CoD 4: Learning the Ropes

Last year was really something for online shooters, with great titles like Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Team Fortress 2 bringing great new mechanics and deep, innovative gameplay to the table. The best of them all was undoubtedly Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, with its mix of great gun mechanics and a deep rank and unlock system.

Since it’s pretty much our favorite online shooter, we’ve been playing it 24x7 for a while now. With all those hours invested in the game, we didn’t feel like letting them go waste – so we decided to pass on what we’ve learnt in the form of a few guides to help you get started and pwning in CoD4. This is the first guide that’ll help you know what’s what in the game...

Ranks & Unlocks
CoD 4 uses persistent ranks that work a lot like levels in role-playing games; which means the more you kill, assist teammates, or do anything positive for your team/self, the more experience you earn, which in turn helps you work your way up the ranks. With each new rank you gain new unlocks; maybe a new gun, a new perk (I’ll explain what those are later) or new challenges.

You start off with a minimum arsenal at Rank 1 (Private) and you can frag all the way to Rank 55 (Commander). You gain bonus experience when you get a certain amount of kills per gun, so sticking to a particular gun for a while is a very good idea.