Y'think THAT'S nasty...
BF2142 has 64 player maps!
CoD4 has one square map that is about the size of 3 standard shipping crates laid end to end (length width), and I've seen 36 players on the blessed thing! That's a REAL nightmare on FFA!!! (You can have multiple spawns on the same spawn point! - Grenades become particularly lethal!)
In any case, ideally, you squad-up, and work together. With a good commander and good squad leaders, you can dominate quite handily. In 2142, I've seen the game won in less than 3 minutes (with no hacks, cheats, or server rules violations) from initial spawn-in to final victory. Mind you, that was a co-operating team of players versus a whack of me-only weenies doing their own thing and a small group of team players trying their best.
Good Luck!