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Call Of Duty 4 sucks on Veteran

2-Jun-2008 Yes, I've finally started playing it and yes, it sucks HARD on Veteran.

34 Comments

Out of all the 'prestige' achievements you can get on Xbox 360, completing a Call of Duty game on Veteran is probably the most popular and well known. I've always felt my profile looked naked without an achievement for completing a Duty game on Veteran so on Sunday, with nothing better to do and a mild hangover restricting my options on how to spend the day, I decided to tackle Call of Duty 4 on its toughest difficulty.

To paraphrase Will Ferrell in Anchorman - playing Call of Duty 4 on Veteran was a bad choice. I mean, really bad. The reason I stopped playing Pro Evo in the office was it used to make me angry to the point where I wasn't enjoying it anymore and Sunday was the closest I've come to hitting that level of nuclear rage since my retirement from virtual football.

Seriously, how can anyone say they enjoy Call of Duty 4 on Veteran? I can understand pushing through the pain barrier for the sake of pride - hell, it's what's keeping me going - but to actually say it's enjoyable?

I'm 99% sure that Call of Duty 4 wasn't designed with Veteran in mind. That is, Infinity Ward made the game to be a rollercoaster ride of explosions and set-pieces built around the fact you can take fire, which enables you to soak up the sights with the added thrill of being in danger and knowing you won't necessarily survive. However, when you can only take three shots before the screen fades grey and you see a war quote (which Infinity Ward have blatantly run out of and started making up), that's when the game becomes extremely frustrating.

The fight in the TV station. Defending the tank. Searching the village for Al-Asad. Getting to the LZ in four minutes. And I haven't even done No Fighting In The War Room or the bonus mission, which I'm told are even worse. Oh God. I don't think I can take it anymore.

I don't even think it comes down to skill, as you'd expect from the more elite achievements out there. It's a mixture of trial and error, persistence and luck that pushes you through. Mostly persistence. I think that's the X-factor that sorts the men out from the boys on this particular achievement.

So tell me, how many of you have played and enjoyed Call of Duty 4 on Veteran? And why did you enjoy it? I'll admit, there's a strange satisfaction from finally pushing through a tricky bit following half-an-hour of pain but you can get the same experience from having a poo and I don't see people ranting and raving about how awesome that is.

Ryan King