We got hands on time with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the Xbox 360 at Microsoft’s annual event in Toronto, X07. While the multi-player beta has just begun across the globe, Infinity Ward used the event to showcase two single-player campaign levels.

The first was a war-torn cityscape mission titled, The Bog and the second was an invasion of a sea bound tanker in Crew Expendable While we watched as other media outlets played The Bog, where the end mission objective is to infiltrate a base and use the new javelin missile-launcher to destroy enemy armored vehicles, we decided to stick to the rainy invasion found in Crew Expendable.

See our full impressions inside.

The introduction scene plays out like the beginning of recent UbiSoft war shooters, a helicopter ride sets you and your three-man team up to the tanker while your objectives are spelled out for you. After rappelling down onto the ship, which is completely computer controlled, you are faced with the navigation crew of the vessel. After removing the sailors from active duty you continue into the ship and below decks. The team at Infinity Ward is especially proud of the piercing effect of the bullets. Ammunition realistically picks away at windows to remove enemy targets from within.

The controls will immediately feel familiar to fans of previous COD games, as the scheme has had no changes made to it that we could see. The close-encounter battles from Call of Duty 3 are gone, however performing a melee attack on an enemy will result in the use of a standard issue military knife which is devastating to watch.

Below decks you encounter a sailor who had a few too many rounds and is stumbling out from his quarters carrying a half-empty bottle of booze. We made quick work of him and the two sleeping bunkmates found within his room.

As the demo progressed we found ourselves back on the outer portion of the ship where enemies gathered at overhead windows attempting to pick us off, luckily our helicopter emerged from the dark stormy clouds to tear them to shreds with its machine gun.

After navigating a series of compartments, where the rocking ship made aiming a difficult task, we found ourselves at the objective; a stack of neatly folded papers with the master plans! Don’t these guys ever learn not to leave sensitive material laying around?

Before we can grab the documents we learn that enemy MiG fighters are en route to our position so the computer controlled allies and myself must high-tail it topside for helicopter evac.

As we make our way topside the ship is struck with (we assume) a blast from a MiG fighter and the tanker starts to go down. This led to some of the most frantic action I’ve played at the event, as the world around you is swaying in incredible angles making evacuation a difficult task.

This portion of the game reminds me of why Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is so appealing. Instead of dopey artificial intelligence that follows your moves, the A.I. actually reacts as a real soldier with its own independent thoughts. Your allies lead you back to the extraction point where your helicopter hovers waiting for you to make your grand exit, an action movie style jump to the open bay of the helicopter.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare currently supports up to 18 players over Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network with a variety of modes, including: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Head Quarters (think king of the hill), Sabotage (compared to as COD4’s version of Unreal Tournament’s Bombing Run), Search and Destroy and sports a hardcore and arcade mode. Arcade will feel at home with fans of faster paced shooters like Quake 2, where enemies can take quite a few shots before dying and weapons are placed around the map; hardcore is simply that. In hardcore mode the HUD (heads-up display) will be almost entirely missing, radar will be disabled and only a few shots can take anyone out.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is poised to steal the thunder from any big release this year and from what we’ve played it promises to be everything fans have hoped for.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is set to ship on November 5, 2007 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Check out the official Call of Duty 4 website @ www.CHARLIEOSCARDELTA.com

[Edit: In my haste I accidentally mixed the names of the two missions up! I actually played Crew Expendable while The Bog was the second missions available during the demo. Fixed above, just ignore image names!]

Call of Duty 4 Images from the event:

Call of Duty 4 “The Bog” Footage from the event:
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