The story of Soap.

So, after about a month or so of hearing, "Halo 3 sucks all of the sudden for no other reason than Call of Duty 4 is better", I decided to rent it and try it for myself. Spoilers, there will be spoilers.

*Campaign* Let me just start off by saying that it's definitely better than I thought it would be. My original thoughts were that it would constantly repeat the boring "Duck for cover but pop up for a split-second to shoot something" formula. It was actually very lively and fun. It wasn't boring for even the slightest second. You switch a few times between the British SAS soldier, Soap (what kind of name is that?) and the US Marine Sgt. Jacskon. Oh, and you get to see through the eyes of some kidnapped soldier right before he gets a bullet through the face on national TV and you also get to work some sort of cannon on the side of an aircraft. My point is that with all the perspective switching the game is always interesting. My favorites were of course Soap and Jackson. They actually get to interact with all the other characters of the game. At some point though Jackson dies and his marine buddies and the SAS squad that conveniently had Soap team up for a joint mission. Speaking of the characters, don't get too attached to them. They die in the end. I was just starting to like them and then came a car chase/ gun fight and they die while protecting me while I was injured. Then the credits have Griggs (a.k.a. one of the two black marines I saw in the whole game) rap in the end. I'm not quite sure what to say about that. And right after the credits there's an Epilogue Bonus Level which caught me off guard, scrambling for my controller as bullets starting whizzing by my head. Over all I liked the campaign. But it felt a little static. The AI don't really make that many different decisions and this just makes me feel like I'm doing the same thing over again.

*Multiplayer* The multiplayer is a lot of fun. But it's almost just as frustrating as it is fun. The spawn system is REALLY messed up. In half the games I played I get spawned in the near vicinity of an enemy who finds and kills me within about five seconds of being alive. A few times I even got spawned literally right in front of the enemy helicopter who proceeded to give me more than my daily recommended dose of bullets. Even more frustrating than that, I once got spawned (and I am NOT joking when I say this) two inches from a LIVE GRENADE! Next thing I know my jaw has dropped more than it should and I've lossed my controller. And in the midst of my shock and confusion the ever enjoyable kill-cam plays. The kill-cam is useful when you're left wondering, "How did he kill me?", but all other times it's just insulting. You take a shotgun blast to the face and the kill-cam chimes in, "Oh, by the way, here's how he killed you."

*Final Thoughts* Call of Duty 4 is an excellent game and definitely worth the 60 bucks. But I have to give it a 7 out of 10 because the spawn system is so frustrating. And if you remember I gave Halo 3 an 8 out of 10.

Thanks for reading. Blade signing off.