Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Real Time Control:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has many game mechanics. They are as follows
- Looking
- Leaning (left or right to see around a corner)
- Jogging
- Sprinting
- Crouch-walking
- Prone-crawling
- Jumping
- Holding breath (for sniping)
- Crosshair Shooting
- Hip Fire Shooting
- Reloading
- Switching weapons
- Knife Attack
- Throwing a grenade
- Switching Grenades
- Call Airstrike
- Call Helicopter
- Climb Up/Down Ladders
- Use Mounted Stationary Guns
All of these mechanics have a response time of starting the sequence of less than 100ms thus giving the impression of instantaneous reactions. There is real time control during most of these actions with a few exceptions which are sprinting, knife attack, and using a mounted stationary gun. During these actions, the user is temporarily locked out of performing certain other actions.
- While sprinting, the user can not shoot.
- While performing a knife attack, the user can not readily stop the attack and use a gun instead.
- Similarly when using a mounted stationary gun, the user can not start using any other weapon until the player discontinues use of the mounted stationary gun.
- The call airstrike is in the gray area here, because while there is real time control over where the player decides to send the airstrike, they player can not move their character while looking at the airstrike map.
When performing all other actions, the player gets various types of feedback from the game and can make real time adjustments accordingly. This feedback can take the form of visual and audio effects that indicate the player is taking damage and should adjust their position. One short coming is that when a player shoots and successfully hits another player, there both audio and visual affects that let the attackers know they are hitting their target (which may be hidden behind a thin wall which is possible to shoot through). Additionally, if the player successfully eliminates their target from the game, there is a notification in the window that lets the player know that, and then the attacker will know when it is safe to proceed or not.
Spatial Simulation
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare handles spatial simulation fairly well, but also lacks many aspects. The player can actively move around in the map wherever they desire (as long as it is possible) and whenever they want. Players can also bounce grenades off walls to get a grenade to land around a corner. The walls, other objects, and other players also provide collisions for players as well as explosive devices. In addition to this, players can cause vehicles and gas cans to explode. It is also possible to destroy TVs, computer monitors, as well as move the computer monitors by hitting them. However, the game lacks in physical structural destruction of the simulated space with respect to buildings and walls or the interaction with doors. This may be due to the difficulty in having all networked players maps (which are stored locally) have the same structural changes with destruction.
Polish
There is a remarkable amount of polish in the game. This includes various stereo sound effects, muzzle flash particle that are different for different weapons, bullet marks on surfaces, burn marks, smoke effects, and papers floating in the air when shooting an office with papers in it. All of these polish effects occur based on the situation of the interacting objects in the game world.
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