Craving New Maps?
.
April 21, 2010 • Matthew Graves, Staff Writer
Filed under Student Life
As one of many gamers I was so excited for the new release of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Stimulus Package. Finally a change of pace from the old boring maps. Senior Michael Thomas said, “I don’t know if it is worth $15, but it is good to have variation. The same old maps get boring and its good to offer more variation.” There are five maps being released, three of which are new, two are from the original.
The first new map is Storm and features a large complex in the middle surrounded by two buildings. It’s raining with some lightning flashing occasionally. The map offers a lot of close quarters combat, but if you stick to the outside of the map you can find good long distance combat.
Next is Bailout, which offers some serious urban combat. There’s a lot of room-to-room combat and if you can take the upper floors you can pin the enemy with the high ground. It has a huge open center which almost becomes a no mans land with the lack of cover.
Finally there is Salvage. Basically a small snowy junk yard with only three ways to cross to the other side, in Salvage there is little room for mistake as the middle is highly contested so that one side can gain the upper hand.
Activision also brought back two old favorites with Overgrown and Crash. Overgrown is a classic sniper map with lots of open terrain to conceal yourself, but also a few buildings for cover. It has a huge drained riverbed and a lot of foliage.
Last but certainly not least, Crash. Similar to the chopper crash site in the movie Black Hawk Down there is plenty of urban combat here. There are plenty of choke points where it’s difficult to escape if you get trapped in an alley. It was a favorite in Call of Duty 4 and it’s great to bring back classics.
A lot of gamers are having trouble with the price tag though, $15 (1200 Microsoft points) for three new maps and two old ones? Traditionally they have been a much more acceptable $5-10. Crunch Gear’s Matt Burns says, “This is crap. Pure and simple crap. Modern Warfare 2’s upcoming map pack is going to cost 15 freaking dollars for five maps!!” A lot of gamers are complaining about the price change from what they were comfortable to. But Infinity Ward knows that hardcore gamers like myself will buy it regardless of price because we play the game so much. Junior Travis Cowan said, “It’s a cure from mapathy. I think storm and salvage are not that great, but Crash and Overgrown are amazing and they got Bailout perfectly. I think the price was a bit much but I am addicted so I am willing to pay for it.”
Mapathy was a term coined by Infinity Ward’s advertisement of the Stimulus Package. They claimed it was a way for gamers break out of the boring old maps and finally play new ones. There are some who don’t feel they need the new maps. Junior John Peatross said he wouldn’t buy it because, “the game is still entertaining enough in its mechanics that the maps aren’t a big influence.” Others like Senior Jack Smith and Senior Charlie Gill feel that they don’t play the game enough to feel the need to spend that much money on it. Gill said, “I simply don’t play the game enough to buy the addition.” Smith said, “It’s not worth $15 for something I only occasionally play.”
The maps are worth it if you will play it every weekend. If you’re only a casual gamer it’s probably not worth it. Infinity Ward can get away with the price because of their fan base. There are simply too many people that religiously play the game. Unfortunately for the casual gamer eventually to play online you must buy the maps. This might stop a lot of people from playing. But enough people will buy it that Infinity Ward won’t suffer from it.
Loading ...
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!