In this preview during the run up to CoD4 I will be looking at several aspects that are making their debut in Call of Duty 4. Since the release of CoD, one of the main tactical elements has been the grenade. Whole strategies have been made around them and they are the crucial ingredient in the recipe for a successful team. With CoD4, teams will have a whole new arsenal of grenades to work with - updated smoke grenades, flashes and stun grenades. As well as new equipment, CoD4 is coming with default cookable grenades as well.

Now we know what grenades are going to consist of in CoD4 I will put down some simple facts and progress from there.

• They do not travel as far as CoD2 grenades, thus reducing the amount of tactical set grenades options as we know them.
• They have a smaller blast radius to CoD2 grenades, therefore they are not as destructive and so need to be more accurate.
• There are four types of grenade, Stun, Smoke, Frag and Flash. Stun grenades will cause the shellshock effect, slowing and disorienting an opponent. Smoke grenades will be smaller and more contained than CoD2 and they won’t last as long. The usual frag grenade, the bread and butter of the CoD series. Lastly the flashbang, as seen in CS1.6 and CS:S, this grenade will temporally blind an opponent.
• Grenades are cookable, this means that you can prime a grenade then wait for several seconds before throwing it. This will shorten the amount of time the enemy player has to react thus increasing the effectiveness of a grenade.

Cookable grenades are the main the point I wanted to discuss in this article after reading feedback posted on the previous editions. At first I was sure that they would bring an extra skill level to the game but I am now suffering from inner turmoil.

What extra skill would they bring to the game?

Knowing when to cook the grenade, this could be from attacking a bombsite to pre-nading popular positions. This would put the defensive team at a serious disadvantage but all is not lost as to adapt is another skill. Adapting to what grenades your opponent throws will add a degree of skill, whether this is counter flashing or timing your cooked grenade for maximum effect to stop a rush.

This is where I get stuck; when I started this article I was sure that cookable grenades were going to add so much to the game but as I think more and more about it they just seem to simplify the game.

Someone could easily ruin all the best-laid tactics just running at you holding a live grenade and throwing it in your face, what skill does this require? The answer is very little. With 1 second to get away your chances are minimal if your from Dignitas or 101st Battalion Airborne Division it won’t change a thing.

I will keep this short and simple, sure it will be fun to run around throwing grenades in your opponent's faces but shouldn't this be left for public play?

Think to yourselves, what level of skill do cookable grenades really add to a match situation?