We are currently approaching a time in gaming that we have never seen. Halo 3 recently brought in $170 Million...in one day. In fact, it had sold well over a million copies before it was even released. Those numbers are blockbuster movie good. In fact, Halo destroyed the entire box office that week as a whole who only brought in $80 million which was the lowest October weekend number since 1999. Was Halo responsible? Probably some, I also think Ben Stiller had a little something to do with it. What’s really amazing is that Halo might not even be one of the top five games released this holiday season. Hell, it’s not even the best game in its genre this season. That honor will go to Call of Duty.

I haven’t waited for a game with such anticipation since 10 years ago when Rare released Goldeneye. Just like Goldeneye, Call of Duty 4 has been hidden, not gaining as much hype except from diehard gamers and fans of the World War II series. The game has moved past its WWII theme and now places gamers in “Modern Warfare”. The game doesn’t come out for another long 3 weeks but it will be what Goldeneye was for the N64. The buzz for the game is increasingly growing thanks to the first review for the game recently coming out and it receiving a perfect 10 out of 10 for its multi-player and a perfect 10 out of 10 for its single player from OXM. As one of the Beta testers for the game I can tell you that no game can touch the amount of realism and fun this game presents.

This game is the complete package from graphics, to sound, to game play. The death scenes and animations are nothing short of spectacular. Kills in CoD are usually followed by “OH MY GOD, DID YOU SEE THAT!?” I had an opportunity to play the single player demo and it was the most frantic, intense game I have ever seen. It was non-stop action as I ran through a level that resembled Black Hawk Down. Rockets flying over head, grenades, snipers, helicopters, covering fire, night vision, flash bangs, missiles, tanks, and absolutely huge gun fights.

The single player game is easily good enough to make this a must buy but there is also an insane multi-player. Play against, or team up with up to 16 players on a reported 16 maps. Surely everyone on the blog remembers how much fun Goldeneye was with just 4 players, imagine 16, and imagine it in HD. Not only is there a ton of players, but the features are so smart and completely fitting. They have a kill streak feature that rewards players for not dying. For example, kill 3 players without dying and you are rewarded a brief radar which allows you to see your enemies location. Get 5 kills in a row and you are allowed to call in an air strike on the location of your choice. This might be my favorite. There isn’t anything like hearing the distant sound of F-16s booming thru the air as your teammates scream over their headsets “AIR STRIKE!” as everyone frantically rushes to the nearest building for cover. It is crazy fun. I am not even skimming the top, there are so many cool things, for example you can get critically wounded leaving yourself with just a few seconds of life left, laying on you back bleeding to death you can pull out a hand gun and go out in a blaze of glory, or turn the gun on yourself and take the cowards way out robbing your opponent of the full kill. The game is littered with fun little things like this that not only add to the fun but add to the realistic feel of the game.

The Goldeneye of next generation gaming arrives Nov. 5th.