I only managed to play a couple of those games in my steam account (since I used to use my PS3 console to play the online FPS' and so on). In this case, I have picked up two games to play with: Team Fortress 2 and Call of duty: Modern Warfare 2. And for this assignment, I have picked one of the maps that seemed to have stuck with me the most: Wasteland from Modern warfare 2.
Overview:
Wasteland is a large scale competitive map intentionally meant to be of open terrain with as few buildings and blockades for the player's line of sign when compared to some of the other maps.
The map is meant to represent a war field located somewhere around eastern Europe (possibly tied to Ukraine and Chernobyl), featuring trenches, downed helicopters, safehouses, destroyed tanks and so on to add to the image. Taking into account that the map is meant to tale place in an open field, the area is limited by the fences, trees, bushes and invisible walls that detract from the immersion but at the same time not by much as the player isnt meant to be trying to run away.
There is a sort of 'T' shaped division in the map, in the form of a wall of bushes, that basically divides the map into three, still large, zones. which can be traversed, either by going around it or using the tunnels in the trenches go underneath them.
The map features buildings in certain area just to add realism to the scenario or to provide players with a large cover when moving around. There are also some machine guns in some locations of the map, allowing the players to take advantage of them but also giving them the risk of getting themselves sniped by those in the area.
Gameplay.
The thing about this map, is that it's meant to encourage long ranged firing. Snipers are supposedly the go to class for most players, often times taking advantage of the long distances, lack of cover (relatively) and tall grass (specially if they wear the ghillie suits). From experience players either bunk down in the south or northern sides of the map, where they have the largest field of vision and usually play in two ways. Either for power sniping, I.E. one shot one kill, or covert sniping, which means silencer plus with 'radar invisibility' perks which means the player can survive longer by hiding and stealth shooting.
Alternatively, some players can take on a more commando approach on their assault, opting to gear themselves with assault rifles and moving around the field, using cover to get over to the snipers or those who are trying to traverse and sneak down the trenches, or utilizing shotguns to take advantage of the close quarters combat the ditches provide to one shot kill anyone that turns around the corner.
Summary
In conclusion, the Wasteland map is evidently designed with the sniping multiplayer in mind, with the use of tall grass for cover and the ample space for the players to get around, but at the same time, doesn't discourage them from using alternative builds. There are plenty of ways to avoid fire and to outsmart the other players. Using tunnels to make it to the other end of the walls or taking cover in the house to defend. It is slightly an interesting variation from the other maps that seem to have an emphasis to the run and gunning approach that seems to have been working for other players so far. It requires a bit more thinking, caution and patience (deathmatch games end because of running out of time, rather than score, when compared to other maps).
