COD4 Revisited - by [ECC] Millwalker
Sunday’s COD4 scrim was one of the best clan events for a
while. Aside from the usual banter and despite Pricei knifing everyone who got
within 10 feet of him everyone had a great time. So what made this event so
special? I think I have the answer….variety.
One of the best feelings of playing a game is when you first
unwrap it and settle down to play it for the first time. The feeling of
discovering the game and seeing what it has to offer. Some of my purchases didn’t
last and have been forever cast into the depths of my junk drawer creating a
graveyard of games that didn’t quite cut it. Others offer something new, a
challenge perhaps or some sort of innovation. I’m sure this is part of the
reason why the BF series has lasted so well. The innovation of both the persistence
factor of online rankings and unlocks and of course the squad play aspect where
you can only be as good or as bad as your team.
Downtown Custom Map (click to enlarge)
Getting back to my original observation, when I first sat
down to play COD4 I loved it. Once I got over the fact that you die a whole lot
more than what I’m used to the arcade action style got me hooked. Of course the
single player mode is one of the best FPS campaigns to date. Alas, my addition didn’t
last and probably for the reasons I already visited. The persistence factor of
climbing through the ranks essentially depended on how many hours you were
prepared to put in to be rewarded with xp rather than relying on skill. A
welcome reprieve from this is the challenges that allow you to unlock varies
upgrades which do rely on ability rather than hours. The point I’m trying to
get across is that the journey to the upper ranks is over all too quick and
compared to the BF marathon to get all of the kit to get the best out of the
game. The recent spurt of quality custom maps looks like it will breathe new
life into COD4’s multiplayer offering and I detect resurgence on the horizon.
The scrim’s success is mostly down to the huge community of
mappers developing some really good custom maps. While BF may have its various
mods, most of which have long since been uninstalled, COD4 has a constant
stream of custom maps which are helping to keep the game fresh. The quality of
the maps is mostly of such a high standard that some put professional level
designs to shame.
The maps played on Sunday were a testament to this. Bacalao
(which literally means cod) was excellent mixing stealth trench warfare and
mass bottleneck jungle firefights. The Rock is COD’s take on Alcatraz .Fruville was a welcome return to urban warfare which was intense to say the least.
With the new and improved [ECC] server just around the
corner and the prospect of 24/7 BF and COD the future looks bright.
Check out Planet Call of Duty’s
custom map page here. Some highlights include two incarnations of my favorite
FPS maps Stalingrad from Medal of Honor and
Sharqi from BF2.
Check out some more maps here….clicky
Comments, reaction and shooting me down here please.
This Sunday's scrim will now be replaced with our 2nd COD4 match which will be against our friends over at ECF. The scrim will be put on ice and rearranged asap. The match we likely be an 8v8 so please amend your status in VWARS as this is still showing as a scrim. The team can then be organised. If you own a copy of COD why not take the night off from BF and join in we could really do with your support and help develop the game and attract new COD4 players. Cheers all.
The Inter Clan village fete went down very well with grand
total of £3.67 being raised for the poor little Thai orphaned chickboys. I’m
sure they will be very grateful. After such a successful event supported by so
many generous clan members I thought it only fitting to review the occasion.
The pickled onion stall didn’t raise as much as we hoped but
Colin managed to find a use for them between his legs for the first ever
pickled onion teabagging. Reports of the recipient are unconfirmed at this
stage but I reckon they will have to brush their teeth a few times to get rid
of the oniony stench.
