For those of you (us) who have been playing the amazing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare since it came out November (2007), you can now delight in the fact that four new multiplayer maps are imminent.

Maybe you've already achieved prestige status in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (COD4), or have otherwise played the thing to death, but odds are you play it still, faithfully, voraciously. For nutjobs like you, and for the less nutty faithful too, Activision is about to release the Variety Map Pack offering both indoor and outdoor multiplayer mayhem.

For Xbox 360 players, 800 Microsoft points will score you the map pack via Xbox Live Marketplace this April. Feel smug about it, too, as it's to be an Xbox 360 exclusive for a whole 21 days, after which, presumably, the pack will be available for the PlayStation3 and Windows PC version as well (not officially announced).

Speaking of the PlayStation3 version, there's now a patch for COD4 available. Woo!

If you haven't bought the 360 version yet, Activision will also be releasing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition in April, which will include the Variety Map Pack (via download token) for free.

Anyway, here's the breakdown on the new maps:

Broadcast
If you've played through the single player campaign then this one will seem familiar; it's like the mission where you're chasing down the single-player game's main villain at his TV station. A cool feature here is the floor-to-floor combat with outdoor areas and lots of places to camp and snipe on the roof and on the bottom floors and bring on the hate (sniper, you know who you are). Looks like it'll rock for ground war mode.
Creek
Think the "overgrown" map except with more woods and a village. Add an underground cave, a ravine, and lots of cover in houses and you got a great mode for hiding in natural foliage, behind rocks and in abandoned buildings. Looks especially conducive for sporting that wacky Chewbacca camouflage. Looks good for ground war or domination.
Chinatown
Kickin' it old school, this map is a remake of an old Call of Duty map called Carentan. Not sure which Chinatown this new map is supposed to be based on. but it's at night, it's foggy, and there are lots of lanterns, open streets, connected roads, courtyards, antique shops and markets. This one looks like it'll work for just about any mode as it's really well designed.
Killhouse
The name says it all. Imagine the close-quarters of the current warehouse level except with plywood structures, mock-ups and speed-run courses used for training; a map that can work great for small team games and free-for-alls because of the soft- and hard cover spots throughout.

All in all, these four maps look to add more legs to a game that has already exceeded requisite expectations, adding a bit of longevity (though something like 10 new maps would have been a real wowser) to a game that's not going to quit without them, so a nice bonus. Also a pretty good supplement reason for the uninitiated to grab that forthcoming Game of the Year Edition for Xbox 360 -- or four additional places to get your butt handed to you, at least.
 
 

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