Call of Duty 4 Online Multiplayer is Big Fun.

The Abstract Exponent has been playing it for months and is not tired of it. The missions comprise a very unrealistic, glorified corridor shooter, but we can’t stop thinking of new ways to surprise the hell out of other players in Hardcore Team Deathmatch.

What are the top ten reasons we can’t get enough?

10. Air Support

Finally, a game where we don’t have to pilot the vehicles ourselves. Call of Duty 4 makes you focus on the ground. Thin walled buildings, rubble, the thunder of the jets, the shaking of the ground, the sound of the helicopter 20mm full auto, the sense of being hunted, it’s a thrilling game experience. Watching the enemy get taken down while you hide in a corner waiting for them is the perfect reward for consecutive kills.

9. Latency is Handled Well

Some days, it feels like you can just never get the jump on somebody. Fortunately, it’s never so bad that you don’t want to play the game. A lot of games get glitchy when two players see each other at the same time, but COD4 manages to remain fluid. Most of the time.

8. Smart Controls

The zoom, grenade, air support, special weapon select, and standing controls are right there where you need them. It isn’t perfect(when do you need infared? why can’t I give a hand signal?) but it feels natural.

7. Shooting through walls

A whole new dimension of fun. You’re never quite safe from the Deep Impact Perk.

6. Map System

It’s easy to get to, it shows you what you need to know. You can choose to play with it all of the time or as if it’s a luxury. Keep track of where your guys are and you’ll have a big clue to where the other guys are. And it doesn’t make you feel like you’re a cyborg.

5. Gait

In most FPS games, you pretty much hover around the battlefield. Halo and Team Fortress just don’t go all the way to make you feel like you are The First Person. Fact is, when you look like or cartoon and/or jump like you’re in low g all, it isn’t going to tune into your instincts the same way. For some reason, Call of Duty 4 makes me tired after I run for fifteen seconds with my M60. Almost.

4. Battlefield Feel

Maps are around normal buildings and normal streets. Or how they would look after the recent aerial bombardment. Sure, you are limited by the usual cheap tricks on four sides(fences that can’t be jumped, barbed wire, doors that don’t open), each of the maps force you to concentrate on irregular chokepoints. Consequent airstrikes and grenades never seem to degrade the mostly adobe environments further, and bullet holes disappear, but when things start exploding and bullets are coming through the walls, you’ll feel like you’re there.

3. Gun Recoil

They somehow got the recoil in this game to make it feel like you really might lose control of the gun. Just try the AK-47, your fourth shot out on full auto will be going into the ceiling. Same with the Uzi and the M60. The HPK, P90 M4 and G36, however, are your friends.

2. Class System

The possibilities seem endless. Changing to a different class to react to the enemies game plan can be very effective. Any custom class can carry mines, two different guns, and get one other perk, like long running, steady aim, or dead silence. Dead silence. Perfect. Listening for the sounds of other soldiers usually works in this game, so the first time you get melee’d by someone who didn’t make any noise noise at all, you won’t forget it.

1. A Thinking Game

There are plenty of players who just want run gung ho into any situation and play the Mercenary Team Deathmatch so that they can take more bullet damage, but in games types like Hardcore Team Death Match and Sabotage, everyone seems to have learned that you aren’t going to make it far just running around corners. Every map is filled with choke points and open areas that are well known kill zones. The number of camping spots is just right and doing unexpected things like standing on desks in corners or laying down on top of trucks can give you the element of surprise. You’ve got to know when it’s best to set up an ambush with claymores or if it’s time to use your stun grenade/noob tube combo in an assault. A smoke grenade will get you around snipers and there are some maps you really want a gun that can shoot through walls. If you use a silencer with the UAV jammer, you’ll get hit with a lot fewer air strikes, but you better hold down the trigger when you have them in your sights. The big question is whether to wait in your glitch ambush spot overlooking the entire map or to press the attack because you [think you] know exactly where they are. If you get to play some of the best because of some freak Xbox Live mismatch, you won’t have any idea where those bullets came from. That’s because they is smart. Probably actual Marines and shit.