The thought of playing Call of Duty on a Nintendo DS brings to mind something akin to watching the Transformers movie on that little screen in the back of the headrest in an airplane's economy class while listening on those crummy headphones. For a series best known for delivering a home theater-like sensory-immersing cinematic experience, even attempting a handheld port -- on the DS no less -- sounds like sheer folly. Apparently no one told developer n-Space, because not only did they attempt the unthinkable, within your first few minutes with Call of Duty 4 on the DS you know they pulled it off.

This successful feat comes from taking on all the elements that give Call of Duty its signature character rather than shying away from or reinterpreting them. While the missions vary some, this DS version tackles the same globe-spanning conflict of its console brethren. You find yourself trading time between the khaki camo of a U.S. soldier fighting political unrest in the Middle East and the black commando gear of a British spec ops chasing down nukes in Russia. Of course, ties between the two reveal themselves as you go along, but of all the pieces the intrigue of the story suffers the most from the lower-fidelity presentation.