interesting blog post on COD maps & their evolution...

I gotta agree with a large chunk of this....esp. Piazza which sucks so much....

http://www.ign.com/blogs/jensen198/2012/03/31/the-evolution-of-maps-in-call-of-duty

Here's an excerpt:

Modern Warfare 2 completely changed this. In order to create exciting, unpredictable and dynamic gameplay they made confusing, complicated maps. Where CoD4 allowed the players to cause the excitement and unpredictability, MW2 tried to artificially force it with map design. A level like "Favela" had such verticality and so many routes at so many different levels that it was impossible and pointless for a team to set up their lines. Enemies would come from every direction. This encouraged camping and it massively increased the popularity of run and gun techniques as people tried to either negate the myriad routes available on the map or to exploit them. This convoluted gameplay was a massive change from CoD4. If we draw (attempt to draw) a straight line across the middle of "Favela" there are close to a dozen ways to cross this line. On "Strike", there were three paths.


I contemplated drawing the routes, but it looked like a hippy's tie-dyed poncho
The magenta lines represent common sniping spots, though these positions were largely useless as a player could never be sure they would be looking towards any enemies. The central building has 3 levels, the building on the right has 3 levels too. Through the centre of the map players can jump out of windows, off roofs and walk through doors. Players could be shot from someone on any of the three levels. Fighting on this map had absolutely no structure. A sniper, unless used to quick-scope, was completely useless on this map, there was no freedom for players to use any play style they chose.

I agree with the blog's observations but I do not necessarily agree with the opinion. I recall getting swept from one end of Bog to the other until we were decimated. The old maps had way more predictable spawns making it easy for veteran players to clean house. As much as I hate the randomness of spawns with MW3, CoD4 had it opposite and trapping and controlled spawn flipping was way to easy.

Good find Nes.

I remember on some BO maps playing with Killface talking about alleys; center, right and left. At first I was like ?!?! WTF, but when I looked closer you could see this very clearly. Based on BO I would say that it is more like COD4 in map design.

His opinion on KS was interesting in that he advocates for less KS and a more simple game in that regard. I guess I don't agree with that. One of the things I like best about MW3 was the KS for support guys like me. Points for capping and defending. In BF3 the guns all act differently, and after the last patch are more balanced. An AEK or FAMAS is great short range, but at long to mid range they get owned by L85A2 and AN-94 due to recoil patterns and ROF. I would like to see more weapon diversity in BO2. FAMAS, AK74u and Galil were the obvious standouts and there was no reason to use anything else unless you wanted to screw around (FAL, Shotguns, etc.)

User rented servers will do a lot to take care of the lag issues. In BF3 there are 650k people playing on PS3 compared to the several million on a COD title. With the extra $ generated I would think that it would almost be in their interest to make a move like this. It is one more fee they can collect. One more way to make money, and one more thing I would be glad to spend it on. The $10 I am sending Darkker is way worth the 90 days of lag free fun we have. Plus I am admin so I can change map rotation, kick players, re-arrange teams. So can nixon, N8, Anderson, kagan... We can police ourselves. See a guy lag switching? Kick. It is almost like its own miniature community of non 30 regulars who play on our little >30< island.

I am stoked to see BO2. The maps were fun I thought. I could care less for the opening doors and launching rockets. I care way more about a map that is diverse yet fair and a connection that is consistent and playable. See you guys then...