To tube or not to tube… that is the question.
Ok, I gotta vent a little bit. This might have already been covered. If so just ignore it.
I got hooked on COD4 when my oldest son bought it. Needless to say he owned me from the get-go. I sucked….which is a HUGE under statement.
When he bought the game, I bought him xbox live and created the SpinalTrauma id. He played online for a little bit then moved on.
I started playing it online and loved it. However, for months on end my kill-to-death ratio was like .40 Normal score for me was around 2-10 or so. Just terrible. All my friends who played seemed to make a big deal out of this kill-to-death ratio to. I just figured as I got better it would go up.
I like the death matches the most and then found my home in hardcore death matches. Through a lot of persistence I got my kill-to-death ratio up to 1.16 or around there. I got another Xbox live account and started my own id which is BloodLossTrauma. My k2d ratio is around 1.20
I play the hardcore matches because I just didn’t like shooting a guy 6 times on regular mode and him not dying. Didn’t seem too realistic (like I’d know what realistic was).
I have developed certain play builds for specific maps. I snipe on ambush, use a stealth build with UAV jammer and silencers on overgrown.
And I double noob-tube starting out on bog, wetworks, and showdown.
Now, is tubing wrong? Seems I get railed on quite a bit for doing it. Somewhere down the line in the online world of COD4 it was deemed ok to:
- Hide in the bushes and snipe someone across the screen.
- Chunk random grenades an kill people on countdown and wetworks
- Spawn kill
- Camp
- Set claymores (like that takes any type of a skill what so ever).
Yet, if you break out the noob-tube you get railed on. Why?
I guess why I’m pissed is that my other son plays on my account from time to time. He uses my builds and strategies. However, he favors the use of the heavy machine gun.
While he was playing yesterday he was invited to a clan try out. He joined and was playing Bog and started off noob-tubing. He immediately got a message saying he wasn’t’ going to be allowed in the clan because he uses a noob-tube.
So far from my own experiences it seems that if I’m on the winning team and noob-tubing that only the losing team complains.
I’ve tried to listen to arguments against the use of the tube and I have yet to hear anything that suggests its use is wrong.
COD4 is a strategy game. I used the tools provided in the GAME to give me what ever edge that is needed to win.
One of the biggest complaints I hear on a daily basis is CAMPING. I don’t ever complain about the other team camping because it’s a strategy that works. It’s called Modern Warfare not the Civil War. We don’t march in single lines down the field any more to get shot. Plus, we all camp from time to time.
I’ve just developed techniques to get around campers. You want to camp out in back room in Vacant. Go ahead, I’ll get in there with noob-tube build. Works for me.
I was playing a game on CountDown about a month ago where the kill leader on the other team was using a G3 with a moded controller. I joined in late and we were really way behind so I started tubing. In the end we won.. my score was around 24-5 and the kill leader on the other team was just about the same.
In the lobby he launched in to a tirade that all his kills were with a G3 and mine was with the noob-tube. That I need my balls cut off .. etc..etc..etc..
Bottom line was he lost. When I play and lose I lose. I don’t complain about someone camping or shooting me with a deagle, g3, g36, rpg or just plain ol’ knifing me.
IT’S A GAME! If Infinity Ward deemed tubes gave an unfair advantage they would have patched it.
If someone wants to argue that it’s the skill factor then that’s a mute point. Setting claymores take no skill, throwing grenades rank about .05 on the skill factor (yes throwing them sometimes takes skill). As for the tube, I can hit a sniper set up on the far end of District before he can take me out. So, there is some skill involved on aiming it.
So for the folks who ‘think’ they are too good or skillful for the tube .. no one is forcing you to use it. Complaining about others who use just shows you don’t know how to strategy and use a counter offensive against those who do.
For us folks who know how to use it… we are force to be reckoned with.
As for the clan who frowns upon noob-tubes… your loss.
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Call of Duty 4 – Part 3 PKs
With the good there is the bad. PKs (player killers) are a bane to the online world. It never fails, that one out of three COD4 games you enter will have a player killer on it. He/She will do there best to kill you while you are trying to kill the enemy.
I was first introduced to PKers when I was playing Ultima Online. I stared playing Ultima a few years after it was out and had no clue about online play. Seems the goal was to make money and then try to move up, buy a house, etc.
One of my first tasks was to escort a NPC (computer player) to another town. I protected this NPC with my life. I warded off bears, wolves, and the such with my trusty bow and arrow.
As we made it to just outside the town gate another online player comes out of the bushes and kills my NPC. I fail at my quest and most importantly I could do nothing about this. The shard (world in Ultima) I was on wouldn’t allow me to attack this fiend or him to attack me. Yet everything else was free game.
Eventually, Ultima opened up a PK shard so you could fight each other. However, I lost my interest in the game.
I started playing Diablo II and they fixed up a system where you had to declare your hostilities toward another player before you can attack them. You could only do this in town. This gave the other player time to exit the game before he was killed.
However, Call of Duty 4 brought the whole PKer issue into a new light for me. I played COD4 online for a while before I ran into my first PKer. I was fascinated by the game because two teams of six would try to dominate the opposing team. Our team spawns and take off to our strategic destinations and *BOOM*!
Seems a PKer in our rank decided to RPG (rocket propelled grenade) the whole team from behind.
We’ve all been there … 6 kill streak about to get our heli when a PKer hits you with C4.
Granted, there are modes in the game where friendly fire will not hurt you. However, I like the hardcore game mode because it’s seems more realistic (like I know real warfare).
The under lying question is why do PKers exist?
Why kill your team? Why not quit and join a different game or play cage match?
I have been involved in my own PK episode too. However, it hasn’t been against a whole team.
My PK experience was simple… I dominated a moron on the BOG map with my noobtube (that is another article in itself). At the menu before the next game started he was talking a lot of shit to me. I talked back of course. However, he started on my team and when we spawned he killed me. Then we took turns through the whole game killing each other.
The other times I did my share of PKing was when I would spot a member on our team killing our people. Then, I’d take him out.
However, I must say 99% of the pking is done at random by senseless morons. The only ‘reasoning’ I can place behind this thinking is they are tired of the game.
Some people when they grow bored of game will do and try just about anything in the game itself before they quit playing it. I’m not sure this why they do it…but it’s the only rational reason I can think of.
One other possibility might be some type of deep underlying psychosis in real life that they try to migrate to their online persona. Who knows for sure? At least Infinity Ward has a slight punishment for PKing. Your spawn time grows longer each time you do it. To me, if you reach -25 in score which is equivalent to killing 2.5 people then you should be booted from the round.
But that’s just me.
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Call of Duty 4 – Part 2: Online Play
Online Play
The online (xbox live) multiplayer aspect of COD4 is by far the best I’ve encountered. The realism (like I would know what combat realism looked like anyway) is the best I’ve seen. In my personal opinion I think the squad based groups where teams actually fight each other is most fun. On most occasions a team that consists of 6 people from around the globe will work as a team to eliminate the enemy team. Working as a unit and protecting each other and at passing off voice commands to warn soldiers of sneak attacks.
I can only really comment about the HardCore Team Death match because that is the game I play the most. The matches last 10 minutes or who ever reach 750 points first. A death of the opposing team is 10 points. You can earn 2 points if you wound an opposing player and a team mate finishes him off.
Everyone spawns at the same place and at the start of a match. As the game progresses the spawn points will move around the map.
There are 16 multiplayer maps that are extremely detailed and has multiple strategy that can be applied.
In addition to hardcore team death match there is sabotage, ground war, free-for-all, and quite a few others to mix up game play quite a bit.
Where hardcore differs from the rest of the game types is your HUD is removed so you can’t tell where other enemy players are. Damage from gun fire is also greatly increased. So, you don’t have to shoot someone 20 times before they die.
Also, there is a bonus map pack that can be downloaded from Xbox Live that adds four additional maps. The new bonus maps are also included in the game of year edition of COD4.
I will lay out part of my strategy for each map in future articles’. I also plan an in-depth article over PKs (player killers). It is a bane in every online multiplayer game and in COD4 is terrible.
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Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 4 : Xbox 360 version
Call of Duty 4 is a robust FPS set in the modern time. Unlike its processors which was set in the World Wars. I’ve played a lot of FPS in my time; all the Halos, Turoks, Bonds, Unreals, and I must say COD4 is the best FPS game I’ve ever played. The graphics are great and the game play is very smooth.
There are pretty much two aspects of the game, multiplayer or story mode. I completed story mode and was pleased with the game play. However, the multiplayer game play is by far the best. There are numerous games available on xbox live: hardcore, free for all, domination, sabotage, the number of games you can play on line far out weighs single player mode.
(Single Player) You start out with a team or teammate and they set you with the equipment you will need to finish a level. The game sets goals and time limits to reach specific destinations. There is a plot but while playing the game I really didn’t care what it was.
(Multiplayer) Like all other FPS it’s yourself or you can team up against another person or team and battle to a predefine time or point limit. The game is military based so the teams are comprised of marines, terrorist, etc.
However, I will write further articles that cover different aspects of the game because one article will not cover it.
So overall, what makes this game so good:
- Graphics supported is up to 1080i (this is the mode I play in). Very little lag and no distortion at all. Beautiful soundings and in-depth visuals and graphics.
- You can shoot through walls and change up your environment. Set fires to cars that will blow up later.
- Massive online multiplayer system
- Realistic rag doll effects, shooting someone in the head will splatter blood on the wall, etc.
- Down loadable content available.
- You can custom build classes to suit you game play style. (Multiplayer only).
My next article will cover mostly the multiplayer aspect of the game. Since, that is by far my most favorite aspect.
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