No, at least, not in your example of CoD4. There is a reason that the staying power lies in levels - a goal. When you finish that game, twenty experience to go, you can taste that P90. you can almost touch it.
It keeps you hooked because the game is good, but no matter how good it is, a goal is needed. Done every Prestige? Get the gold guns. Done all of them too? Then your spending too much time playing, but go "pwn" some "n00bs" with that golden M60.
Teamwork and strategy are, I admit, woefully rare, but that is because the majority of players that you will encounter are dickheads/exceedingly simple.
Look - the game is good if you keep playing it, regardless if it was the leveling system that mainly hooked you in, actual team play is still to be found, if rarely. It's rewarding and necessary - when I reached level 55 for the first time, I said I wouldn't do the Prestige. And I'm on my second rotation - why? Because when I watched that bar, the one that shows experience, and it didn't move, it felt bad. You need something to aim for, the levels prolong the targets.
You want tactics? Then sign up for the Escapist Clan, we use teamwork when we can. if we get a full team together, we use good tactics, each taking specific roles. A wall, a ghost, a sniper, two assaults, and a leader. Or, in the case of Shipment, Two walls, three shotgunners and a ghost.
