Call of Duty 4 - first impressions

The different settings were immediately obvious. Our hands-on demo started with an assault on a terrorist-controlled freighter. The familiar pacing and Call of Duty style far outweighed any alien experience from the change of era and combat. The relentless pressure to progress through the map gives a sense of urgency that no mission timer ever can. You progress to an area, enemies come at you. You can stay and endure wave after wave of them, or you can continue to press forward to ever tougher opposition. The setting merely provides the context for the intensity, it’s the style of play that drives you forward. Finally you fight your way to the objective, having absorbed a dozen AK-47 rounds in the process, and you find that the ship is to be bombed by incoming MiG fighters.