Call of Duty 4 Previewed

Shacknews has previewed the latest offering of Infinity Ward's esteemed Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare, which depicts a modern combat setting steeped in contemporary politics.

The past titles in the series centered on World War II combat, covering Russian, British and American battle progress through fictional characters. This time around, the setting is markedly different, the previewer reports:

Revolving around Zakhaev, a Russian nationalist in the Stalin mold, and Al-Asad, his Middle Eastern warlord ally--who, along with their respective henchmen, make up the game's main antagonists, the "Four Horsemen"--Call of Duty 4 is not based on any specific conflicts going on in the real world but is clearly inspired in part by the political atmosphere of the present day.

"We're trying to be sensitive to the fact that there are events in the world that we don't want to try and portray verbatim," single-player lead designer Steve Fukuda said to me during a recent trip to Infinity Ward's Encino, California offices. "We don't want to allude to them and then say, 'Hey, we're creating that right now.' I think that would be a little tasteless."

As indicated by the preview's screenshots, the developers have taken the graphical effects up several notches, and the available weaponry - AC-130 "Specter" gunships and combat helicopters, GPS jammers - matches the intensity.

In a novel move, Infinity Ward is reportedly including built-in realism mods with the game. Also separating the upcoming title from its predecessors is a new multiplayer mode - the focus of the development team this time around.

A demo will be released, but no date was provided.