Call of Duty 4: Variety Map Pack Comments by Eurogamer staff

Just fix the bloody netcode and stop trying to screw your loyal customers out of more of their cash.

get the wahmbulance.

I'm downloading this on day one.

I am practically hopping from foot to foot for this - I am even going to have to not organise the weekly Friday EG Burnout sessions in favour of this.

Although last night I couldn't seem to accept any Invites.

I'm sure it will be fine by Friday.

They better get it out early in April otherwise a lot of players will move on to GTA.

The only thing that needs to be done to the networking code IMO is proper host migration or at least inform the host when they try to leave the game and penalize them XP to discourage it. The level packs are a great way to keep peoples interest in the game alive, I would also recommend that IW build a decent stats website like Bungee.net, even a site with the current Barracks information would be a good starting point.

Damn! Another great looking expansion pack. With this, Warhawk, Burnout, GTA et al, it's a shame the days are getting longer.

"Damn! Another great looking expansion pack. With this, Warhawk, Burnout, GTA et al, it's a shame the days are getting longer. "

So true. But this looks really woth it.

I have heard it is to be released this Thursday at a cost of 800 points can anyone confirm this?

@Bursiene

Thats what I heard too, I was surpirsied reading this that he said it was all unconfirmed at this time.

Ooh more maps! :D

There better not be a delay to the 360 maps because of this:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

/want play.

great game... worth every penny.

agparrot, from what I heard the maps aren't coming out on the PSN until the 21st anyway

I know Baronen, but I was wondering more if they were holding fire on the Xbox360 versions so that they all came out at the same time?

I want to know what happens when some people have the maps and some don't. Will non-pack owners be allowed in the same lobbies, or will they be segregated like pariahs?

I'm guessing Halo2 and 3 had to tackle the same issue somehow.

Agparrot: Oh, sorry, my bad. Anyway, probably not - they already said the maps would be a little late on PSN, so they'll probably get it out on 360 asap

The good thing about all of these maps is they're playable across all of the playlists - they're split-screen, system link, Live, they fit in everywhere.

Excellent!! I had totally resigned myself to never seeing more Splitscreen content, but this is great news....now if only they'd give us the missing online maps in splitscreen at the same time, the news would go from Excellent to AWESOME.

While it's not the most innovative game in the world, it's easily far more polished an experience than Halo 3, in terms of looks, features, etc, etc.

I cannot believe how excited people get about this stuff - I expect they'll be good maps and all that, but really, it's not a huge amount of new stuff. Four maps does not an "expansion pack" make. Once upon a time patches contained new game modes, weapons, player models and other stuff too. For free. Now, not only are they perfectly happy to charge more for the game on Steam than it costs to buy from a high street shop (plus bus fare), they want cash for maps too. Or is this pack only for XBox and PS3 players?

True, but the high detail level in games means that a new map conteins a lot of new textures (unless of course it's simply a rehash, which none of these appear to be.

Also the gemoetry is far more complicated, and so needs more testing and design.

Personally I'd rather see a mix of new maps, and retweaked old ones instead. You'd get more gameplay content that way.

I'd also like to see new perks and weapons, but they could argue that they've done all they can already.

robg so COD4 has more polished features than Halo 3? What world are you living in?!?! Forge/saved films anyone?

I want this more about 8 times less than I want Kylie. Which is a lot.

So is the PC map pack free? Seems odd they're charging the console guys, especially as it's only 4 maps. In any case the PC has an ever growing number of highly detailed usermaps that are completely free.

Useful Article, can't say when , can't say how much...really , interview when they can tell you something we don't knowl !

Is it out now on 360?

Click Here seems to say so

Maybe not now - but 'early April' and exclusive to 360 for 21 days! (Probably whilst the PS Store is down).

I think MS can't charge for something thats free on another platform, possably why its "exclusive for 21 days". Personally I'm waiting till its free anyway cos there's no way I'm paying for 4 maps.

It isn't free according to that link on the 360 - I wouldn't have thought it was going to be free on the PS3 either?

What do I know... I guess it may be free on the PC?

Just. Want. It.

How hard would it be to open up the customization of weapons so you can have both a silencer and a Red-dot sight for example. Just 4 maps, 3 in reality if you're playing on PC as killhouse will be too small, isn't much of a "map pack". And they make you pay for it too. Instead of saying "This is a big thank you for buying and supporting our product in the millions, here's 4 free maps" it's "Here's 4 maps we cranked out in a couple of days, pay us more money! More!"

Although I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft were behind it in some fashion. Scheming their schemes.

As other have mentioned Host Migration is non-existent. They wankered on about implementing it but it turned out to be "oh yea the map stops and it starts another...but at least you are still with those you were playing with". FFS I couldnt give a shit about those I was playing with.

"Host Disconnected"

Rhinoxious, I agree maps are getting ever more complex, but I seriously doubt that more than a minimal amount of texturing, geometry or static meshes (or whatever COD4's engine likes to call them ) in that pack is actually new. Like the guy said, the killhouse is just like the training level, the broadcast is just like the TV station, creek looks like a lot of the rural Russian levels' scenery, leaving only Carentan with much actually new in terms of resources - saves on bandwidth for MS/Sony/IW too.

And as someone has since said, although it's not really a comparable situation, PC gamers do create maps the equal of or superior to retail maps all the time and distribute them free. Epic are so far the only ones who have managed to find some way to work this for consoles, with their PC->PS3 mods thing for UT3.

They could argue that they've done all they can already in terms of weapons and perks, but they'd be lying more obviously than Mohammed Fayed in a puddle of oil. There's a world of happy fun lethal weaponry out there. TagemandBagem's weapon customisation point is just one thing they could do. This is not a good deal, this is laziness.

CoD's incredibly irritating spawn system drove me away :( I liked the game, but it felt like the game was deciding how well I did all to often.

Not at all surprising to me COD4 is outperforming halo 3 online.

COD4 is bloody brilliant
Halo 3 is bloody average (And over hyped)

Why bother to keep playing an average (at best) game online?

@ tagemandbagem

the maps weren't knocked out in a couple of days, they will have taken hundreds of man hours to design, code and test. this costs money.

most people who play cod4 even remotely seriously will get countless hours enjoyment with these 4 new maps. is that not worth a few quid?

I've got nearly 16 days, nearing 400 hours, in the game so far. So it's been well worth my money.
Suddenly 800 points doesn't seem like a lot, now does it?

I agree 100% Raziel. Anyone complaining about them not being free if you don't want to pay 800 points for the map pack.......Don't.
Just continue playing the same maps that came with the game.
They won't give it away for free because they are running a business.

We feel like the single-player campaign was the perfect story, it began and ended correctly, and don't think there's anything we could do with that.


Bullshit. I was hoping for a few singleplayer missions and there are plenty of mission that could be done. The Beirut mission with Sergeant Kamarov for example ( Remember Beirut? You're with us. Hmmph, I guess I owe you one

There are plenty of good user made maps out there for free. I'm sure as hell not paying for multiplayer maps

We feel like the single-player campaign was the perfect story, it began and ended correctly, and don't think there's anything we could do with that.

Yes because the ending neatly tied everything up, and did not leave you in the least wondering who survived and who didn't.

Personally, I like COD4 onliine, but it lacks depth and is ultimately a shallow experience. Halo 3 matchmaking is far superior.

@t8yman

At least 2 of the maps are just single player maps converted to MP, which isn't going to take hundreds of hours. The 'Chinatown' map is just a re-texturization of 'Carentan' which again isn't going to take hundreds of hours. And 'Creek' looks just like the segement from the Russian area in the single-player mode but we'll have to wait and see.

Just look at the 'Village' map that is out now. A user map, taken from singleplayer, same high-detail but completely free. If they were releasing an expansion pack I'd happily pay for it but this is just 3 ½ maps of dubious original content.

We feel like the single-player campaign was the perfect story, it began and ended correctly, and don't think there's anything we could do with that.

ST6 Nuke mission after the Marine gets killed. It would be great to play as the SEALs when they find the nuke. SEALs could be worked in as a MP faction too.