Broadcast
An obvious fit for this first map pack. The fight through the main room of the Middle-Eastern TV station had a very multiplayer feel even in campaign mode, and with the online game already reworking a few single-player environments it was actually a little surprising this didn’t turn up in the original release.
Thankfully though, we’ve got more than a simple rehash as reward for the wait. The famous room full of computer desks and cubicles is obviously the big draw. It provides just as good a sneak-and-shoot multiplayer experience as we’d always hoped it would, and its size can accommodate a vast number of players stalking around its furniture on bent knees trying to rack up the kills without being sprung. There’s also massive potential for grenade abuse and having your day completely ruined by a mean-spirited sniper on the upper floor. It’s a really fun and tense area that takes a lot of skill and a very methodical approach to get across unscathed, and we like it a lot. That said though, in practice it surprisingly didn’t turn out to be the main focus of map, at least in large-scale matches.
You see Infinity Ward have built up the location to take in a much-expanded area, both inside and outside the studio building. The rest of the interior has been heavily extended, with multiple corridors and rooms making up a deceptively winding network of branching paths over two floors. It’s the impression of safe linearity crashing violently into explosions of unexpected death and multi-directional ambush at every turn, and it absolutely forces you to work in small packs in Team Deathmatch. More than a few times our valiant Rambo runs went the way of Han Solo and the storm troopers as bottlenecks spewed up three or four enemy players, sending us laughing and shrieking back the way we came in a hail of bullets. Lots of fun indeed, and it seriously keeps you on your toes.
Outside, the grounds have been extended to a large car park on the curved edge of the main building, with a smaller camping house on the opposite side. Gas station-style awnings and climbable trucks make things a bit more interesting, and it’s this section of the map in particular that got the most action over the few hours we were playing. With the camping house on one side and the huge open windows and climbable rooftop of the studio on the other, the car park became the scene of many an epic turf war. It might only be a few tens of metres across, but that open stretch of hot concrete can seem an ocean wide when both teams decide they want to contest it.
All in all, two thumbs up for Broadcast.
