Xbox Gaming in South Africa

If you didn't catch the first part of our Call of Duty 5 Beta impressions, then head over and read SeV3R 7's article. It's my turn now, and I will be giving my impressions on the gameplay as a whole. I've had three good sessions spanning around 6 or so hours of gameplay to base my impression on.

I actually dreaded the thought of going back to World War 2 after Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I've grown accustomed to my red-dot sight, along with high-powered assault rifles, and nifty electronic gadgets and weapons. But Treyarch promised something new by focusing on the Pacific conflict and that this Call of Duty will be more realistic. Like every other game in the past has promised, this marketing speach doesn't say much. So what else are they enticing us with? Well, 4 player co-op is probably the biggest attraction for me. But isn't co-op basically standard practice now? If a game doesn't come out with some kind of online co-op, the developers should be taken outside and shot. Ok, so COD5 isn't bringing anything uniquely new to the genre, so what they're left with, is making sure they stay true to the success of COD4, and bring us the same fun, action-packed, war game. After spending a good deal of time trying out the multiplayer in COD5, I've come out with rather mixed feelings.

At first you'll find the weapons a bit archaic, but soon enough, you will unlock guns such as the Thompson and especially the MP40, which are powerfull and deadly. You do have to watch your ammo though, which changes your tactics, and makes you less trigger happy (there is a perk to double your ammo though). The maps are detailed and sized well, but do tend to please the 'camping' community, rather than run 'n gun. The addition of vehicles does liven things up, however, at this point the tank is too powerfull and takes too many rockets to take it down. Hopefully this will be fixed.

So, why did I come out with mixed feelings? Well, it's something I picked up throughout my gameplay experience. You get this feeling that Treyarch were given the COD4 code in pieces, and left to put it back together themselves. Unfortunately, after putting everything together, they still had 2 odd looking screws that someone just swept under the mat thinking it won't effect anything. It comes out in the small things, such as animations, sound effects and bodies hanging through walls. They don't seem to be polished, and almost rushed. Don't get me wrong, I know it's a beta and things will be fixed (like the terrible respawning), but there's only so much they can do in the short amount of time before the game must go into production.

The multiplayer beta has been fun, and I don't deny they've done a good job. I just don't think they've done anything amazing. From playing the singleplayer side, the co-op is going to be great fun, and this is a definite buy just for that alone. But I don't think it will have the depth in the multiplayer side of things to take it as far as Call of Duty 4. Treyarch still have time, albeit not much, so lets hope they spend it on the multiplayer side so it comes out to meet everyones hopes as the next COD champion.