The Call of Duty sweeps Tyndall

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Anthony J. Hyatt
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall Air Force Base servicemembers have found a way to interact with one another outside of work without actually seeing each other in person.

A group of Airmen have been spending a majority of their off-duty time playing a game called "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," for the Xbox 360 gaming-console.

Call of Duty 4, also referred to as COD4, is a first-person shooter game released Nov. 9, 2007. COD4 is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty video game series, but the first one to transition away from the World War II setting.

"COD4 is a present-day game that deals with a fictional war between the U.S. and Europe against Russian Ultranationalists and Middle Eastern rebels," said Senior Airman Robert Schmidt, 325th Air Control Squadron pilot simulator technician. "You play as United States Marines and British Special Air Service Regiment troops."

The multiplayer mode in Call of Duty 4 includes a character class system that allows players to create custom infantry classes with numerous weapons and special equipment to assign to their soldier.

The game has a variety of weapons in several different categories such as assault rifles, pistols, submachine guns, light machine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles. As a player progresses through experience levels, he or she can unlock more weapons. Furthermore, when a player gets a certain number of kills for an individual weapon, they unlock certain upgrades to the weapon, such as red dot sights, silencers, under-barrel grenade launchers and scopes. All the available weapons used on Call of Duty 4 are accurate to those used in modern-day combat.

There are many different game modes on multiplayer: team death match, mercenary team death match, free-for-all, domination, search and destroy, headquarters, sabotage, hardcore team death match and hardcore search and destroy, old school free-for-all and old core.

One of the first things Airman 1st Class Christopher Tyminski, 325th ACS weapons technician, does when he gets off work is turn on his 360, sign on to Xbox LIVE, search for friends and start playing COD4.

"Bearski2787 (Airman Tyminksi's Xbox LIVE tag) has just signed on to Xbox LIVE," the Xbox 360 reads.

Xbox LIVE, an online-multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created by Microsoft Corporations, connects these Airmen together.

"The game is intense and it's so realistic," said Airman Tyminski. "I usually play five days a week, anywhere from one hour to five hours a session."

Ready to play, Bearski2787 sends party invites to other Airmen around the base and around the world.

"There are a few Airmen from my squadron and other squadrons around Tyndall that I play with," said Airman Tyminski. "Through LIVE, I am also able to play Call of Duty with my brother, who lives in Illinois, and other Airmen overseas."

Talking through headsets, each Airman can interact with one another as if they were holding a conversation in the same room or on the phone together.

Airman Schmidt and four other Airmen from the Air Control Squadron are in a group together called "SoCo." Being in a group shows other players online that they are a team. Their team is also comprised of family members spread across the United States and friends from back home.

Next door to the 325th ACS is the 81st Range Control Squadron, which also houses players of the game.

To compete against the ACS Airmen and other players around the world, Senior Airman Travis Eckenroth, 81st RCS weapons director technician instructor, also is part of a team, team "!." Airman Eckenroth's group is comprised of friends from Tyndall and friends from other military bases.

"The war that's going on in the game is similar to the war that we (United States) are fighting now," said Airman Eckenroth.

The two groups, "SoCo" and "!" have not yet battled against each other, but there is a great possibility in the near future according to Airman Tyminski.

"It's just a fun game to play when you get a bunch of your friends online," said the RCS Airman. "The real-life action in the game is unreal and just pulls you in."