History VideoGame / CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare

* ClimbSlipHangClimb: The beginning of "Cliffhanger" has you slipping and almost falling down an icy cliff.

* ShortLivedAerialEscape: Has it twice for the heroes. First, the SAS's extraction chopper gets shot down in the Russian countryside after rescuing Nikolai, then the Marine protagonist's heli gets knocked out of the sky by a nuclear blast wave, [[KillEmAll killing everyone on board]] including the player character [[ShootTheShaggyDog and the pilot they just rescued]].

''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' is a 2007 FirstPersonShooter video game, made by Infinity Ward and published by Creator/{{Activision}}. It is the fourth main game in the VideoGame/CallOfDuty franchise, and unlike the previous games, which were set in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, are set in modern times.

* DevelopersForesight: During 'One Shot, One Kill' in the remastered version of the game, you are able to kill Vladimir Makarov at the deal, which causes a time paradox. However, if you hit the person in the back seat, you get a message stating 'Friendly fire will not be tolerated'. That's because you shot Yuri.

A UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} version of the game, titled ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Reflex Edition'' was released in 2009. In 2016, a [[UpdatedRerelease remastered version]] of the game, developed by Raven Software, was released, initially bundled with orders of ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'', and later as a standalone game in 2017.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The game takes place in 2011 (four years after it was released in the real world).

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: In the last act of the game, you [[spoiler: save at least 15 million people, kill a major international figure, and watch your friends die. It's written off as missile tests and skirmishes. Only you and a handful of others, either in the highest echelons of NATO or on-site, know the truth.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The game ends with [[spoiler:the death of Zakhaev. However this comes with the knowledge that countless citizens in Al-Asad's country and American forces were lost when the nuke couldn't have been stopped and Zakhaev himself kills off most of what remains of Soap's squadron before the killing blow is landed.

** Additionally, there's the mission where you "escort" Soap's team... at the controls of an AC-130 gunship. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Escort of Awesome.]]

** There are other clues about the developer's original intentions hidden within dummied-out weapons - two in ''Call of Duty 4'', the "Brick Blaster" and "Select a location", seem to indicate that QuickMelee would have still involved bashing people across the face with your gun rather than the newly-added knife.

** In "Hunted," the informant Nikolai will have to be escorted through a wilderness; fortunately, he's good enough at defending himself with his AK-47u and gains AllyContractualImmortality (not too shabby for an emaciated guy captured for God-knows-how-long). In the "One Shot, One Kill" mission an injured Captain's support fire is apparently quite effective... however, he can be killed, and he is immobile; he can't move around unless you carry him, leaving you unable to do anything except walk around (no sprinting) and putting him down.

In 2016, a [[UpdatedRerelease remastered version]] of the game developed by Raven Software was released, initially bundled with orders of ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'', and later as a standalone game in 2017.

* HelicopterBlender: "One Shot One Kill" has a helicopter being shot down and digging itself into the ground while sliding towards Price (the player) and [=MacMillan=]. The former manages to avoid it, the latter frantically tries to get away from the blades, which come to a stop just before hitting him. He's still injured in the process, though, and you have to carry him around for the rest of the level.

The game's success kicked off [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2 two]] [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3 sequels]], which dominated the franchise for the mid-2000s and early-2010s.

* ShipSinkingScenario: In the first mission, the cargo ship you're raiding is bombed by enemy planes and you have to run through the flooding and collapsing cargo hold to get topside, where you must make a LeapOfFaith to a helicopter.

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* ANuclearError: In Call of Duty 4, two RT-2UTTH Topol-M ballistic missiles are launched from a facility in southern Russia in the Caucasus Mountains, and the SAS and USMC race against time to disable the missiles in flight before they impact targets in the U.S. and kill 41 million people. However, by the time the abort codes are entered, the missiles have already jettisoned their first rocket stages and the delivery vehicle has already split into their individual warheads, with each warhead already in the terminal phase. The nature of ballistic missiles does not allow them to be disabled or aborted once launched; once the authorization codes have been entered, launch protocols executed and missiles have launched from their silos, all communications are automatically cut off in order to prevent hacking or disabling by enemy forces; there is ''no'' way to transmit abort codes or self-destruct orders. The only way to stop an ICBM once it has launched is to intercept with fighter aircraft and destroy it before it hits the boost phase. Since the Topol-Ms have already long exited boost phase and have entered the terminal phase of their launch sequence, there is nothing stopping those 12 550kt MIRV warheads from striking their targets.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The missile facility in Call of Duty 4 is stated to be in the Altay Mountains in Russia. The real life Altai Mountains are located on the border with Kazakhstan and Mongolia, hundreds of miles from where the game suggests it is. The actual location of the facility is in the Caucasus Mountains, on the border with Georgia and Russia.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: "All Ghillied Up" and "DeathFromAbove". The latter is largely a StealthBasedMission where going in guns-a-blazing will quickly you killed, the latter has you controlling an [[GunShipRescue AC-130 gunship]] and its weapons.

!!''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' contains examples of:

[[redirect:VideoGame/ModernWarfare]]