8) I'm playing the movie. Literally.

Are video games a good narrative for telling a story? Most would tell you that it depends on the game. It would also depend on the characters, the plot, the action, etc. Well doesn't that sound like a movie you and your friends would see? Or how about a good book you would read?

Those who have played video games in the past year will know of the popular Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. As of May 2009, it has sold over 13 million copies. That's more than Halo 3.

So what makes this game so popular? Some would argue that the graphics, physics of the game engine, or the franchise's fame is what makes CoD4 the best of the best.

Want to know what I enjoyed most about the game? Why I kept replaying it?

As odd as it may sound, the story is what makes this game strong. CoD4 is one of the very few games that immerses you in the story. This happens thorough multiple perspectives in different levels. I'll try to explain what I mean to the best of my ability (SPOILER ALERT!):

The game starts you off as a member of the SAS on a routine Hollywood movie mission. As you get a feel for the controls, you infiltrate a tanker in the Bering Sea. You don't know what you're looking for until your teammate opens a cargo container. With radiation symbols all over it. Then the tanker gets attacked by MiGs. So starts your one minute dash to fumble with the newly learned controls to retrace your path (provided you can remember) off the ship before it sinks. Even as you watch the tanker go down from your helicopter, you feel relieved. Why? The character you're playing is a newbie on the team.

Your perspective switches to President Al-Fulani of an unnamed middle eastern country. You watch from his eyes as you are executed during a coup.

You then play as Sgt. Paul Jackson during an American invasion. You pursue Al-Asad, the coup leader, in his city. Just as you get whisked away on your helicopter, a nuclear weapon goes off, blacking you out. Even as you play through his last moments, you see and feel his pain as you arch up to look at the mushroom cloud before you die.

You explore the past history of your squad leader, Cpt. Price, as you control him in a flashback. A flashback that takes place in Prypiat, Ukraine, near the Chernobyl disaster site.

As you pursue Imran Zakhaev, the main antagonist, you fight into his missile base in the Russian Mountains. As you are about to open the gate, you see two missiles leaving the silos. As the game loads, you see the casualty projections: 43 million on the East Coast of the U.S. It's no longer business. You feel the character's anger. It becomes personal.

And even as you and your team are incapacitated in the final seconds of the game, Zakhaev arrives with his two bodyguards. When an explosion happens nearby, distracting them, you turn to Cpt. Price, clutching his wounds. He is about to die before he takes the pistol off his belt and slides it over to you. You take it, and kill Zakhaev in cold blood during a slo-mo sequence.

My point is that the story is what makes this game exciting and interesting. Executed correctly, any game can immerse you into the plot, and make you associate yourself with the characters. If you think that story was interesting, check out the trailer for the sequel, Modern Warfare 2, slated for release in Nov. 10, 2009. The trailer by itself is another story begging to be told:

I'm going to play CoD4 again. See you in awhile.