Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the fourth title in the first-person shooter series, released in November 2007. The game, the first in the franchise set in the modern era, was a smash hit. Upon its release, it quickly became the best-selling game of the holiday season with 1.57 million copies sold. This number, when combined with the 440,000 units sold for the PS3 version of the game, resulted 🔜in CoD4 going double p🐠latinum on one month’s worth of console sales alone and fulfilling the predictions that the scrappy shooter would outsell Halo 3. And, apparently, the love for this game hasn’t died out yet. As of today, its total nu꧃mber of units sold worldwide across all consoles is over 18 million. Not bad for a game that is a decade old. No wonder Activision decided to release a remastered version of this fan favorite.

Between the remaster and the original, you may think you ha𒐪ve seen—and know—it all when it comes𓃲 to CoD4. After all, as I mentioned before, the game is ten years old now. However, I am here to tell you that even old dogs have ♉a few tricks and secrets up their sleeves. The game is ripe with hidden references and secrets. In addition, there are many fun tidbits and humorous moments that even the most seasoned player may have overlooked or forgotten about. So, take a trip with us down memory lane as we list 15 shocking facts about CoD4.

15 Capture The Flag Was Cut From The Game

Via: youtube.com (Multiplayer Aguilar)

Many of us have fond memories of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The game may be simple, but it was satisfying. It didn’t have the bloat of many of the later games in the franchise. However, a modest game may not have been Infinity Ward’s intention, as ma🍰ny features were left on the cutting room floor. One noticeably absent feature—especially when comparing COD4 to others in the series—is Capture the Flag.

Multiple cut audio fi🅰les from the🍃 game’s multiplayer revealed that a Capture the Flag mode was planned for CoD4. If you own the remastered version, you know th𓆉at it returned briefly for one weekend and then was swiftly removed, which🐲, in a way, is worst than completely leaving it out. It is always a bummer when you find out what could have been, but we all managed to enjoy the game without it anyway.

14 The Early Multiplayer Concept That Never Was

Via: gamebanana.com

In൩finity Ward t༒ested out a few different concepts for COD4’s online multiplayer before they found one that stuck. One early idea was to have players fight over specific areas on the map. Within each specific zone, there would be a button with a helicopter icon. If the button were pressed by someone, then a helicopter would come and fight for their team. The idea wasꦫ scrapped because it just resulted in players going through the motions. They were more interested in 𝔉reaching these support features than fighting.

Luckily, Infini🍷ty Ward decided to learn from their broken system. Instead of scrapping the idea entirely, they evolved it. To keep players focused on fighting, they decided to give players access to support items as a reward. And that, children, is how killstreaks were bor🅺n.

13 “The Mile High Club” Hostage With A Familiar Name

Via: youtube.com (SeriousGrex)

Remember th✱at hostage you had to save during the “Mile High Club” mission? You know, the one where you have to fight your way through a plane to save a VIP being held hostage by the Ultranationalists. Yeah, that one. Well, if you will recall, we never learn the guy’s name—which is kind of odd when you consider you jump out of a plane together.

After surviving such a death-defying feat, you would think he would at least tell you his last name. Well, fear not! Thanks to cut audio from this level, we now know this pওoor bastard’s last name was originally Kriegler. So, who is Kriegler? Why none other than the art director for CoD4. In a way, by saving him, you simulta📖neously save the game, and that is 🐻pretty cool.

12 Mark Grigsby—The Man With All The Gifts

Via: pinterest.com (Slavik Chayka)

If there was one guy at Infinity Ward who was capable ꦬof doing it all, it was Mark Grigsby. He wore multiple hats 𒀰during the development of COD4. Not only was he the lead animator, but he was also the voice actor for Staff Sergeant Griggs. The character was even modeled to 𒈔look like him and is the multiplayer announcer for the Marines.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mark Grigsby—taking on his Griggs persona—performs the rap song “Deep and Hard” that play🗹s during the game’s credits. He may not have gone platinum with no features, but the song is catchy. Talk about having your cake and e𒀰ating it too. Is there anything this guy canღ’t do?

Well, apparently not, since he is now the𒅌 animation director at Infinity Ward.

11 There Is A Sword In The Stone Reference

The Sword in the Stone (1963) Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Via: hollywoodreporter.com

Someone at Infinity Ward is a huge fan of T.H. Whiಌte and his series of novels revolving around King Ar❀thur. In particular, The Sword in the Stone, the novel which sparked a Disney movie of the same name, inspired the team tܫo insert a hidden reference to it in the game. Of course, the most iconic moment of the story is when Arthur manages to pull the sword from the stone. It marks the beginning of a legend that will inspire generations.

If you want to see Infinity Ward’s tribute to The Sword in the Stone, then you need to𝓀 pay special attention when playing the largℱe multiplayer map, Bloc. Around the pool area, beside the stairs of a destroyed apartment building, is a huge rock with a knife lodged in it. You can’t pull it out and claim the throne, but it’s a cool thing to find.

10 Don’t Call Me Shirley!

Via: youtube.com (valerygrigor)

The “Mile High Club” mission gave u♏s many gems and memorable moments, but one that you may have overlooked is the reference to a famous Leslie Nielsen film. At the beginning of the mission, you listen in as two soldiers from your squad have a conversation. One says, “We’re going deep, and we’re going hard.” The other replies, “Surely you can’t be serious?” The first soldier then says, “I’m serious. . . and don’t call me Shirley.” This humorous exchange is a reference to the iconic parody film Airplane!, which released in 1980.

But wait! This is🅺n’t the 🀅only way “Mile High Club” pays homage to Airplane! The music you hear throughout the level is a fusion of all the themes heard throughout the game. This hodgepodge of sound is app🌳ropriately titled “Don’t Call Me Shirley.”

9 Moving Away From WWII

Via: cod4central.com

If you have been a Call of Duty fan since the beginning, back when it was only available for🔴 PC, then you know the franchise spent more than its fair share of time explorinﷺg World War II. Their first three games featured the war heavily, and their upcoming title, Call of Duty: WWII, plans to take us back to some of the most iconic moments of the war. You don’t have to be an entertainment buff to know that we are obsessed 🎃with that era.

This is why it was such a shock (and a relief) when Infinity Ward decided to leave World War II behind to create a game set in modern times—the first in the series to do so. It was also the first game that didn’t feature an Axis power, as the main antagonist is a Russian Ultranationalist𒐪.

8 The "Mile High Club" Inspiꩲred The Spec-Oওp Missions In MW2

Via: mobygames.com

The “Mile 💞High Club” level was a unique feature of CoD4. After suc𓄧cessfully completing the single-player campaign and sitting through the credits, players were rewarded with an optional epilog mission. The catch? It had absolutel𒈔y nothing to do with the campaign. It was its own standalone mission with a separate story and different characters. The extra level was so successful that it inspired a whole new game mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

If you will recall, MW2 has a game mode called Special Ops, which includes over 20 standalone missions that have nothing to do with the single-player campaign’s story. Doing this gave the team more creative freedom to create interesting levels oꦿr reuse old ones in new ways. Not to mention the missions could be played solo, split screen with a friend, or online.

7 CoD4 Inspired Hidden Mission In Destiny

Via: youtube.com (Karl Penrose)

The “Mile High Club” strikes again! If you have Destiny’s The Taken King expansion pack, then you may have noticed a hidden mission, “Lost to Light,” which leads players to the Black 🐽Spindle, an exotic sniper rifle that released with the expansion. In order to get the rifle, players have to find an alternate path by speedrunning through the mission. Once the path is found, players must then clear three rooms full of enemies in under 10 minutes to claim their prize.

Sound familiar? That’s b♚ecause it is. In a recent podcast, Bungie’s Rob Engeln revealed the team was inspired by videos of CoD4 players spe🌸edrunning though the “Mile High Club” level—which required players to clear a plane within a short timeframe— on Veteran difficulty. It’s good to see art imitating art.

6 The Sounds You Hear Are Real

Via: commons.wikimedia.org

When it came time to create a war game that was as realistic as possible, Infinity Ward didn’t just rest on their laurels in their studio, imagining what a real war was like. Oh no, they went outside and did actual research, even for something as easily overlooked as sound. In a game where all you heꦫar are announcers and weapons firing, having inaccurate sound e꧒ffects would break immersion.

To keep their plaꦯyers focused on the game instead of the components that built it, they attended a live-fire session exercise at an actual Marine Corps Combat Center. T꧑hey studied how different weapons sound when fired—which included tanks! In addition, they also had U.S. Marines supervise the development of CoD4 and had veterans help them with motion capture.

They definitely didn’t phone this one in.