BASH 44: CoD 4 Competition?

On the eve of the release of PAM4, the competition mod for Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, we thought it apropos to talk about competitive gaming. To this end, last week, I had the honor to host two CoD community greats on the BASH webcast.

Our topic?

The issue of competitive gaming in the Call of Duty 4 environment.

Our guests for this webcast were:

Nabore, Team Pandemic's superstar CoD4 captain and strat caller and ...

the creator of PAM, Uber-modder Garetjax.  

Infinity Ward, CoD4's developer, has made it well known that they are interested in servicing the active competitive tournament gamers that make up the hardcore CoD4 community.

CoD4 spokesperson fourzerotwo has consistently harped on the fact that IW desires to make CoD4 the premiere FPS game for tournaments.

Did IW realize this dream? Or is CoD4 a nightmare for tourney players? Listen in to this show and find out.

Both our guests have long competitive credentials. Garetjax was not only a player he also has sponsored teams in various gaming competitions. As a modder, Garetjax created PAM - the best tournament modification for CoD. PAM is now being converted for CoD4 by one of his contemporaries, Bulletworm. Garetjax has already made his presence felt in the CoD4 community by alerting IW of the "lean-glitch" in their stock game, prompting the CoD4 Dev to issue patch 1.2.

Joe Amorosa, aka "Nabore", from Team Pandemic plays on one of the best CoD2 teams on the planet: Team Pandemic. TP is now gearing up for CoD4 play and as their master strategist and captain, Joe has a lot of opinions on how competitive gaming in CoD4 should develop.

We caught Joe getting set to head to Dreamhack Winter '07 in Sweden, one of the biggest LAN's on the planet. Check out Team Pandemic's photo galleries of Dreamhack here . 

Here are the Show notes:

1. Introductions

2. The game has been out for a few weeks, what were your general reviews of the MP? Check out Joe's thoughts on CoD4 on the Team Pandemic site, here.

2.1 Gameplay

What is the difference between CoD4 gameplay and CoD2 (speed, weapon lethality...etc.)?

Is there anything you found difficult to adapt to, in regards to CoD4 gameplay that you had not seen before (the martyrdom perk for example...?).

a) Weapons

Did you find the weapons had a good feel to them?
What weapons did you find yourself using most? In what situations would you use them?

b) What custom classes did you find most suited your style?

Perk+Weapon combinations

c) The problem with sniper rifles in CoD4.

*NOTE* Literally minutes afer the interview, IW came out with the statement that the Sniper rifles are broken and should be fixed at patch 1.3.

3. Is CoD4 suitable for tournament style gaming?

Tournament gamers are looking for tactical, purposeful gaming, can CoD4 deliver? Can the game be used stock, as is, albeit with a PAM-like interface?

3.1 The gametypes

Did you find any of the gametypes fun? What did you find yourself playing most? Of all the gametypes which is most suitable for tournament play?

Will 5v5 S&D dominate (pardon the pun)? What about Domination, HQ? Sabotage?

3.2 Tactics vs. Fragging

It's such a fast paced game Is there any room for tactics in this game?

3.3 Do the Airstrikes and Chopper Attacks have any place in tournament play?

3.4 The Maps

a) General opinion on the CoD4 maps.
b) Were there any that you liked or caught your attention?
c) What would be best for tourney play? (my picks shown below with an x)

Ambush
Backlot
Bloc
Bog
Countdown
xCrash
xCrossfire
xDistrict
Downpour
xOvergrown
xPipeline
Shipment
Strike
Showdown
Vacant
Wet Work

4. Wish list for tournament play

CLASSES:

No special classes. The starting Cod4 classes should be used: Assault, Special Ops, Light Machine Gunner, Demolitions, and Sniper.

PERKS:

No additional perks other than what those classes come with should be allowed.

HEALTH BAR:

The health bar, not regen should be instituted.

In GAME ROBOTS:

No choppers or airstrikes.
The exploding cars should not be as, um, explosive. Turn down their blast radius.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

HUD should show only friendlies, no enemy players - not even a blip when they shoot. No UAV's, nuthin. Just ur ears. Oh and the score of  the half of course.

No aiming down sights when jumping.

Euros and North American players clash over the wishlist.

5. Predictions for tournament gaming and CoD4.

Will it replace CS as the #1 serious FPS game for tournaments?