Call of Duty 4 fans review Variety Map Pack

Two hardcore Call of Duty 4 fans check out the upcoming new maps.

Activision hosted a special Call of Duty 4 Map Pack event last week and two VideoGamer.com community members, Ash Peres and Matt Jarman, were lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the four new maps. Seeing as these guys play Call of Duty 4 online more often than they'd probably like to admit, we made them reporters for the day so you can get the gamers' view on the new maps. Also, for a slightly unique point of view, both of our CoD4 experts have a military background.

Ash's Bio
As a weapons engineer in the Royal Navy, Ash knows a thing or two about big guns. Weapons trained (as far as a sailor can be at least) and with many years service in one of the UK's best Airsoft teams, sneaking around and waiting to ambush unsuspecting parties come a little too naturally for him. As a member of a history re-enactment group, he is also quite a boff of tactics and weapons throughout time.

Matt's Bio
In the service of one of Her Majesty's overcrowded establishments, Matt works in the Prison sector and is aiming to train as part of an emergency fast response unit, therefore he knows a good deal about self defence. With prior military background [Classified], Matt has real world weapons and tactics experience. Coupled with an unhealthy attention to detail, you can guarantee he will find that 'impossible to reach' corner of any map.

CREEK

What Ash thought:
Creek is on the scale of the map Overgrown (possibly even larger) with masses of open and woodland terrain, scatterings of cover, a fair amount of buildings and even a waterfall. The map consists of what will be considered two bases, one being a collection of four houses and gardens, the other a barn and a few agricultural outbuildings. Linking these bases is a creek, full of fallen trees and large rocks, that curves around a central spine of raised land that blocks direct fire from one base to the other. It's an ideal map for both deathmatch and objective-based games, with features such as an underground cave system to carry the briefcase relatively safely to the edge of the enemy base or using the narrow cliff top path for a dangerous but direct assault on the houses.

The map plays across a vastly varying height level and is visually stunning; this adds a great amount of diversity to the gameplay as well as to the look and feel of the multiplayer element of this game. I can see this map becoming many people's favourite.

Matt's Opinion:
Creek is my new favourite COD4 map. Now it must be said that the only game types we played were all vs. all deathmatch and team deathmatch, so I can't vouch for how strategically sound the map is for objective-based games, however it does seem to be very balanced in all areas with ample attack and defend spots littered all over it. The two bases, as described by Ash, are linked via a straight through underground tunnel but also via the long curved valley that runs the length of the map. The main area of contest always seemed to be the large hill in the centre which is the main route from the farm base to the village base. Overall the map has a lot of points for sniping opportunities, my favourite of which covers the village area from the farm base using the hill facing the curved section of the horseshoe. Using any one of the strategically placed boulders that occupy the area you can get a fantastic view of the valley and stream that winds its way round the curve of the map from the farm area. Another good point is if you stealthily sit under the ladder leading up to the villa in the village, you will be hidden by the shadows and are ready to pick off anyone coming up the valley.

Read on for Ash and Matt's thoughts on the remaining three maps.