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Friday, April 11, 2008

Call Of Duty 4 (DS)


"So long as there are men there will be wars..." (Albert Einstein)

And as long as there are male gamers, there will be war games (apparently...)Now I've always thought of myself as a bit of a pacifist really, I was an ardent CND campaigner in the good old eighties and actively campaigned against the Iraq war when the world's biggest terrorist (George W. Junior) started flexing his muscle in the Gulf after 911...


So it was something of a surprise to myself, when I started to really enjoy wasting virtual foreign soldiers in the 360 classic, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In the past, I've restricted my gaming 'killing sprees' to fictional zombies, aliens and mutants.
I've never played 'war games'. I thought them a little crass...But seeing my two eldest sons, deriving such pleasures from COD4, and riding high on the army life of new recruit "Soap" McTavish, made it somewhat inevitable that at some point, I'd dip my toe in the waters of war... (N.B. There is no such phrase as "the waters of war", I just made it up... But Hey! Feel free to use it whenever you want!)
Well, that was the start of it, and ever since, I've been LOVING war games. I'm currently enjoying the WWII delights of Brothers In Arms DS, and looking forward to procuring the handheld port that is COD4 (DS).


Indeed, the very lovely (yet not necessarily impartial) Official Nintendo Magazine described the game thus...
"It may not have been released on the Wii, but the DS version is impressively faithful to the game available on 'other' consoles with fantastic graphics and slick gameplay."


For some reason, our sage like mentor Gnome has advised me to steer clear of this title... I'm not sure why, but maybe even he will revise his opinion when he sees the beautiful video above...
Until then, remember that "War! (Da da!) What is it good for? (Huh!) Absolutely nothin'!" '(Edwin Starr) LOL!

(Apart from being the premise for really good videogames!)

10 comments:

  1. Looks pointless when it is already on consoles.

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  2. Ah Funnyman! We can always rely on you for a brutally honest appraisal! I'm sure you'll agree however, that carrying your DS is a tad easierthan dragging your 360, a generator and a TV when your taking a ride on the bus...

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  3. That is the same as saying that hand-helds are pointless when we already have more powerful machines at home, isn't it funnyman? :)

    The whole concept of them is being able to play where you can't take the 360 with you, so even ports of games that are better on home consoles have their reason to exist for portable consoles.

    The game looks good and a decent effort to bring the game to the DS.

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  4. Ok, I'm a slightly revised man now Father, but I still hate the game's plot :) On the other hand, I truly enjoyed reading this fine piece of anti-war gaming journalism. Excellent stuff!

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  5. What is it with you people and traveling? I find it comfortable playing and drinking within the comfort of my home. It is distracting to drink and play games on a bus. I don't need anyone to ridicule me when I am playing games with nothing but my boxers on.

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  6. surprise, not everyone is the same as you. Besides, don't you have a PSP, funnyman?

    I don't play my DS while travelling because the U.S. doesn't have much for rails and the like, except when I'm on the plane. But I play it while taking a lunch break at work, when I sit outside, when I'm lying bed late at night and squeezing in just a few minutes, when I'm at my mom's house (whom I visit once a month) or when other family members are using the tv and PC.

    But sometimes, the DS game is different enough that I just like to play it.

    Regarding this game, do you know, father, if the single player is longer than in the 360 version, which was very very short (5-7 hours)? COD4 for the 360 is really more of a multiplayer game. I wonder if the DS version is the same, or if people mainly play it for the single-player version?

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  7. "What is it with you people and traveling? I find it comfortable playing and drinking within the comfort of my home. It is distracting to drink and play games on a bus. I don't need anyone to ridicule me when I am playing games with nothing but my boxers on." LMAO!

    Thank you gentlemen for your defense of handheld gaming...

    I actually love Funnyman's way of dismissing anything other than what he likes!

    Gnome, you know I'm VERY anti-war and particularly antagonistic towards the current 'coalition of the willing'. I hate the imperialistic quasi-fascist Bush/Blair/Brown warmongers...

    However, I have ignored the gung-ho, guts and glory subtext of COD4
    and enjoyed it for what it is... A damned fine videogame!

    I enjoyed the shortness of COD4 360, dear guttertalk. I've not been sucked into the online deathmatch aspect (which has seen my sons remain stuck on the same game for three months)

    I've never managed to play my DS online, so for me it's all about the single player campaign!

    "But sometimes, the DS game is different enough that I just like to play it."

    The wisest words on the whole post!!!

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  8. I do own one guttertalk, but that is not relevant.

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  9. Had this one for a bit... but I just can't get used to the whole stylus thingy...

    I think I will be sticking to consoles...

    I also picked up a psp that I suck at as well...

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  10. fatherkrishna, can I look forward to shooting you in the face on the 360 version over Xbox Live? ;-)

    Although I have COD4 for the 360 (brilliant game by the way - especially online - and I may be the only person who liked the game's storyline and felt genuinely sad at some of the characters deaths) I may actually pick this one up when it gets cheaper. I don't have an FPS games for my DS so it may be a fun little game to play on the train.

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