I especially dislike the 10-15 hit kills, when it' s a packed match, and there' s people left and right. In the time it takes you to wear down someone' s shields and close distance, your magazine is almost exhausted and you have to resort to rifle-butting everyone, or switching to your secondary. Not my style.

I can understand that as a matter of taste.... to me, though, it emphasizes the aspect of the game being like a sport. If you are getting attacked by an unseen opponent, there is still a fraction of a second opportunity for you to react and outplay them in that encounter. In addition to the one-shot-one-kill power weapons.

But I am really curious about the point I made regarding COD4 and the absence of vehicles. Like I said, I haven' t played it yet although I' d like to. I just really dig the vehicles in the Halo series and wonder if it would seem to get a bit tedious not having any in COD4.

ORIGINAL: Zoy

But I am really curious about the point I made regarding COD4 and the absence of vehicles. Like I said, I haven' t played it yet although I' d like to. I just really dig the vehicles in the Halo series and wonder if it would seem to get a bit tedious not having any in COD4.

The maps are smaller and open areas are relatively sparse. CoD4 is faster than Halo 3 too... vehicles would ruin the dynamics.

I do like the vehicles in the Battlefield and UT games though. Halo is good, but i' ve never really been much good at it (kinda like Gears) so i rarely play it online. When i do i die... a lot... and i don' t have the time to put in to become competent at it, so i tend to stick to games that i' m more naturally good at.

I tend to agree with you Nitro, I suck at gears and am moderate at Halo 3. I have found that COD4 tends to be the favorite, but people still miss some things from Halo. I also highly suggest that you play COD4 as soon as you can get your hands on it.

Also Nitro I haven' t seen you on in awhile(could just be the time difference), so I was just wondering where you had been.

It' s interesting that you guys mention your varying, er, aptitude for COD4 as opposed to Halo 3, Gears, etc. A couple of people I played with on H3 last night also mentioned that they felt they were better at COD4, and that it is " more tactical." I wonder if I would feel worse at COD4 or better. I' m not really a great Halo player by any means, pretty average really, although it has taken a lot of work just to get up to that level! Anyhow I' ll get my hands on a copy of COD4 this week or the next and see how it feels to me.

ORIGINAL: Torr

Also Nitro I haven' t seen you on in awhile(could just be the time difference), so I was just wondering where you had been.

I' ve been avoiding you' re skanky ass

Nah, i' m back at work and we' re uh... really busy... and stuff....

I' ll probably be on at the weekend, maybe before. The idea is to get somebody i think is cool to play... like say Quez, or Agent...

ORIGINAL: Zoy

It' s interesting that you guys mention your varying, er, aptitude for COD4 as opposed to Halo 3, Gears, etc. A couple of people I played with on H3 last night also mentioned that they felt they were better at COD4, and that it is " more tactical." I wonder if I would feel worse at COD4 or better. I' m not really a great Halo player by any means, pretty average really, although it has taken a lot of work just to get up to that level! Anyhow I' ll get my hands on a copy of COD4 this week or the next and see how it feels to me.

Tactical???

Not really. Loads of people have mics and it' s an open mic as opposed to ' push a button to open the channel' but teamwork and strategy pretty much goes out of the window as soon as the first bullet is fired.

I used to play a lot of Counter Strike, and that' s probably the most tactical online FPS i' ve played to date... because once you were dead you were dead. Call of Duty can be played like that but Team Deathmatch is the most populous mode and that comes with infinite respawns.

Call of Duty is just fun. It has a lot of depth, far more than Halo 3, and that' s what keeps it from getting boring. But it' s no more strategic than any other shooter.

Anyway, in Call of Duty you can shoot through walls, call in airstrikes & helicopters and glitch onto rooves!!!

I used to play a lot of Counter Strike, and that' s probably the most tactical online FPS i' ve played to date... because once you were dead you were dead. Call of Duty can be played like that but Team Deathmatch is the most populous mode and that comes with infinite respawns.

While not as played as Counter Strike, Rainbow Six MP, especially Raven Shield really held up. It was even more important not to get hit.

I have found that FPS' s can be as tactical as you want them to be, but in no way does COD4 lend it self to being tactical(unless you do play one of the game modes where it is easier to die and friendly fire is active). Plus I find the class customization is awesome, and that way you can use what is best for you.

Tactical???

Not really. Loads of people have mics and it' s an open mic as opposed to ' push a button to open the channel' but teamwork and strategy pretty much goes out of the window as soon as the first bullet is fired.

There I' ve got to disagree in part. When you' re playing with total strangers over Live, the chances of a tactical match are pretty slim.

However when you' re with people you actually know, I tend to use tactics naturally, and people roll with that without making an active attempt to do so.

Well, I' ve spent some time with COD4 playing through the campaign and multiplayer, mostly on Hardcore Team Deathmatch. Really great graphics and solid gameplay, but for my own tastes it just emphasizes to me that the push for realism comes at a sacrifice of imaginative creativity and the type of bizarre wonder that used to be predominant in the video game industry.

The setpieces are sometimes great -- the opening sequence on the sinking ship was really gripping. (Although the instance of shooting men in their sleep had no class.) At other times, though, the campaign gets annoyingly repetitive, with uneven difficulty alternating between reasonable areas and then suddenly incredibly frustrating areas with unending streams of respawning enemies. But I can' t criticize the singleplayer too harshly, as this type of game is always about the multiplayer for me.

The fighting in Halo 3 does seem more dynamic and varied to me. I do like the " Deathcam" which gives you an opportunity to see how idiotic and easy-to-kill you looked, and can help you play better in the future. I think COD4 lends itself to a more patient and stealthy type of gameplay in most cases, or maybe that' s just what I excel at (or perhaps more accurately, don' t suck at!). The difference being that if you are getting shot from the side or behind or something, you have almost no chance of evading and surviving long enough to turn and counterattack. In H3 there is a slightly better chance of turning the tables or at least leaving a grenade behind in order to get a kill from beyond the grave. But maybe I' m just not fluid enough with the controls in COD4 yet. On the whole, COD4 players seem a lot less obnoxious than the rabble that haunts H3.

Examining the graphics in COD4 gave me some perspective on the H3 graphics. The settings in a science fiction game like H3 are naturally more " imaginative" in that they are depicting places that don' t exist. But they could be dirtied up a bit more. That was one of the big things about Star Wars that was initially so amazing to see, was a science fiction world which had a lived-in appearance, with scuffs and chipped paint on everything. The Covenant structures in the Halo series look like they are cleaned and polished constantly when there' s not a battle going on.

Anyhow, I' m still standing by my pick of H3 as my GOTY... for the same reasons. The Forge in itself has a dedicated community creating hundreds of new gametypes and map variants. I' ll continue to play COD4 a while but I' m leaning towards trading it in for a less realistic but more imaginative world like Bioshock or Mass Effect.

Well, I' ve spent some time with COD4 playing through the campaign and multiplayer, mostly on Hardcore Team Deathmatch. Really great graphics and solid gameplay, but for my own tastes it just emphasizes to me that the push for realism comes at a sacrifice of imaginative creativity and the type of bizarre wonder that used to be predominant in the video game industry.

The setpieces are sometimes great -- the opening sequence on the sinking ship was really gripping. (Although the instance of shooting men in their sleep had no class.) At other times, though, the campaign gets annoyingly repetitive, with uneven difficulty alternating between reasonable areas and then suddenly incredibly frustrating areas with unending streams of respawning enemies. But I can' t criticize the singleplayer too harshly, as this type of game is always about the multiplayer for me.

The fighting in Halo 3 does seem more dynamic and varied to me. I do like the " Deathcam" which gives you an opportunity to see how idiotic and easy-to-kill you looked, and can help you play better in the future. I think COD4 lends itself to a more patient and stealthy type of gameplay in most cases, or maybe that' s just what I excel at (or perhaps more accurately, don' t suck at!). The difference being that if you are getting shot from the side or behind or something, you have almost no chance of evading and surviving long enough to turn and counterattack. In H3 there is a slightly better chance of turning the tables or at least leaving a grenade behind in order to get a kill from beyond the grave. But maybe I' m just not fluid enough with the controls in COD4 yet. On the whole, COD4 players seem a lot less obnoxious than the rabble that haunts H3.

Examining the graphics in COD4 gave me some perspective on the H3 graphics. The settings in a science fiction game like H3 are naturally more " imaginative" in that they are depicting places that don' t exist. But they could be dirtied up a bit more. That was one of the big things about Star Wars that was initially so amazing to see, was a science fiction world which had a lived-in appearance, with scuffs and chipped paint on everything. The Covenant structures in the Halo series look like they are cleaned and polished constantly when there' s not a battle going on.

Anyhow, I' m still standing by my pick of H3 as my GOTY... for the same reasons. The Forge in itself has a dedicated community creating hundreds of new gametypes and map variants. I' ll continue to play COD4 a while but I' m leaning towards trading it in for a less realistic but more imaginative world like Bioshock or Mass Effect.

I' m with you on this one, had COD4 for awhile, but just can' t get into it at all. Finished halo twice & going through Mass effect a second time. Just don' t really dig the realistic scenerios. Always knew we has the same taste in games just from reading your posts.

ORIGINAL: Nitro

Call of Duty is just fun. It has a lot of depth, far more than Halo 3, and that' s what keeps it from getting boring. But it' s no more strategic than any other shooter.

It has a lot of depth to it but it doesn' t really have any more than Halo 3. The weapons and combat in Halo 3 have a lot more variety. Which leads to more depth.

I prefer the more realistic setting of CoD4 over halo3, and it suits my shooting style too; I' m good at mid range but I suck at melee so most Halo maps I get pwned on.

I just avoid melee battles in Halo 3. Chances are if you get in close enough to melee they' ll also get a melee in on you, so you should only do it if you' re losing the battle. I have a low percentage of melee kills compared to most people, yet I still get way more melee kills than get melee killed.

I just avoid melee battles in Halo 3. Chances are if you get in close enough to melee they' ll also get a melee in on you, so you should only do it if you' re losing the battle. I have a low percentage of melee kills compared to most people, yet I still get way more melee kills than get melee killed.

I have found that the style people lend towards in H3 is that you charge each other and then once you get down the shields you bash them, or you shoot them from afar and they can' t respond. If you live long enough by doing that you can get a power weapon, in which case you go to wherever on the map that is best for that weapon and pwn.

Now with COD4 everyone has the weapon that they want when they are playing and so you run around and kill people, I have also found that there is a higher possibility of turning the tides on someone who is behind you as there is cover all over the place and if you have a powerful gun and can aim well. I for one really prefer the ability to make a class so that you can have what you want in every match. I also find that the fast paced gameplay of COD4 suits my style better.