➤ Call of Duty 4 - Review 🎮

As if to underline what was one of the most important videogame events of this year, the launch of Call of Duty 4, Activision has decided to take the portable road for its most famous brand, never attempted until now. Remark what then? The simple fact that the strength of a game like call of duty is not all in the realistic graphics sector, but also - and perhaps above all - in what are the basis of the series, that extra touch that allows it to survive (and amaze) in the midst of a market that has become saturated all too quickly with first-person shooters set in times of war (whether it is the first, the second or the modern, it makes no difference). The bet called Call of Duty 4 Ds was entrusted to a team known to very few called nspace, which came to the fore more for Geist's delays than for the goodness of the game itself. And you know what? The bet can be considered won, Call of Duty 4 does not have the features of its older brother, but manages - by jostling - to make its way into the crowded DS lineup as one of the most interesting shooters. Read on to find out why ...

The great discriminating factor for a game made on Ds is the quantity of dimensions used: following a recent and happy trend, imitating the example of the excellent (and equally ignored) Metroid Prime Hunters and the surprising Brother in Arms, the entire game is set in completely three-dimensional worlds, leaving the only representation of the weapon in use to a rather well masked 2D. The game resumes in all respects the home counterpart: weapons, settings, assault teams, missions, keeping everything more on the line of the quote rather than the shameless copy. Also in this double-screen version the protagonist is a newly enlisted soldier who, following the short tutorial, finds himself catapulted into the heart of battle due to enemy attacks. And so we go to fight alongside the SAS (the British assault unit) aboard a merchant ship that sails in the middle of the Pacific to retrieve a series of documents, while the marines fight in the Middle East on the trail of Al- Asad. The missions of CoD4 Ds act as a compendium of the story lived in CoD4 for consoles (just with some inexplicable script hole), taking place in parallel but presenting different and often more complex objectives than the major versions. In fact, if on consoles we often find ourselves with the sole purpose of defending such a goal or attacking another, the contribution of the touch screen allows you to differentiate the tasks assigned to the player. The attack and defense tasks are obviously on the agenda, but are accompanied by document recovery through hacking of terminals and defusing (and triggering) C4 charges and bombs. And it is precisely the last two objectives mentioned that give an extra boost to the game, putting the player in front of a series of puzzles to complete in order to continue or finish the mission. In the first case, the recovery of documents, the touch screen is transformed into a sort of printed circuit in which, by simultaneously joining 4 transistors to the single energy source, it is possible to unlock access to the encrypted file; the second proposed interaction, the defuse, instead puts the player in front of a series of bundles of electric cables to be joined in the right sequence (and above all with good precision and a steady hand) to be able to avoid the sad ending of the situation.

Pixel bullets

The game control system exploits a mapping of the commands in all respects similar to the one already seen, tested and tested with Brother in Arms Ds. The pointer of the weapon moves with the stylus, with the analog cross the character in use moves within the setting and with the left trigger you fire (the controls, if the person is left-handed, are completely mirrored, with the four buttons used for movement and the right backbone for fire). On the touch screen, on the other hand, the second level of control is developed, with three 'buttons' to be used to: pick up an object (whether it is a weapon, or a document, it makes no difference), change the weapon in use (by sliding the stylus among the various possibilities offered by its battle arsenal) and above all to switch from the use of a firearm to the classic grenade. Probably the least successful expedient of the game (and unfortunate, even the most decisive) is that relating to the transition between the normal fire mode and the zoomed one with the viewfinder: the command can in fact be activated with a normal double pressure on the touch screen, pressure which - due to the nature of the game - is very easy to achieve by mistake when you find yourself moving within the environments, constantly moving the weapon in an attempt to prevent any enemy attack. It therefore happens very often to enter the viewfinder mode without really wanting it, and have considerable difficulty in disengaging it, creating moments of confusion and great confusion while the enemies attack the player leaving him without the possibility of replying.

Call of Duty 4 Ds presents itself with a highly respectable graphic sector, with a yield of the settings and the depth of field slightly lower than that already seen in Brother in Arms Ds, but with a whole series of events capable of leaving you speechless open. By shortening the field of vision of the game, the developers had the opportunity to focus on other elements much more impactful and definitely more related to what is the major series, elements such as the possibility of blowing up cars and putting on the screen in movement of vehicles such as helicopters, perfectly modeled in every part, to make the situations proposed by the game even more credible and immersive. A special applause should also be made for what concerns music and dubbing, both excellently made and present in practically every phase of the game. Unlike the single player, which manages - proportionally - to cope with what is the console adventure, multiplayer, however varied and well made, does not confirm the good things seen (and played) online. CoD4 Ds allows four players to challenge each other locally (also in sharing) in the classic deatchmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and hunter / prey modes, where the real and great absent is the online aspect. A real shame and a missed opportunity, in a game that in fact bases its luck on clashes worldwide.

Call of Duty 4 for Ds is a title to remember, not so much because it is one of the best games on Nintendo's laptop, but for the fact that the developers have succeeded with a series of careful choices to bring what is the idea that resides behind the CoD brand, adapting it to what the DS knows and can offer. The single player is long and well structured, the missions run parallel to those for consoles, embellished with a series of decidedly well thought out game expedients. Leaving aside the certainly rich but deficient multiplayer section of the online, some control problems and the inevitable and sporadic graphic bugs, CoD4 Ds is a bet won by Activision and certainly one of the best shooters on Nintendo's double screen.

For