Oh to chucking a few more peanuts down the hatch and washing it down with an ice-cold beer - to be sitting in the comfort of my leather-clad swivel chair, while playing the game of choice. It is therefore not without some sense of irony that I might play something like Call of Duty, a modern day war simulator, Remembrance Day not far from the brink of remembrance. Not that we’d want such things as death and devastation in our living rooms, but these days all of wars relations are bundled into 2 categories: Realistic and Heroic.

We’ve been on the receiving end of both have we not? From Saving Private Ryan, the opening scene some have said represented war in its closet brutal glory, to the likes of Rambo where indeed 1 man can make a difference. As gamers this makes no difference, we contain the ability to turn our minds off to that which might afflict us beyond comfort. Which is why perhaps Call of Duty 4 works so well in my books; it goes for representing both and wrapping it all up in a brilliantly made story-driven title.

One of the main film-like features of COD4 is that you play the game through the perspective of multiple characters. Paul Jackson, for example is a member of United States Marine Corps 1st Force Recon and “Soap” (silly name) MacTavish, a member of the British 22 SAS Regiment. But, it doesn’t end there, with a mission that lets you take control of the guns in an AC-130 Spectre Gunship or as part of a 2-man sniper team on a mission to assassinate. Because of the multitude of playable characters, anything can happen which you’ll learn as you progress.

The story goes that a Russian ultranationalist called Imran Zakhaev wants his homeland sent back to the era of the Soviet Union by revolting against the current government and getting his hands on a load of nukes. He of course knows that the US would want to clamp down on this naughtyness and so organizes a coup in the Middle East to divert their attention. During the conflict between the US and Middle East a nuke is unexpectedly detonated wiping out most of the invading forces.

What I think critics forget the most sometimes is that games are meant to be fun, enjoyable ways to escape life’s little issues, and unwind in some simple run and gunning. For me, this game doesn’t leap ahead and set new boundaries on dynamic AI or non-linear gameplay, it will leap ahead in how a game, indeed a story, should be presented to the player. Not only does COD4 look fantastic, it sounds fantastic and as far emersion goes you’ll be surprised if you’re not leaping to one side as a grenade’s thrown in your general direction.

While I won’t doubt that playing COD4 on the latest graphics card with a decent computer will do it justice, I still think the game looks decent on mid-ranged cards, which is always a bonus. Not everyone can afford to splash out on £300 worth of gear just to see all the pretty colours. There’s a lot of different scenarios and locations, plenty to feast your eyes on. From going all-out covert on a boat, to scrambling through the undergrowth on your hands and knees - they’ll even throw in a mission where you get to control some big-ass guns in a big-ass plane.

The levels tend to accommodate a feel of “how do you want to play this?” by giving you plenty of options to pick up a sniper rifle, or an SMG if you prefer up-close-and-personal. You might run into the odd waypointing problem when trying to proceed to the next stage of your mission, a problem that unfortunately draws your attention to the linear design of the game, but I’d say this is made up for with such a great storyline. It’s a byproduct of having to make everything fit; making you go where you’re needed, but I can’t imagine you’ll notice that often or for that long.

By now I’m sure you’re all too familiar with the weapon set often presented in first-person war sims. COD4 allows you to hold 2 main weapons at any one time, which is normally always enough. You’ll be able to tell fairly early on if you need a sniper rifle or a shotgun and look out for those weapons as you go. Additionally, flashbangs, frags and smoke grenades will be at your disposal depending on the scenario, and you can always throw the enemies grenades back at ‘em when you get the chance, a technique introduced in Call of Duty 3. Ultimately this is a present day war scenario so there’s not much out of the blue, although we were wondering when the lack of zoom on the standard sniper rifles – odd.

Then there’s the multiplayer, which would usually get tacked onto an FPS as a kind of extension of what you’ve already done, but with more people. So it is with great relief that COD4 wasn’t marred with such a lame attempt to keep our interests in the game – they’ve actually created a reason to log on. Similar to perhaps the Battlefield system, you get classes i.e. Assault, Special Ops, Light Machine Gunner etc, or you can create your custom classes. Only 2 of the main classes are available at first until you start to earn yourself some XP and gain some ranks. You can obtain XP from killing opponents or completing certain objectives. There’s something that will keep you coming back, and not just for gameplay - the ranking system.

Once you hit the level cap of 55, on the Xbox 360 and PS3 you’ll unlock Prestige mode, when you’ve done this you can trade in your levels and start over again but with a new insignia by your name showing off how dedicated you are (maybe get some sun at this point? Eh?). You can do this up to 10 times giving you a whopping total of 605 levels. Jeez. As you gain ranks you’ll unlock new gear like camouflage, weapon attachments or new weapons and perks for your custom class. With all these updates you’d wonder what the actual gameplay would be like, but with 12 different game modes to choose from, you’ll stay entertained.

Call of Duty 4 looks great, plays great and sounds fantastic. It has around 10 hours of single-player gameplay to enjoy and then, for those of you who want more the multiplayer will keep you hooked until you need to wet your thirst with COD5. I’m looking forward to it!