Characters

Main article: List of Call of Duty characters Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
During the single player campaign, the player controls six different characters from a firstperson perspective. The player assumes the role of recent British Special Air Service (SAS)
recruit Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish for most of the game, starting with his enrollment in
the 22nd SAS Regiment.[6] Sergeant Paul Jackson is part of USMC 1st Force Recon deployed to
the Middle East, and the player controls Jackson's character during five levels of Act
1. Captain John Price (voiced by actor Billy Murray) is an SAS officer who is playable in two
flashback missions from 1996 in which he is still Lieutenant. The player also assumes the role
of an American thermal-imaging TV operator aboard a Lockheed AC-130 gunship during one
level, and a British SAS operative infiltrating a hijacked airliner to save a VIP in a secret level
titled "Mile High Club". Finally, the player may control Yasir Al-Fulani, the president of the
unnamed Middle Eastern country in the game before he is executed, although he has no
freedom of action beyond turning his head.[4][6][7]
The game's non-playable characters (NPCs) feature prominently in the story: Captain Price
and his right-hand man, Gaz (voiced by Craig Fairbrass), serve as mentors to Soap. Jackson's
USMC platoon is led by Lieutenant Vasquez (voiced by David Sobolov) and Staff Sergeant
Griggs (voiced by and modeled after Infinity Ward lead animator Mark Grigsby); Griggs later
accompanies Soap in Russia. Sergeant Kamarov leads the Russian loyalists that aid SAS and
USMC forces. "Nikolai" is a Russian informant who helps the SAS. Captain MacMillan is Price's
mentor and commanding officer during a flashback.
The antagonists in the story include Imran Zakhaev (voiced by Yevgeni Lazarev), the leader of
the Russian ultranationalist party and the main antagonist of the game; Khaled Al-Asad, the
commander of the revolutionary forces in the Middle East and an ally of Imran Zakhaev; and
Victor Zakhaev, the son of Imran Zakhaev and a priority figure in the ultranationalist party. [4]

Plot

Part of the game takes place in Pripyat, Ukraine, featuring several iconic aspects of the abandoned city,
such as this square.

In 2011, a civil war has broken out in Russia between its government
and ultranationalists who seek to restore Russia to its Soviet-era glamor. Meanwhile, a
separatist group lead by Khaled Al-Asad seizes power in a "small but oil-rich" country in
the Middle East through a coup d'tat. Al-Asad is ruthless and has extreme anti-Western
views, which prompts the United States to invade the country. In the afternoon of the second
day of invasion, a platoon of USMC 1st Force Recon is sent to capture Al-Asad. The platoon
attacks a TV station in which Al-Asad was thought to be broadcasting live and then engages in
urban combat in an unnamed city south of the capital. In the meantime, the British Special Air
Service (SAS) conducts two important operations, one on a ship in the Bering Strait and one in
Russia. Intelligence gathered from the two missions indicates that Al-Asad may be in
possession of a Russian nuclear device.

In evening of the third day, the U.S. launches a full-scale assault on Al-Asad's presidential
palace in spite of the SAS warning about the possible nuclear device. As U.S. Navy
SEALs invade the palace, the Marines engage Al-Asad's ground forces. The assault, however,
ends in catastrophe when the nuclear device suddenly detonates, wiping out most of the city
along with everyone in it.
Refusing to assume Al-Asad dead, a SAS strike team supported by Russian loyalists attacks a
potential safe house in a village in Azerbaijan. Led by Captain Price, the strike team
eradicates the occupying Russian forces and capture Al-Asad. Shortly into the interrogation,
Al-Asad's phone rings. After hearing the voice of the caller, Captain Price executes Al-Asad
and reveals that the caller was the leader of the ultranationalists: Imran Zakhaev.
Captain Price tells the story of a mission in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1996. In the aftermath of
the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zakhaev took advantage of the
turmoil to profit from nuclear proliferation and used his new wealth to lure soldiers from
the Soviet Army to form his ultranationalist party. Price was sent on a black
operation to assassinate Zakhaev. From his vantage point on the top floor of an abandoned
hotel, Price fired upon Zakhaev with a Barrett M82 sniper rifle, but the shot only severed
Zakhaev's arm. Price barely escaped Zakhaev's henchmen.
The SAS, the Marines and the Loyalists attempt to capture Zakhaev's son, Victor, to learn
Zakhaev's whereabouts but as they corner him on the roof of an apartment building, Victor
commits suicide. Enraged, Zakhaev retaliates by launching nuclear intercontinental ballistic
missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, which could kill 41 million people. The SAS and the
Marines, however, manage to seize the launch facility's command room and remotely destroy
the missiles over the Atlantic Ocean. They escape the facility in military trucks with Zakhaev's
forces in hot pursuit.
An ultranationalist Mi-24 Hind helicopter destroys a vital bridge and traps the joint force. The
ensuing fight with ultranationalists leaves everyone in the joint force either dead or severely
wounded. Zakhaev himself arrives and begins killing wounded soldiers when loyalists
suddenly destroy his Mi-24 Hind and join the fray. Zakhaev is shot dead. Loyalist forces start
tending to the wounded immediately.
In the outro, the missiles incident and the ultranationalists' support of Al-Asad are hushed up,
thus causing the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Development
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was developed by a team of a hundred people, over the
course of two years. After Call of Duty 2, the Infinity Ward team decided to move away from
the World War II environment of previous games in the series. This resulted in three game
concepts: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 3. While developing the story for Call of Duty 4, Infinity Ward chose to avoid
referencing current, real-life wars, and keep the series' common theme of two opposing forces
of similar strength. To enhance the realistic feel of the game, the development team attended

a live-fire exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, a training
facility in the California desert. This helped the developers to simulate the effects of being
near an Abrams tank when it fires. The team also talked with U.S. Marines who were recently
in combat to get a feel for the background, emotions, and attitude of Marines in combat.
Veterans were also recruited to supervise motion capture sessions and the artificial
intelligence design of the game.[8]
The development team designed the online multiplayer component to be balanced and
rewarding for new players while still offering something for experienced players. An early idea
to implement air support (air strikes and attack helicopters) involved players fighting over
special zones to access a trigger for air support against enemies. This idea was discarded
because it discouraged the type of deathmatch gameplay they intended. The kill streak
reward system was put in its place to encourage the improvement of player skills. Players
were allowed to select weapons before matches to get accustomed to weapons more easily
and minimize weapon hunting. Maps were designed primarily for deathmatch gamesthe
developers felt such designs suited other types of gameplay as well. Map layouts were
designed to minimize locations players could hide from enemy gunfire.[9]

Audio
Most of the music for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was written by British composer Stephen
Barton, who had also contributed to film scores by Harry Gregson-Williams. Gregson-Williams
also composed music for the game, such as the main theme. Several music tracks from the
game are available on Infinity Ward's "7 Days of Modern Warfare" website, and some are
available at Barton's own web site.[10] The rap song played during the end credits is
performed by Call of Duty 4's lead animator, Mark Grigsby.[11]

Game engine

A scene from Modern Warfaredisplaying the game's graphics quality.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on the IW engine, specifically IW 3.0, featuring true
world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field.[12] Bullet
penetration is calculated by the engine, taking into account factors such as surface type and
entity thickness. The game runs in a native resolution of 600p on the Xbox 360 and PS3.[13]
Certain objects, such as cars and some buildings, are destructible. This makes
distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the protection provided by objects such
as wooden fences and thin walls do not completely protect players from harm. Bullet stopping
power is decreased after penetrating an object, and the decrease is dependent on the
thickness and surface type of the object. The game makes use of a dynamic physics engine,
not implemented in previous Call of Duty titles. Death animations are a combination of pre-set
animations and ragdoll physics. Console versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare run at a
consistent 60 frames per second, and the Wii version runs at 30 frames per second.[12] Code
was included to determine spawning points based on the nearby weapons and the
relationship between enemy positions and line of sight to the points. The various criteria are
meant to minimize players dying immediately after rejoining a match, or being "spawn-killed"
due to players simply waiting for others to "respawn". [9] However, enemies may still respawn
infinitely, a notable feature in Call of Duty game engines.[14]
The game engine has also been used for the development of two other Activision games. An
enhanced version of the original engine was used in Call of Duty: World at War, the fifth
installment in the Call of Duty series after Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,[15] while a slightly
altered version has been used for the James Bond video game Quantum of Solace as well
as GoldenEye 007 using a heavily modified version.[16]