Modern Warfare II’ New 6v6 Map ‘Alboran Hatchery’ Overview

There’s a new map headed to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II with this week’s big Season 3 Reloaded update.

Quite a few maps were added at the beginning of the season, including new large-scale Ground War maps, two new 6v6 maps and three Gunfight maps. This latest is just the cherry on top.

Alboran Hatchery is as lot less colorful and distinct than some of the more recent maps like Pelayo’s Lighthouse and Himmelmatt Expo, and it’s (thankfully) not a night vision map like Blackout. It’s honestly a bit drab and grey looking, but I think it looks pretty fun despite the colorlessness of it.

Here’s the layout from above:

As you can see, there are two big warehouses for interior gunfights and a couple outside sections with lots of cover. It’s not as big as some of the Modern Warfare II maps but it’s still just a tad bigger than it should be for 6v6 combat in my humblest of opinions.

I’m not sure why Infinity Ward insists on so many maps than lean larger, but in this game it is simply not size that counts, but the, uh, motion of the ocean. Call Of Duty’s 6v6 maps function best when there’s a good flow to combat, and mid-to-small maps tend to be the best for the fast, arcade action of this particular FPS.

Just at a glance, if I could wave my magic map-editing wand I’d make roughly the following changes to Alboran Hatchery in order to make it a bit better for 6v6 gameplay:

Alternatively, you could cut one of the two warehouses, and slice this the other direction:

Treyarch actually did something like this for a handful of its Black Ops Cold War maps that were simply too large for 6v6 gameplay. Miami became “Miami Strike” (and ditched the nighttime darkness for bright daylight). Armada “Strike” removed two of the three ships. These maps became much more fun, and I think maps in Modern Warfare II like Taraq and other larger offerings work well for 10v10 but could be much better if they had “Strike” versions as well.

Still, I won’t judge a map by its screenshots. I’ll hop in and test it out myself tomorrow when the Season 3 Reloaded update goes live. See you on the battlefield. Stay frosty.

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