At Christmas I’d hoped to receive the game Contra 4, but due to an issue of phonetics and identical numbers, I received Call of Duty 4. When I loaded the game in to my DS, I didn’t know what to expect, but I feared I’d discover a great console series that had been butchered down to get quick sales on a hand-held system. I’m not a big fan of FPS games on the DS, for the simple reason that nothing beats the PC FPS experience. Besides, I find the genre a bit too worn and the DS presents a valuable creative outlet for developers willing to experiment. Either way, the developers at n-Space have done a solid job with COD4.
Graphics and Sound
I won’t dwell on this topic long. The graphics are good for the DS, but they aren’t mind blowing. If I had to use one phrase to sum up the graphics: think counter strike. They’re not mind blowing, but they’re good enough. The animation is smooth, the framerate didn’t seem to drop off during play, and I found the explosions satisfying. Of the games in my DS library, the sound quality of COD4 is the best I’ve experienced, and it lent a nice pace to the game.
Levels
The game starts with the stereotypical Call of Duty training level: grab a gun, practice shooting, throw a grenade through a window, etc. Then it transitioned straight in to the first level of real combat. The transitions between the checkpoints of each level are smooth and thought out. They reminded me of the transitions in the Contra series. The levels are fairly long, have plenty of checkpoints to save your progress, and present you with a pleasing variety of tasks: shoot everyone in sight, plant a bomb, get to a jeep, secure a nuclear missile, make a hasty get away while manning the turret on your way to victory.
AI
The enemy AI in the game is not impressive. You’ll die a few times, but you’ll never have a problem killing your intended target. Enemies don’t tend to move or reposition themselves, which makes them a bit too easy. They respond a bit like the Nazi’s in the original Wolfenstein, except on occasion they crouch behind cover instead of standing directly in your line of fire. The enemies did seem to excel in one area: catching my grenades and throwing them back with the accuracy of an all-star quarterback.
Controls
The controls are simple and well done. The top screen displays your main view. Turning and looking is controlled with the touch pad, which also displays a map of the level and indicates the position of nearby enemies. Forward movement and strafing is controlled with the direction pad. The shoulder buttons are used to fire your weapons. And the bottom screen also doubles as inventory management. (A good strategy seemed to be to ditch the standard-issue hand gun and replace it with an enemy AK-47 – you’ll collect plenty of ammo from your defeated enemies).
Overall: COD4 is well done. It has great sound, easy controls, an appropriate length, and enough variety to keep you from slamming your DS in to the nearest loved one.
Good: Solid FPS for DS. Great sound. Entertaining with a lot of easy action to jump in to.
Bad: Unresponsive AI.
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