Call of Duty 4 (CoD 4) released new maps on Friday morning. I was actually out and about
buying an omelet for my son's birthday (hey, that is what he wanted, who am I to
complain) when I read the news that the maps should be out by 6:30 PST. When I
returned, delivered said omelet, I quickly fired up the 360 and downloaded the maps. Only
took about 15 minutes to get them and I quickly jumped into a Team Deathmatch game on
Broadcast. It was a great first experience with a good team. However, my experience
quickly declined from there.

I was a lowly 7 going into the weekend. I had played the beta alot but never jumped into
the full release multiplayer experience due to issues of time. Portal and other games took precedence. Since it was a double XP weekend with new maps I figured it was time to rank
up. However, the real reason was my students were constantly dogging me since I wasn't
playing and my ranking was low. Yes, it was peer pressure from teenagers.

Of the three maps I played this weekend, Chinatown frustrated me the most. Several of the
buildings can lead to a circular experience. I entered a building, ran up the stairs, went into
a room, ran down the stairs, and ended up where I started. Once I stopped running in
circles I started getting the layout of Chinatown. The map isn't very open and there are
definitely choke points you have to cross to get across the map. This map definitely favored
players who are skilled at hiding, quick shots, and anticipatory grenades. Of all the maps I
played, I had the least success on this map.

Broadcast is my favorite of the bunch. Indoor and outdoor settings with multiple levels
made for some great action. Lots of running and gunning. However, this is the one map
where I encountered the most votes to skip the map. All I can think is the snipers must
hate the map.

Crosscreek is a weird map. Lots of great places to hide but several that seem good, but
aren't. One of my students hid in the cave and continually killed everyone who dared
entere... time and time again. Even though we knew he was there, no one was able to
dislodge him. Luckily, he joined our party and team next game.

As the weekend progressed, my positive experience on Friday quickly degenerated into a
whine fest. My favorite quote Sunday night was one player asking "Is that a boy or a girl?".
The voices of the players got younger and younger, the singing increased, and my personal
peeve, the obviously grossly overweight, struggling for every breath of oxygen, player who
keeps their mic too close to their mouth as they huff and puff every life giving breath as the
weekend progressed. All I can figure is that the kids must have mowed their lawns and
other chores to coerce their parents to buy them the new maps. Parents! Don't give in so
easily!

At the end of the weekend, I leveled up to lvl 18 after a total of 6 hours 30 minutes of play.
Is that good or bad? I have no idea. All I know is that I can now play all the game types,
have enough guns, enough options, and I am sated.