On consoles and PC, Call of Duty 4 took the world by storm by marrying frenetic action and plausible real world objectives together. The game was like the film Black Hawk Down on steroids and instead of simply watching it on the sidelines, you got to take part in it. For the mobile version of the game, Glu has decided to take on the modern warfare mantle and make the game set loosely on the events that transpired in the console and PC game.

I say loosely because for whatever reason, the mobile version of Call of Duty 4 has some pretty long expository pieces that seem to get in the way of the action. Like the previous Call of Duty games on the wireless platform, this one is a top down action game with you in command of a squad of soldiers. However, at the end of missions or at certain junctures, the game stops for page long conversations. Most conversations on the console and PC were simply screams to hit a tank, get to an objective or fall back. I don’t remember having a script played out in front of me and it seems to take away from the pace of the game.

For a top down game, the action is fairly satisfying. When you meet up with an opponent, they will almost always give you a one second delay so you can line up your sights on the target and begin firing. With the ability to recover from health behind cover, you can pop up from behind sandbags and hollowed out cars to shoot at your enemy. The enemy soldiers never seem to run away but your teammates do shift around. However, due to their questionable AI capabilities, more often than not they will run into the open or run into enemy fire. There are vehicles in the game so you’ll have to use different weapons including a bazooka, sniper rifles and C4 charges to tackle these obstacles.

Mission objectives consist of search and destroy, escort and destroying certain targets. It’s a varied bunch but doesn’t obfuscate the true problem with Call of Duty 4, and that’s its inconsistency. My first encounter with this was when they were showing a minefield and one of your squad members would inadvertently walk into it. This was a cut-scene in the game. Yet during the cut-scene, next to the minefield was a bunch of enemy soldiers who were frozen by the cut-scene and hence once the cinematic sequence ended, all hell broke loose. My guess on what should have happened would have been me triggering the enemies to come down and fight me before I hit the minefield.

On other platforms, Call of Duty 4 was a well polished title where everything felt just right. This mobile version is off the mark and the level of perfection exhibited on the other platforms exasperated this even more.