Monday 17 September 2007

Why I Love Public Beta Tests

For the last five days, I've been playing the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer beta on my Xbox 360. The day it was released, I said that I'd write some impressions up at some point. And I have been meaning to do that ever since I first played it, but, to be honest, I'd rather be playing it than writing about it. Whenever I want to write something about it, I just find some time to squeeze in one more game...

The beta for COD4 has been out in America for some time now. It's been here in the UK for almost a week, too, and I feel like there's not much else to write about. Yes, it's the best multiplayer FPS I've ever played. It truly feels like a new Counterstrike game and not just a cheap sequel. The best thing about it, for me, is that it hasn't made Call of Duty 3 obsolete. They're two very different games and I guess it just reinforces what a fantastic multiplayer experience COD3 was, and still is. I can't wait for the full release in November. I'll definitely be picking it up at midnight on release day, even though I'll have the the THAT other FPS by then.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Public Beta tests. They're great! I've been involved in three on my 360 and they're, without a doubt, the best downloads I've had from the Xbox Live marketplace. You see, they're more than demos. You actually feel like you're helping and achieving something by playing them. You only have to look at the changes made to Lost Planet, after the public beta became the most downloading thing on the marketplace, at that time. Using feedback from the public domain, Capcom made some very important changes to the multiplayer portion of the game before release, helping it become a better experience for everyone.

And I surely don't need to mention the Halo 3 Beta. You even got a free copy of Crackdown with it. :-p

And the Call of Duty 4 Beta. I was pretty sure that I was going to buy it before. As I've said LOADS of times, I loved Call of Duty 3 multiplayer. And Call of Duty 2 had a fantastic single player. But I was also 100% buying Halo 3 on release. Call of Duty 4 could have waited seeing as I would be playing the most anticipated FPS of the year. But, seriously, I'm just as excited about COD4, now. The multiplayer is IMMENSE. Sure, there are a few hiccups, but that's the point of a beta. The stages are genius, the leveling up system is the best thing since Halo 2's matchmaking, it has party systems in place, the weapons are BRUTAL and there's a million more things I could say.

But instead, I'm gonna go and play it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's just a bloody shame that me and Beal can NEVER seem to get the "invite" option to work without it resulting in "host not found" or something similar!

Bibamatt said...

Argh, we got a game going eventually, mind! I'm gutted that you can't carry your profile over to the full game when you buy it. You have to start from scratch! I reckon I'll fly up the levels, though. It's only taken four or five days to get to level 16 on the beta...