CoD4, W@W, and so on...

Lately, I've been playing more CoD4 on Xbox Live, trying to get tuned up for the MW2 release. After playing mostly World at War HC TDM for the past year or so, I'm kinda wistful for players who actually use their mics, who don't teamkill, and who actually co-operate. Although built on the same engine, CoD4 and W@W are dramatically different games. The maps drive slightly different gameplay. On W@W, it's easier to control large sections of the maps; there are fewer avenues of approach for enemies on the Treyarch maps. The IW maps make it much more difficult to mount a static defence. There are more points of entry, and it's a greater challenge to cover them all without being within the kill radius of a grenade or RPG.

Also, whatever complaints players might have about the W@W spawning, the CoD4 spawning is just insufferable. Once you get fragged, it's not unusual to spawn in front of enemy firing squads a couple of times. A couple of times, I've had an enemy spawn behind me, inside a room with all entrances covered by claymores. It's difficult to escape the feeling that the spawning is actively helping the enemy team. The CoD4 maps don't help. Creek, for example, is a fantastically unbalanced map. If you initially spawn on the SAS side, expect to have your headgear ventilated by snipers multiple times as you attempt to reach the enemy in their nicely placed, well concealed positions in the houses on the other side of the gulley. Try and go up and over and -- Snipe!  Try to go low and slow through the creek and -- Snipe! Try and go through the cave and -- Bloop! you're grenade launcher meat.

I'm excited about MW2's impending release. But I'm nervous, too, that, with all the bells and whistles we've seen previewed, IW might have forgotten to fix some of the fundamental flaws in the multi-player experience.