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COD4 also excels in an area that doesn't get enough visibility: art direction. Half Life 2's art direction really made the game for me -- the amount and variability of textures and environments made the game's visual aesthetic a pleasure to explore; it stands in stark contrast to its cartoonish, endlessly adolescent contemporary, DOOM 3. I think this became clear to me on my first entry to Ravenholme, where a rusty children's playground carousel and a sidewalk covered with fallen leaves greeted me. DOOM 3 lacked anywhere near that sort of subtlety.

The next FPS I played, F.E.A.R., was exactly the opposite -- cramped levels, repeating textures and objects, repetitive enemies -- and made me grit my teeth in frustration. Gears of War was also guilty here -- a limited color palate and the questionable decision to make your squadmate models (already an NFL steroidal caricature) look roughly the same size and color combination as your ... enemies. Hey, way to make me feel competent! COD4 sent us on a global tour of hot-zone hot spots -- the Middle East, Russia, Chernobyl, a cargo ship being tossed around the ocean -- not another office complex or a Martian space lab.

Visual style is so important -- it's our first cue into the game before we get to trigger an event or try to open an unopenable door. It's not the technical feats of rendering that are as important anymore (sorry, Crytek). I'm pretty sure that EverQuest 2's renderer and technical art parameters are more sophisticated than WoW, but there is no question that WoW's consistent aesthetic direction results in a more memorable, immersive visual experience.

I still can picture the flashback sniper mission level, when your camouflaged superior officer turns to you and you realize -- you didn't quite see him. Art imitating life.

Of course, the game was over nearly as soon as it began. I understand that to create a finely crafted and detailed experience, Infinity Ward focused on building a great experience first, and that probably cost $20 to $25 million.

I'd be more forgiving of the short playing times if I knew there were expansion packs in the works, but I don't hold out much hope for that. Why? Seems that Treyarch is working on COD5 for 2008, and Infinity Ward will take on COD6 for '09. Selling COD4 expansion packs in mid-2008 would no doubt cannibalize COD5 sales. Activision's been so enamored of the Madden model (new year, new game, 5 million-plus in sales!) that they might be missing the real opportunity: more episodes. Treyarch has big combat boots to fill, and they better up their game from COD3.