Gearheads of War

Graphics: Awesome. Very, very good although it definitely can (and will) improve as some of the final polish has yet to be added. And, this is multiplayer so I can only imagine how sweet the single player will look. But, definitely one of the best looking games out there- period.

Friend Finding-Lobby: Terrible. OBVIOUSLY this is a Beta, but thus far of the 2 1/2 hours I spent actually in game, another 30 minutes at least can be attributed to either waiting for a friend to join a match, getting kicked from a lobby randomly, or staring at a "Downloading Game Content" screen that I'm sure many of us have seen. That's just from today. Compared to the Beta state of Halo 3, COD 4 has a ways to go in terms of how easy it is to join a friends game and stay there. While I'm sure this will be fixed shortly, this is a huge annoyance and frustration while playing.

Feel/Control: This is one fast paced mother. I ended up turning up the sensitivity to help me clear corners and rooms more quickly and as a result am very dizy. :) Not really, but it does put your eyes to work when all those frames are running around at 60 FPS. Awesome. But, back to the feel of the game- As I said the game is very fast paced and will keep you on your feet throughout. Never blink and you should be fine ;)A part from being very fast the controller layout is very solid and easy to get use to. I like it. A lot.

Complaints: While I sometimes complain about how you can pick off other people's kills in Halo by waiting for someone to deplete their sheilds, COD gives me another minor problem. Ultimately, it's who sees who first. If you turn a corner, there really isn't any time at all to do anything defensive, or even run back and regroup. After 3 or maybe 4 hits your dead (rough estimate) and that means when someone has a M16...good luck if they spotted you first. In this way, COD sometimes feels like your ordinary shooting game...with real-life graphics.

Praise: However, something that really helps keep the game fresh from the first shot, first win feel are the upgrade options. All weapons can be upgraded by leveling up your character. (getting lots of kills) Also, in the actual game by getting 3 kills in a row you can see all the enemies on your radar and if you get 5 kills you can call in a Carpet Bomb strike. Awesome!!! It is fun and easy to use and better than "Killtacular" or whatever 5 kills in a row gets you in Halo.

The Halo-COD comparison...I'm thinking after some more time with the Beta posting a "The Battle of the Beta's" to spur discussion in a responsible and loving way ;)

Last thoughts: COD 4 will have a following. From listening to various players talk about it in game to showing some friends in my room, the game's got potential. It is very fun and while very hardcore, a must for any 360 owner. But that's just from the Beta....I give it 4 and a half Sweet Tea's out of 5. (I'm really assuming the connection problems will get fixed shortly.)

I love it

Alright, your turn GearHeads- how do you like COD4?