Well it’s been out less than 24 hours and I’ve spent a bit of time on it (ranked up to Corporal – level 7). I’ve had a play on some different gametypes, tried the 3 different maps (Makin, Roundhouse and Castle) and also had a look around some clan sites to see what the general “take” is.

Just a little background on some bits before the review.

Infinity Ward produced CoD4 Modern Warfare with a new game engine and it was generally well received. Activision, who own the franchise, have this policy of alternating software houses to produce each new version to CoD5 fell to Treyarch who had done the well received Call of Duty: United Offensive (CoDUO) and the not-so-well-received Call of Duty 3 (which was console only). Most hardened CoD players were looking forward to the release of CoD5 by Treyarch as it was hoped there would be a return to old-style CoD gameplay and feel overall. The game engine though is the same as that used by CoD4.

Well CoD5:WaW returns us to the WWII scenario though based in the Pacific Basin. The beta maps are Makin (sort of jungle/swamp on edge of some water), Castle (Japanese Pagoda type setting) and Roundhouse (ruined city around a train yard). In general, my view was that the maps recaptured something of the CoD2 feel though this may have been due more to the WWII setting than anything to do with design or gameplay.

Some PC gamer requests have been dealt with (you can now add a Clan tag) but many of the items that have been requested since CoD4 came out still appear to be lacking (no colours for in-game names). Irritatingly, it seems as if the PC version is trying to be converted to a console type game. Your player name must be unique on the worlwide master servers (which will undoubtedly irritate many CoD Clans) and they have added a setting to easily add friends ( a console type feature when most PC gamers will probably use things like Xfire). The server browser for the beta did, however, seem fast, well populated and allow for some decent filtering options.

As with any new release, wheter beta or full, there have been the usual complaints about installing not working, graphics not looking good, jerky movement etc. All I can say is that, apart from having to re-install DirectX 9.0c (specifically) the game plays fine on my Xp Pro, 8800gtx, quad core system. It runs smoothly and the graphics (to me) seem as comparable as with CoD4. The sound is a little disappointing and grenades definitely seem to sound muffled.

 In terms of gameplay we have all the usual gametypes – team deathmatch, deathmatch, capture the flag, search and destroy etc. Vehicles are back (as per CoDUO) so you can drive around in tanks and there are also attacks by dogs. I’m not sure I like having to repeatedly shoot an animal in-game and listen to the yelping (but then I am an animal lover having had my own Labrador and several cats).

Comments I have seen are varied and are probably 50% for it and 50% against it. However, the most pertinent comment seems to be that it does, unfortunately, feel like a WWII mod for CoD4. Whether the full release can overcome this and give it it’s own true identity remains to be seen. Long-term CoD players may well respond well to the change back to WWII whilst the console type players will probably just run with it for a while and move on to whatever the next great new release happens to be.

For it to have longevity on the PC it remains to be seen what will happen about things like the release of mod tools, mapping tools and how these additions can be added to the game. After the fiasco of CoD4 in terms of how easy it was to add custom maps and mods, PC gamers will be looking for something a bit more like previous CoD incarnations in this respect. The folder structure of the beta on your hard drive alludes to this but we will have to see when the full game is released.

The game release is scheduled for mid November (11th or 14th depending on where you read it) and Treyarch have already said they will not be making any alterations to the beta. That seems to imply that patches will be released quite quickly once the game goes on sale and we can only hope also that files for Linux based servers are also available sooner than with CoD4 (which took around 3 weeks).

 So after all this, will I buy it and play it ?

Yes, as I love the Call of Duty series. I’ll probably play it more than CoD4 as I prefer the WWII setting.

Will I ever still play CoD, CoDUO and CoD2 – you bet ! I don’t want or need the frilly ranks/perks of the more modern games and still think there is something to be said for the older versions – but then if you gave me the original Space Invaders to play I’d be happy too !

Both the servers are running TDM with a different mix of maps and they can be found at :

Public 1 : 85.234.148.4 Port 28160

Public 2 : 85.234.148.28 Port 28160

The servers are setup as stock hardcore so no mods or custom maps.

Considering they were only launched a week or so ago, Public 1 has done phenomenomly well rising about 9,500 places on Gametracker’s server listing in less than a week !

Public 2 is struggling  a little so if you have some spare time please sit on that to attract some players along. If you need a fragfest rush then get along to Public 1 which has been attracting 15-30 players most of the time

So what else is there to say about these two servers ?

Well, we’ve joined PBBans to help keep the servers cheat free and some players have been banned already. For those who don’t know, most servers run Punkbuster as the anti-cheat software (as do both of these). PBBans is one of a growing number of player developed sites that take the anti-cheat philosophy a step further. By checking CVARs or DVARs and MD5′s they can identify someone running a cheat. The player gets kciked from the server and banned (in real time) BUT also gets banned from all other servers that are streaming to PBBans so helping to keep the cheats off the streets and limiting the number of servers they can play on. Currently there are over 5,000 servers streaming to PBBans so around 25% of all servers.

We are also running stats for players which are regularly updated and will be reset each month. We’ll then keep a list over the year of the top players and maybe we could hold a competition at the end of the year ?

You can view your stats, as well as the Gametracker listing for the servers at :

http://cod4public.inx-gaming.co.uk/

so pop along and see how you stack up against your mates !

When playing on the public servers we would ask that you moderate your language and so no abusive or racist comments please. We also expect you to abide by any admin requests issued via the console.

If you’d like to post some of your screenshots from the Public servers or need to contest or report a ban then come along to the gaming community forums at :

http://www.inx-gaming.com/forum/

There are no claymores planted at the entrance and registration just takes a few moments !

If you have played the public servers and want your own for your Clan or even just for a get-together with your mates then you can find the details with an instant setup at :

http://www.inx-gaming.com/

So come join the fun now !

DS

Whilst this fixed some bugs and did improve the in-game server browser at the official IW Forum we have had four months of PC gamers posting please for fixes and features for the game.

Some of these may be nitpicking (changing weapon realism etc) but for many of the oldschool CoD players things like their Clan tags in colour (or even having enough characters available to put their name in) are an important aspect of gameplay. A whole host of other bugs and features have also been listed to be brought to the attention of the IW Community Manager – fourzerotwo. So has he and, more importantly the programmers and developers at IW, listed ?

Well apparently not.

The much-hyped Patch 1.6 was announced for release on 5th June. When I say announced, this was not on the official IW Forum like all previous patches. Oh no, fourzerotwo chose to announce it on his own personal blog site (what an ego !).

Still at least we knew the patch was coming. More importantly PC gamers were also to get the map-pack that console gamers had previously had released. Given the number of maps that the community have developed themselves I am not convinced that this was such a bargain. Console gamers had to buy their map-pack but in a deal bewteen IW and nVidia, it was agreed that nVidia would sponsor the map-pack release.

 And therein lies the start of the latest round of moans, gripes and whinges. Having stated the patch would be released on 5th June it appeared a couple of days before to people signed up on an nVidia forum. This prompted much discussion about whether it was the the full patch or just the new maps. Oh the confusion !

To this day, there has still been no official announcement on the IW forums that the patch has been released !

Oh well, at least we have it.

And there’s all those bug fixes and features we’ve been waiting 4 months for aren’t there ?  Err, actually, no.

According to fourzerotwo :

“the 1.6 Patch for the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that will add support for the new maps, fix a server crash exploit recently reported by the community, and a few additional features / bug fixes. I will post a full patch notes list next week”

Well it seems he has been too busy playing on his Xbox as he never has posted the patch notes. More worrying is the fact that the patch had a serious bug in it allowing a major game exploit.

According to his latest blog (13th June) :

I also wanted to note for our PC players, we’re currently working on a fix for the PC cheat exploit that many of you reported to us after the 1.6 patch. Thanks to everyone for their quick response in getting us information on it. The programmers are currently addressing it and I’ll update you when you can expect the fix to hit servers as soon as I know

Gee, thanks. Given that it’s been four months in development you would have thought they would have picked up on this.

So, where does that leave the CoD4 PC playing community ? In comments to his blog I spotted this one from the man himself :

At this time everything we’re working on is underwraps. I can say that we’re not planning any new weapons, prestiges, etc. for COD4 at this time, all those rumors are just rumors

and also, in response to a comment about clipping on the Pipeline map :

As for the Pipeline clippings, yes the LD’s are aware, but don’t think we’ll be doing any clipping updates

Now call me cynical but from the tone of these plus the rumour mill about CoD5 already being in production, I am tempted to suggest that it may be a case of “that’s all folks” as far as CoD 4 is concerned. Maybe a fix for the exploit but it certainly doesn’t sound like any more major patches and the fixes/features requested are probably going to leave PC gamers whistling in the wind.

So, does a developer have a duty to continually work on patches for a game ? If so, for how long ? It ties up developers and programmers and will not in itself generate more income. Look at the MoH Airborne disaster. maybe it’s just time to accept the game with all its faults and move on to the next new game out.

What’s your view ?

UKDarkstar

Call of Duty 4 is no different and once the tools were released the game mods started to appear. Long-standing modders hastily converted the older CoD mods like PAM, AWE, extreme+ and ACE. Many of these allow you to vary all sorts of game options for weapons etc. and provide additional effects and options not included with the original game.

So if gamers are crying out for these options why aren’t they included in the original game ? Good question – go ask the developers ! Given that some of the mods can be unstable maybe developers just opt for safety and go for whatever will be most compatible for players world-wide or maybe they just don’t get too involved once they’ve developed a game and move on to other projects. The Call of Duty community has tended to support the game for many years well past what the developers may have regarded as the shelf life.

Apart from the above wide-ranging mods there are a few that fill a gap for niche players. Given that the aim for CoD 4 was to make a more realistic war simulation, updated with modern weapons and scenarios I always find it rather odd that one of the most popular mods converts players to zombies ! There are several of these zombie mods out now for CoD4 – just be careful not to scare yourself if playing after midnight with the lights off !

As usual, sniper only mods have been popular and these players seem to be a group on their own, liking the “purity” of a small map with not much running around and the gameplay reduced to picking people off. Not for me but, hey, each to their own.

A recent innovation which I’ve not seen for previous CoD versions is a bot mod. Perhaps originally developed to allow the amateurs to test their mods and custom maps with bot players rather than in a live environment, this has now progressed to the PeZBOT mod which allows you to fill your map with computer controlled players. Useful if you can’t find (or haven’t got) any friends to play with

Other mods seek to add to the game realism such as the ever-popular Heat of Battle mod. Out now in beta for CoD4 it seeks to provide new gametypes (capture and hold) and add additional realism. Again, this may be for a purist niche of players and it can be hungry on PC resources too but it has a growing number of players.

So what else do people like to change ? Common small mods allow for weapon changes, uniforms and sounds. It’s really down to whatever people want and can get to work with the mod tools. Personally I like the better supported mods like AWE. From an admin’s viewpoint it is easier to get support and also to get problems fixed.

What’s your view ? Do you like to stick with the original game or do you prefer a modded version ?

More on Call of Duty 4 in the coming weeks.

UKDarkstar

Nope

Map distribution problems with iwd and ff files ?

Nope

So, what are we talking about this week ?

Simply put – maps, Maps and MAPS !

The longevity of the Call of Duty series has been partly due to the community map-makers who have got to grips with the tools released by the developers allowing custom maps to be developed. I have the greatest respect for these guys who talk about things like Radiant, caulking and prefabs. Doesn’t mean much to me but that’s why I respect them !

With the original Call of Duty, United Offensive (UO) and CoD2 all being WWII based, there are a plethora of maps out there which have centred around real life campaigns mapping exact detail for the real terrain encountered by those who fought. There are also maps which can be put into other categories such as “jump” maps, fantasy and game specific (such as sniper maps for those who wish to play rifle only). Now just how popular are these custom maps ?

Well, a quick trip to www.codutility.com shows how many maps are still available for the older CoD versions :

Call of Duty – over 500 maps listed

United Offensive – over 600 maps listed

CoD 2 – over 900 maps listed

So, for those who have never tried out something a bit “different”, well worth a look.

Hmmn, all well and good I hear you say but I’m playing the latest incarnation, Call of Duty 4. What about that ?

Well, nearly 250 maps listed there today and remember that other listing sites are available

So, just what do CoD 4 players have to look forward to ?

Well, the whole point of CoD 4 was to bring it up-to-date, hence the title Modern Warfare. We also need to remember that both the Distributor (Activision) and the Developer (Infinity Ward) are US-based. The back of the box says :

“Fight as a member of U.S. forces and British Special Ops in global hotspots to eliminate a well-armed, ruthless force of international separatists”

Hmmn, what that really boils down to is the Yanks and the Brits against some cold-war leftovers or middle-eastern type opponents (trying to stay out of anything non-PC here). So what does that really give us ? Well, the stock maps seem to either be a very gray affair and looking like run-down eastern-bloc type scenarios or we get a hot dry looking arena in sandy colours that seems to lend itself to the middle east. Ok, you say, what’s wrong with that ? That’s where modern conflicts have been – look at Kosova, Iraq etc.

Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with that at all but variety is, they say, the spice of life. The map tools seem to be spawning many maps that are just variations on these themes and whilst it is nice to ogle the fancy graphics and design I must say I am getting a little bored with the “look”. There’s also the fact that there have been other “modern” conflicts – look at the British with the Falklands and Belize and, as for the U.S. – maybe too many hotspots to mention ?

Some map-makers have brought back maps from previous Call of Duty versions but they don’t all work well with a “modern” twist. I mean does the map-maker keep the WWII look or do they modernise it ? Purists would say keep the original WWII feel but then would you really want to play that with modern style soldiers and weapons ? Many think not. Some maps have been updated so they have the same layout as an old original but buildings look modern and have a scattering of cars and even the odd ferris wheel thrown in. Maybe it’s just me but they just don’t seem right.

We’re also seeing gamers new to the Call of Duty series coming from a Counter Strike or Battlefield series background. This is bringing new map styles but again to the criticism of the older CoD community.

Personally I think that once the game has matured for a couple of years and developed it’s own hard-core community we will see some amazing maps being developed just as we have with earlier incarnations. At the moment it is suffering from many new gamers and map-makers jumping in and doing things too quickly. Many of these will not stick around as they will always move to the latest game out so there will be a weeding of out the lesser well-made maps. Thats sounds a bit patronising maybe but it’s just me in Grumpay Old Man mode. Maybe that’s why, even now, I still go back to plain vanilla Call of Duty and some of the great maps that were made for that.

Well that’s my view on the early days of maps for Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare. Next time we’ll maybe look at the mods that are available and don’t forget to post your comments here on the blog.

UKDarkstar

This longevity has been partly due to the ability for gamers to create their own custom maps and mods for the game. These allow for customisation such as “rifle only” servers or those restricted to just a single map. This trend continued with Call of Duty : United Offensive (still listing around 1500 servers) though this game variant was less well received. Many felt that the addition of vehicles spoilt the gameplay and was an attempt to cash-in on features found in newer games.

A change of developer for Call of Duty 2 brought a difference in the feel of the game and split the gamers who played. Many felt that whilst the visual side had been improved the gameplay lacked something and was more arcade style. Having said that, the same choice of maps and mods means that today there are somewhere between 4500 and 6500 servers still being listed for CoD2.

So what lies in store for Call of Duty 4 ? A check today with Game Monitor shows just over 18000 servers listed highlighting the multiplayer popularity as we are at six months since the game’s release. The developer, InfinityWard, also developed the original call of Duty and many feel the gameplay has returned to that original style but with a modern update as per the title – Call Of Duty : Modern Warfare.

The mod tools have been released and there are many new maps already out there. Admittedly, many map-makers are new to the CoD series and many of the maps attract criticism for their bugs but this is bound to settle down over time. There are several popular mods available too including those such as AWE and PAM (for competitions) which have transferred through the CoD series.

Server hosts, such as INX, have been quick to offer players as much variety as possible with their hosting solutions and support for custom maps and mods.

So, does the future look rosy for CoD 4 ?

Well, maybe.

Despite all the enthusiasm surrounding the franchise, the publicity for CoD4, the maps the mods and everything else there has been a hitch.

From release the in-game server browser has been hit with problems with players complaining that servers don’t show up. For many, particularly smaller Clans, who rely on getting new players and members to make donations this has caused a major problem. Combined with the fact that files (binaries) for Linux based servers have had to be developed by a third party (and all credit to Ryan Gordon at Icculus for doing this for free) there are a worrying number of servers that sit empty.

Granted, InfintyWard have worked on this and the last patch (1.5) did go some way to improving the issue but it is still a source of contention for many server admins that their servers just don’t get listed in the in-game browser. Much myth surrounds what can be done to improve your server’s chances of getting in the list but ultimately it is going to need to be sorted by the developer.

Undoubtedly CoD 4 will run and run as previous incarnations have done so. Maps and mods will be developed by players who stick with the series through thick and thin. However, with increasing support going to console versions, new games coming out and the server browser issue it remains to be seen if the high server numbers will be sustained in the coming years

Granted there will be CoD 4 servers two, three and probably even five years down the line. As high a number as currently ? Well with talk of Call of Duty 5 already about I don’t think there will be as many servers in a year. Do you ?

Darkstar

Even with the original Call of Duty, patches were issued though stopped at 1.5. The same was true of Call of Duty : United Offensive (patched to 1.51 or 1.51b or 1.52 depending what/where you read !), and Call of Duty 2 (patched to 1.3).

So what about Call of Duty 4 (CoD4) ? Well, we’re currently at patch 1.5 with patch 1.6 due (apparently withdrawn at the last moment as the developer, InfinityWard, “… found a critical bug during QA which broke kill cams when playing with mods among other things which put a hold on it and put it back in development”). So what do these patches actually do for the gamer and do you need them ?

The short answer is yes, you do need them. It would be sensible to keep a folder with all the patches for all your games so that you can easily re-patch if you have to re-install (sometimes you can get away with just the last patch, sometimes you have to apply all or several). Virtually all server admins will ensure their gameservers are patched to the latest and so if you don’t patch your own game then you won’t be able to join the server (and probably won’t even see it listed in the in-game server browser).

Shouldn’t these bugs have been fixed before a game is released ? Well it’s very easy to say that. In practical terms it is always impossible to test for all possible situations, especially with multiplayer, so the patches are a good way to fine tune the game. InfinityWard have been very pro-active with CoD4 to get patches out within a relatively short period to deal with major bug fixes and with patch 1.4 even added a bonus map for the festive season (Note : this means you will need to patch 1.4 to have access to the Xmas Crash map). Even this had been repeated with the original Call of Duty which added multiplayer maps with patches.

So what of the next patch 1.6 ? Well the wish list from players is very long and perhaps some of the suggestions are impractical. However, for most gaming Clans the two pressing issues are being able to use colored player tags with longer names and having the in-game server browser detect more servers. The latter has received much criticism since the launch of the game and it is hoped they (IW) have found a way to improve this. Whether these things will be fixed in Patch 1.6 remains to be seen.

After the PC Map Competition debacle (see previous blog), it is of note that the IW spokesperson “fourzerotwo” has said of Patch 1.6 “We’re continuing to evaluate it and looking into releasing it when the map pack potentially hits PC”. With all the confusion over the competition for mappers I sincerely hope they get on with releasing the patch and don’t delay it for months to decide on the release of a map-pack.

So, are patches a bane? Yes, it is annoying to have to patch, wait for servers to be updated and keep copies. Overall though, they do improve gameplay and add features so I suppose they are a necessary “evil”. What’s your view ?

- UKDarkstar