Five Favorite Call of Duty Moments

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Posted November 9, 2009 - By Andrew Pfister

Infinity Ward has made only 3 games in their 7-year history, but you can't deny the impact that those games have made -- not just from a financial perspective, but also on the first-person shooter genre. The battle scenes in Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare played with our expectations, put interesting twists on conventional shooter design, and ratcheted up the intensity level. As evidence, we submit to you our Five Favorite Call of Duty Moments (as developed by Infinity Ward). By clicking on this story, we're going to assume that you're not averse to Call of Duty spoilers, so no complaining!

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Number Five: "Car Ride" -- Call of Duty

The opening of Call of Duty has you go through the requisite movement and weapons training, and then drops you right into the fray of France. The first few mission objectives, while intense, are standard enough…that is until you hop into the car with Pvt. Moody. This is our first glimpse at IW's ability to design those rollercoaster moments, with the car careening through the countryside, weaving through German defenses and narrowly avoiding the business end of a Panzer tank. The opening statement was clear: "This is what we're doing with Call of Duty. Enjoy."

Number Four: "Shock and Awe" -- Call of Duty 4

It's not so much the mission itself, but what happens at the end of it. There are few images more dreadfully awe-inspiring than the flash and billowing mushroom cloud resulting from a nuclear explosion. When presented as the primary threat in a work of fiction (like say 24, or various Tom Clancy books), the day is usually saved in the nick of time. But when it's not (like in that one episode of 24, or that one Tom Clancy book), the impact is enormous. The end of "Shock and Awe" was completely unexpected, and because IW gave you control as you spent your final moments crawling futilely toward help that wasn't there, it didn't just change the tone of the game, but it told us that the safeties were off for all IW games going forward. If you're willing to set off a nuke, then anything goes.

Number Three: "Death From Above" -- Call of Duty 4

The move away from World War II meant that Infinity Ward had a brand new set of military toys to play with. In the mission preceding "Death From Above," your squad was trying to get clear of an area infested by enemy troops. Capt. Price calls for air support, which came in the form of one of those new toys: the AC-130 gunship. But instead of remaining on the ground and marking targets for the flyboys, IW throws a curve and puts you in the plane's gunner seats. The intense ground combat was suddenly contrasted by the calm and cool black-and-white cameras and the nonchalant chatter of the AC-130 crew. And whether or not it was an intended effect, wiping out enemy defenses from the safety of 10,000 feet while your pilot makes wry remarks struck a realistic chord for some players (who compared it to YouTube videos of actual AC-130 combat footage).

Number Two: "The Battle for Hill 400" -- Call of Duty 2

Part of the conclusion of Call of Duty 2 was a grueling ascent to the top of Hill 400, taking it forcibly from the entrenched and overpowering German forces, and then holding the peak while they mounted an epic counter-attack. There are quite a few missions in Call of Duty that have you holding your ground for a set amount of time, but scrambling around the top of Hill 400 and defending it from all sides is probably the most intense of these scenarios. And because it was a lot of work getting up there in the first place, you really felt possessive of the bunker area, in that "this is mine, I've earned it, and I'll be damned if I'm letting you take it" sort of way. Seeing your P-51 air support scream overhead and clear out the German forces was sweet relief.

Number One: "All Ghillied Up" -- Call of Duty 4

"Shock and Awe" was, well…shocking, and "Death From Above" was an interesting creative twist on an otherwise typical combat mission. But "All Ghillied Up" was COD4's design high point, and probably the best beginning-to-end sequence in the Call of Duty series to date (unless you played on Hardened or Veteran, where the Ferris wheel finale was pretty frustrating). Concealed head-to-toe in the ghillie suit and moving behind the enemy lines undetected created a genuine sense of tension, which peaked with the "please don't see me, please don't see me" moment in a field filled with advancing tanks and troops. Nailing the signature sniping objective was extremely satisfying, and the ensuing retreat was frantic and exhilarating. "All Ghillied Up" was the Infinity Ward sampler platter: story progression, infiltration, a signature set-piece, and intense combat. (And lots of grenades.)

So what are your most memorable battles? There's a lot to choose from...

Tags: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames, Videos, Xbox 360

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ratent

Greatest gaming accomplishment (and final COD4 achievement) was the Ferris Wheel on Veteran. Ungodly difficult.

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:48 PM
R4pt0r5V7

ending of cod4 just spetacular brought tears to my eyes...

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:45 PM
Admiral_Ausome17

the boat level, seeing the doors move with the waves really moved me, and that GET TO THE CHOOPER! moment at the end.

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:45 PM
v1nz1984

DEATH FROM ABOVE!!! and that one sniping mission with the 50 cal rifle.. ALL GHILLIED UP!! even though COD 4 just came out 2 years ago, its still the most playable game online and single player EVER!! COD world at war just lost it's hype.. Zombie modes is not going to save that game from getting overrun by the upcoming sequel to COD4, MODERN WARFARE 2!!!!

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:42 PM
mittens1231

call of duty is more played out then the song "day and night"

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:22 PM
playerX74

Mine was " All Ghillied Up!" I got killed more than a few times trying to complete that mission, but finally finishing it was just sweet.

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:10 PM
JDarkley

The end of CoD 4 is up there, but a favorite of mine was the first Stalingrad mission when you were heading to the beach on a boat. You see planes dive down and shoot up the boat, guys are getting scarred and jumping out of the boat, and when you finally reach the shore they're out of rifles to hand out and instruct you to pick up one off of your fallen comrades. I was studying WWII at the time and when I found out that stuff like that actually happened at Stalingrad, that moment took a whole new meaning for me. It wasn't exhilarating or anything, but did a nice job of accenting the game.

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:05 PM
Sector1286

battle for hill 400 is number 1

Posted: November 9, 2009 5:01 PM
grayk47

yep all ghillied up was favorite, same feeling of please GOD!! dont let all of those bad guys see me sprinting in front of you eyes, and it was the most suspensful level ever

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:40 PM
SirCitadel

ive been playing through COD4 in anticipation and really every mission is gold. heat, sins of the father, collateral damage, etc. there are a bunch of COD2 missions that i will pop the disc back in for too. the sniping silo level, or the one after the dday landing where you get pushed back to the cliffs by the germans after destroying their cannons with thermal grenades... geez great games.

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:38 PM
sukTHEfacc

ok please stop drowning is in call of duty articles. this one was just plain pointless...

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:31 PM
batmanboy11

Holy Call of Duty 4, Batman! That game seriously rocks, though.

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:27 PM
-John-

The most fun I had out of a CoD game was selling CoD4 and CoD:WaW at GameCrazy. They're mediocre war games that are more overrated than Halo. But at least Halo is FUN!

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:25 PM
Mr.Rager

Favorite moments, When I found out they were leaving WII.

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:21 PM
Snootchies

That awesome level where u go in and save Nikolai

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:18 PM
firefist

All Ghillied Up and Death From Above. Those two were some WOW moments right there in gaming history. I just remember having a big ole grin on my face when I was making it rain on the bad guys. The sniper mission was just insane! Looking around every corner just waiting for those patrols to pop out of no where, then setting up for the big fire fight in the end. INTENSE! That makes me happy. : )

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:18 PM
ZetaCrossfire

My favorite call of duty moment happened in Call of Duty: United Offensive, it was during the multiplayer. It was my first online FPS game and 64 players with tanks my mind was blown. It was absolutely awesome. played that game religiously for years. COD: UO is still my favorite call of duty. I love big battles. vehicles and such. Battlefield is fun as hell but i love the COD formula. I know grey matter made COD UO (who got acquired by and then merged with a few other company's and became treyarch) But i hope IW will one day make a 64 player COD game.

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:13 PM
boomshot02

what " charlie don't surf" that level was awesome

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:12 PM
Not_FAT

good stuff

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:09 PM
Offspring32390

The D-day landing in COD2 was probably the most memorable for me. It's almost verbatim from Saving Private Ryan, and climbing the cliffs and running for cover across the muddy, cratered cliff top while under fire and surrounded by explosions adds to the intensity of the situation.

Posted: November 9, 2009 4:04 PM