Why do I suck at multiplayer arghh

[aislephive]

I'm a pretty decent at the single player modes in FPS games, probably about average or a little better. I've beaten several FPS games for 360 on typically the normal difficulty setting, never less but occasionally harder. For some reason, in every game I get my ass handed to me in multiplayer. Halo 3, Gears of War, Call of Duty 4, etc. I just get smoked. I get killed twice as much as I kill others, if not more.

Most recently I've been playing COD4. Loved the single player mode, tons of fun, although I beat it on normal in probably 6-7 hours and didn't really find any part very difficult. I'm going to eventually replay it on the harder difficulties, but meanwhile I've been playing multiplayer and getting owned. It feels like I get killed every ten seconds, almost always being blind sided by somebody. I've been playing mostly team deathmatch, and I like that the games seem pretty fair for the most part as far as matchmaking goes. Despite me sucking, my team has managed to win a fair amount more than I've lost. Still, it frustrates me so much to be killed so often and takes the fun out of the game. I'll have good rounds where I end up killing quite a few people, and it's a lot of fun when that happens but it's pretty rare. Usually I'm the one with the least points at the end of the match and way too many deaths.

Part of the problem lays in that usually I have no idea what's going on. When I play it careful I end up getting flanked by somebody who doesn't show up on my radar, or if that doesn't happen I just end up not being able to find anybody to kill and eventually somebody finds me and kills me. When this happens I try to be more aggressive and hunt people down, which almost always results in getting mowed down by somebody I can't see. Even when I do manage to find an opponent across from me I usually am on the short end of the stick, although I can hold my own I guess. It's mostly the people who manage to pick me off from a million different locations that usually kills me.

I really just suck at multiplayer in pretty much all FPS games, I don't really know why, but it's pissing me off. If somebody can teach me how to hold my own in multiplayer first person shooter games I'll teach you how to be good at poker. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[nutsflopper]

fast paced aggressiveness, constant radar monitoring, map awareness, gun choice/range management. ship the poker coaching.

[Dire]

I went from a pretty mediocre to an decentish (level ~35) Halo 3 player. Biggest thing outside of the fundamentals (aim/predicting where a target is going to move to while aiming at them), was the maps. Learn them, memorize them. Watch videos of good players and follow the same paths they follow on the maps, and see why they follow them.

It sounds so simple but the biggest thing you really have to focus on is making sure your enemies are always in front of you, and your allies / 'safe' territory are behind you. Serious, once you get that down - you will be miles ahead of an average player. You'll be the one ambushing people left and right and rarely finding yourself suprised or confused about where you're being attacked from.

A good example might be the level Isolation on Halo 3. You'll always see bad players randomly scurrying about the top just trying to find somebody to shoot. The good players will always be up on the conrete slab looking down at everybody with their back protected, or coming up/around the sides unless they already have an isolated target and are going straight for him.

[Low Key]

Map awareness is pretty hawt.. I recall from my CS playing days that, you could always tell when someone was unfamiliar with a map. They'd walk right past you hiding in a little nook, just waiting to mow them down, listening to their foot steps. Mmm.. fun times.

Just remember, some of the people who are killing you may do nothing except play that particular game all day. Food for thought. Or just something positive to think after you've done something horrendously thick and you need to feel a bit better about yourself as a human being.

[reo]

I agree that learning the map is key. However, beating the game on a higher difficulty will also make you a better player in my opinion. I think you'll be a lot more quicker with the trigger. Accuracy and getting the first shot typically results in the win (kill).

[Wondercall]

OP,

You probably just don't play enough, which is a good thing.

[g-bebe]

[ QUOTE ]
fast paced aggressiveness, constant radar monitoring, map awareness, gun choice/range management. ship the poker coaching.

[/ QUOTE ]

[aislephive]

Thanks for the responses, I even got a few PMs as well, thanks again.

I seem to be getting a little better, I was a level 8 or so on COD4 when I wrote this post and was using the MP5 and red dot scope, which worked alright but the recoil was a bit much for me and I missed easy kills too often. Unfortunately I really had no alternatives at that point, not enough guns to choose from. Today I was researching the best guns in the game, and of course a million people had different opinions, but quite a few mentioned the M4 as a good gun to use because of it's little recoil, which is exactly what I was looking for. I started getting more kills but it was tough aiming without a scope. I just unlocked the red dot scope and the first match I was neck and neck with some guy on Free For All for most points. Unfortunately he edged me out. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I happened to face a lot of people who had lower ranks that time though so I supposed I lucked out there.

I still get killed way too much though, but it's almost always people who I have no idea are there until it's too late. I like COD4, but I think these maps are way too small for this amount of players. I just feel like the only way I can avoid dying is to have eyes in the back (and for that matter, the sides as well) of my head.

I suppose knowing the maps more would help. I have a bad memory though, but I'll try that in the future.

[ClubChamp04]

Unless you play a ton you'll continually get owned by the online guys. They play all the time and know all the maps very well and also the spots to camp and launch attacks from. Online is much different than COD4(or any other FPS) on normal difficulty, the AI is not much of a challenge in any campaigns.

[BCPVP]

You may have some bad habits from playing on normal. Definitely know the spots people like to camp in a given map and keep your head on a swivel. Make sure you round corners so that you're ready to shoot anyone if they're there as well as work on reaction time for knifing. For COD4, you may want to try using a silencer to keep from being seen on everyones radar. I often end up running down people that pop up on my radar. Think about how you're going to attack a position and how to approach without being seen. And don't immediately run over someone you just killed. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]