It was a blissful day saturated with autumn’s bellowing frigid touch in the desolate niche of where I reside. Children’s laughter permeated the morning sky and junkies shuffled their feet resembling movements of a George A. Romero zombie flick. Everything seemed normal except, that on this day, one of the greatest games was released - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Like the loser that I am, I walked fiercely pushing and shoving anything and anyone that stood in my path as I went to Game World (my local video games shop) to claim what was rightfully mine. I looked like a recently released pedophile stalking the closest thing with a Winney The Pooh backpack and a Juicy Juice box. I finally approached my destination, with cash in hand, and asked for my copy of COD4. The gentlemen handed me my game, I walked out, and went back home.

When you first get a game you’ve anticipated for so long, your adrenaline goes through the roof. You’re so frantic and antsy that you forget about everything around you, almost. Interruption isn’t handled well in my patience department, so I make the needed phone calls and ask everyone to fuck off for the next day or so (including my girlfriend).

I pop-in the game, and start the single player campaign. It’s exactly what I expected: great graphics, great sound, great gameplay, great story (although a little short). Now, time for the multiplayer.

COD4’s multiplayer resembles that of Rainbow Six: Vegas and Halo 3 where you have an online system that allows a player to gradually evolve their ranks through accumulating points in matches. With each rank that you obtain, you unlock new perks and weapons in your arsenal. What I enjoyed most about this online experience was the the customization abilities that was given to the player to fully control the balance of battle. Some perks worked better than others, while other perks were just plain ridiculous and annoying (I’m talking to you “Martyrdom” and “Last Stand” whores).

For the first couple of weeks, the online system was pretty good. There were still some bugs and, of course, connections issues until Infinity Ward would address them with patches, and this is where my patience perceptibly began to thin.

I kick ass in COD4. Anyone on my friends list will tell you that. I’m pretty sure the lot of you reading this are doubting my godly skills and are subconsciously saying to yourselves that you can kick my ass to next Wednesday. Those of who have converted to the religion of Call of Dutyism (someone who plays the game vigorously and cries when they lose) are more than likely able to beat me senseless, but I will give you one helluva fight. I would, without a doubt, play you all and accept challenges, but the frustrating connection issues, hacks, etc. has pried me away from playing COD4 the way I used to.

Infinity Ward are, without a doubt, a bunch of great developers. No questioning that. But the issues that have been perpetually arising amongst players is the lack of support that Infinity Ward gives to the gaming community. The fact that they didn’t include any multiplayer achievements on the Xbox 360 version was surprising and very much a let down. The PS3 version, sadly, won’t see any trophies in the future, as per Infinity Ward. They apparently don’t want to waste any resources on a CURRENT game that people are playing constantly. You know, because it takes an entire team of developers to implement trophies/extra achievements.

The connection issues, however, is by far the most problematic thing that has affected the online experience. Routers have caused numerous conflicts when joining a friend - who might also have a router - in their room, or when inviting people from your friends list, and joining a match sometimes can take years. Many will debate and come to the conclusion that because it’s a peer-to-peer matchmaking system, routers will conflict with each other, or fanboys will taunt their console superiority and rabidly dictate that it’s the console that is causing such issues. This is not true. Other games offer the same peer-to-peer matchmaking system (Halo 3, GTA IV, etc.) with less problematic connection issues. “But they’re different games!” Um, of course they are. The issue isn’t the game itself. It’s in the network/matchmaking code that they created. The issue itself has more to do with lazy developers not taking time to pinpoint the problem and fix it. Slander me all you want, but it’s true.

Infinity Ward is an example of such laziness. “Yea, asshole, but they’re working on the next game that will revolutionize gaming as we know it” is going to be regurgitated constantly in the minds of many. Please don’t give me that bullshit. There are tons of other developers that continuously work on their next titles and still continue to support their games that people continue to play. Of course, once the game hits its life-span, then support should be omitted. But Infinity Ward has drastically lowered their standards when it comes to supporting COD4 from the very beginning.

I believe it’s only fair to offer gamers a chance to experience an online multiplayer system that’s consistent. We pay our hard earned money for it. The fact that a multi-platform game doesn’t give equal experience on different consoles is not only bullshit, but unjust. I own every next-gen console, so for me it’s not a problem, but when you offer shit like achievements for the 360 version and no trophies on the PS3 (even though its implementation was indeed a little tardy), you’re basically taking away from PS3 owners. When you’re aware that your matchmaking system has constant issues and you fail to do anything about it because your “working on your next title”, you’re showing your lack of consideration for your supporters. Infinity Ward, without a doubt, does create great single-player campaigns. But we’re in an era where the online experience is equal to, or far more important, than the single-player. We’re not developers so we can’t comment on distribution of resources when it comes to handling the online part of gaming. We, however, are gamers and we do know when we’re being treated unfairly when it comes to our games.

I’m not fully going to cease playing COD4, but the time that I used to devote to it is not longer going to be the same. I’ll stick to Halo 3 or Socom: Confrontation more often. If I do get on COD4, it’s because someone made the mistake of challenging me. By the way, Infinity Ward, Shipment should probably be slightly bigger. The map was designed for hobbits not men!