I have most of the SOCOM games and this is my first Call of Duty game, you can definately tell the difference in online type, in Socom you go around looking for different settings, for example a snipers only. In CoD4, it is more like everything. If he doesnt like to earn level ups to get guns opposed to SOCOM, where you only unlock special weapons from finishing the game on different difficulties, in CoD4 you level up as you play and it goes by pretty quickly and the weapons are decent at the beginning.
Thanks for the input, I'll definitely forward it to him. 👍
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As for me, I couldn't resist given all the stellar reviews and decided to take the plunge. Although I know Warhawk is a fantastic online game, I really like having an offline, SP mode to sharpen my teeth on.
My initial thoughts (hopefully the scattered shot nature of these isn't too hard to follow):
* The manual does truly suck. No other way to put it 👎
* The graphics are quite nice and the framerate, so far, has been consistently fast. I can only assume those who claim it is 60fps are right as I don't have the means to prove yay or nay. Regardless of the specific frame rate #, it sure ain't choppy

And it does look great, but seeing as it seems to be 720p native it'd more than likely look better on a fixed pixel display. I've noticed with other material, like movie trailers that 720p scaling to my 960i CRT just does not look quite as clean as 1080P scaling down to 960i. No complaints here, I love my TV, just making an observation.
* My 3rd attempt at the training mode netted me a 38sec completion time (a good time is probably like 25sec). So yes I went ahead and took the suggestion that the recruit/noob difficulty would be an appropriate place for me to start.

Yeah it is gonna take me some time to get used to the controls, much less become adept at them. But hey, that's why learning is fun right?
* The general atmosphere is very well done. Sound effects are crisp and well localized, as are voices. The first time I heard a fast mover scream across my head I got shivers, pretty dang cool anytime something can force that reaction. The only issue I had in the first mission was hearing the captain's orders over all the ambient sound effects. I may have to double check and make sure my receiver's output levels to the speakers is still calibrated evenly. Then again maybe that's exactly what they intended, the inherent confusion associated with the chaos of battle.
* The auto disappearing HUD is kinda annoying. After shooting your way through enemies for a good 30 seconds I don't always remember to immediately check the remaiing round count in the gun. Then when I do think about it I look to the HUD but it has disappeared. Then instead of paying attention to whom I'm following, where they are going and where threats might pop up from I'm considering if I should reload for the heck of it or switch weapons twice real quick to get the HUD to pop up, orrrr... THEN "blamo" enemy gun fire and I'm all out of sorts. I'm guess reloading is something I'll just naturally acquire with experience, but right now I'm not very efficient at it.
* Although I'm no FPS hound, I do really dig the immersiveness of this game. I guess for FPS I pretty much need a realistic setting to draw me in and make me give a rat's behind. Fortunately this game seems to have that in spades

* INTENSE are the battles. Probably upwards of 30 troops on screen active in the battle with bullets, RPG's and grenades flying every which direction, the feeling of imminent danger, the fear of mistaking a team mate for the enemy when strafing (not only ethically, but killing friendlies = respawn) and the afore mentioned helos and jets criss-crossing overhead. INTENSE I say again.
* I'll be staying away from the online mode for awhile. There's some killaz out there and I ain't one of'em, yet.
(PS I did turn off the auto aim assist, so at least I'm not leaning on that crutch

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