actual game play. Check out the helicopter going down in flames. Coool.

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