Insert Coin #4The big fight! Halo 3 vs COD4

The other day I decided to jump back on to Call of Duty 4 after a fairly lengthy absence - I'm afraid a lot of my gaming time has been consumed with WoW. Anyways, I could go on about how my progress in WoW is coming along, so yeah I fired up COD4 and obviously went straight to the multiplayer. Both COD4 and Halo 3 came out at about the same time. Both games utilise the matchmaking system for their multiplayer, and it's their respective multiplayers which have made the games so popular, but which multiplayer is the best?

Now this may prove to be unfair, I am basing this on my time with COD4 recently and comparing that to what the Halo 3 multiplayer was like when I played it last, i.e. a few months back. Now both games have different style of multiplayer - Halo 3 is much pacier and it's not unnatural to jump about all the place like a loon. COD4 on the other hand is much slower and if someone sneaks up on you, you're practically boned. In that respect, COD4 is terribly unbalanced compared to Halo 3. At least with Halo 3 if someone starts shooting you, it's actually possible to turn around and kill them first if you are truly the better player. In COD4 you are rewarded for patience, maybe times I've seen on the KillCam my killer has set up shop round a corner and has simply been waiting for me to emerge and then sprays me with bullets = me dead, and not happy.

Both of them use the matchmaking system as I mentioned previously, but it seems a little redundant in COD4, I am quite a low rank as I haven't played much but it's pretty standard to playing in the same games with some very highly ranked players, often 30+ levels higher. Also when it comes to sorting the teams, they're not usually that balanced in my experience. Halo 3 multiplayer, on the other hand, if you jump into a ranked game at a certain level, then you will almost certainly play others at your own level, maybe some higher, some lower, but there's usually only a few levels in it. That way seems the best way to get better. That way you're playing people at your current level, and you can learn and improve, and then face the next level of players.
In COD4 leveling is performed by gaining experience as opposed to wins, or finishing in the top 3 as in Halo 3. That's a little flawed as given enough time I will be able to max out my level on COD4, it becomes a war of attrition, and not one of improving skill. I'm also not a fan of having to unlock game modes in the multiplayer. The idea of upgrades to your weapons and the global challenges that will earn you bonuses are rather cool goals to aim for.

Overall I think the kicker is the unbalanced matchmaking that ruins the COD4 multiplayer experience, and therefore I prefer the Halo 3 multiplayer. The Legendary map pack was released a short while ago, I won't be paying for it, I'll wait until it's made freely available, but to reinforce my argument, I'll obviously have to jump on Halo 3 and touch base with a game that received a lot of criticism, but I actually think it's an awesome and very solid game, the amount of achievements I have gained for Halo 3 probably proves how much I've played it.