I’ve been playing the Call of Duty 4 Beta on the Xbox 360 for a few days now. The embargo has just been lifted, so I’m now able to tell you about all it. Maybe it’s the fact that all the crazy a$$hole kids aren’t playing yet, but I’ve been having a great time.

The beta has four game modes: Team Deathmatch, Free-For-All, Team Objective and Team Tactical. The first three game types support up to 12 players, with Team Tactical supporting supporting 4 or 6 players. In all of the game modes, you’re awarded points for each kill, and matches end either after a set period of time or a set number of points is reached. I’m having the most fun in Team Deathmatch, and it seems like everyone else is as well, as the majority of players have been focused in that area. Team Objective is fun for capture the flag style games as well.

The game will feature an online leveling system, similar to what exists in Rainbow Six: Vegas. With each increase in rank comes new weapons, upgrades, or abilities you can use online. The beta is capped at a maximum level of 11 and no max has been revealed for the retail version of the game as of yet. Rumor has it that most of the coolest weapons and upgrades come after level 20.

The beta has 3 maps, each varying in their size and complexity. The smaller maps are great for fast paced deathmatch. I played a few Team Deathmatch rounds on larger maps where everyone was clumped in one area. If you spawned somewhere else, you had a lot of walking to do. I’m sure these maps will be used for bigger games when the retail version ships.

Overall, I think the multiplayer portion of the game is already very polished as I haven’t really seen many bugs. I like this much better than previous Call of Duty games because of the modern setting, since I’m very sick of World War II games. If you don’t make it into the beta, rest assured you’ll have a great time playing this game online once it ships later this year.