Infinity Ward may have turned their back on the PC, half-baking an XBox adaptation which doesn’t even trust you to turn on your own game server, but Modern Warfare 1 is alive and well. Better than ever, in fact, as a whole host of players realise that if they’re ever going to get more Modern Warfare server content they’ll have to make it themselves. So they did. For free. You’re welcome.

Here we see four upgrades for your Modern Warfare server which won’t require XBox Live, won’t cripple your controls, and don’t treat you like a child who isn’t trusted with the console commands.

1. Galactic Warfare

This Star Wars style add-on is the most exciting Modern Warfare project to date and only possible with modding. Because it requires dedicated work, a real love of both subjects, and if anyone official tried to make money from it the resulting Lucasfilm lawsuit would make a Tactical Nuke look like a healthkit.

German modding group Black Monkeys have done a stellar job: to watch the trailer is to feel a deep longing for the public beta (coming soon). It isn’t the perfect Stormtrooper vs Rebel skins, or how perfectly the Iraqistan dust technologies of Modern Warfare match Mos Eisley, or even the sheer nerd joy of a Star Wars game that won’t suck: it’s the sounds. They’ve recoded all the weapons with authentic Star Wars sounds and visible blasters, and that alone makes this the most perfect mod. But be warned: the psychological shock of seeing a Stormtrooper actually hit someone while firing is pretty severe.

2. Frontlines

The Hajas M0D1F1C4T10N5 group can be forgiven their outrageously 7334 name by dint of pure awesome. They’re a perfect example of how internet rage should be applied: instead of whining about Modern Warfare 2 and playing it anyway like everyone else…

This is why no-one listens to gamer complaints

…they’ve already built their own sequel. And since Infinity Ward aren’t interested, they’re going to keep expanding on it. The Frontlines mod is everything the official sequel isn’t. It doesn’t slap your hands away from the server controls like a naughty child, it offers complete control of your own game server (and really shouldn’t be something extra in any game.) Twenty eight new game modes, optional medic and help systems, and even a full-blown War mode - where an evening of clan battles can be turned into one huge conflict to provide a real motivation for everyone involved to see it through.

3. Zombies

You knew it had to happen. It’s impossible for anything to exist online without zombies getting involved eventually. At least EHD’s Zombie Mod allows you to simulate an outbreak where the survivors aren’t idiots who insist on returning for pets, refusing to believe in zombies, and the unforgivable careless of not being fully trained SAS operatives with full air support. Taking it turn about as the unarmed undead or armed anti-undead (aka alive) players you gain a true appreciation of team work. And which end of an MP5 is the wrong one.

4. Stargate

In proof that almost anything that can exist eventually will if we only keep the internet on long enough, you can equip your COD4 server with a Stargate. Replicator Warfare is an ambitious total conversion aiming to bring multiple locations and weapons from the series into the well-established Modern Warfare server community. Since SG-1 was one of the only sci-fi series to actually feature real soldiers using guns it’s a good match, but you shouldn’t hold your breath for the mod: there’s been no news for over half a year, usually an indicator that the initial excitement has fizzled out. But that excitement did give us one awesome map!

Stargate Command! A fun location to add to your map rotation, and an objective which makes defending nuke silos look like slapping terrorists’ hands away from the cookie jar.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 1:32 am and is filed under Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.