Brain Candy

Call of Duty is the Mostest Bestest at Everything


Call of Duty, from day one, has always been a hit. Right when it came out, it was hailed for its revolutionary AI, its huge and complicated set pieces and, most of all, its multiplayer. It used to be a game about the big battles of World War II, and not always the battles that looked best for the US or for Russia. It was a game about defending strategic points from wave after wave of oncoming enemies, a game about getting knocked over by explosions and having to get helped up. As the series evolved, so did all of these things. But is bigger really better? And what have original developers, Infinity Ward, left behind?

The release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare marked the explosion of the series. Everyone was either playing it or hating on it, and both had good reason. It was a game with a short-but-sweet campaign fueled by unbelievable moments and a complicated story delivered by between-mission exposition. The multiplayer, as always, hit the right spot, having weapons upon weapons and perks to beef up your character and play to your own style (after having unlocked these perks and weapons, of course). The reason to hate were the exact same as why it was good. Some people couldn't handle the over-the-top situations that everyone looked at with a straight face. This was a game with almost no levity. Everyone took everything seriously, and that affected the immersion of the player. As for multiplayer, those who weren't good at first-person-shooters were left in the dust. There was no beginner mode, there were no crutches for the less-talented, and nothing good was unlocked. Modern Warfare 2 didn't do a lot to fix these problems. One level, the controversial No Russian, saw you gunning down an airport, a level which personally affected me and left me feeling dirty and guilty. Within an hour of No Russian, though, the game sees you clear a 150-foot chasm on a snowmobile with the help of little more than a speed bump. Modern Warfare's biggest problem was that it was so unaware of just how ridiculous it was.

Now, Black Ops has risen out of the legal dust between Activision and Infinity Ward. Black Ops has broken first-day sales records, broken pre-order records that Modern Warfare 2 set, and broken the sales records that Modern Warfare 2 set.  Black Ops is, critically and commercially, more successful than it predecessor. This is coming from the developers of Call of Duty: World at War, which was bashed for feeling too similar to Modern Warfare 2. It seems that consumers don't care where the next game comes from as long as it has explosions and Call of Duty on the box. While Infinity Ward was developing Modern Warfare 2, they wanted to remove the 'Call of Duty' title and make it its own series, but research showed that consumer recognition of the brand, and therefore interest in buying it, was way down. It seems that consumers will buy anything with Call of Duty stuck on the box. The masses aren't supporting Activision's mistreatment of Infinity Ward. In fact, they're telling Activision that they can fuck over whoever they want. All Infinity Ward did was lay a good framework for the next Call of Duty game. Take 3 parts big explosions, one part disjointed narrative and two parts baddass character, and a dollop of perk-based multiplayer. Bring to a boil. Simmer. Release annually.

Seems unfair for Infinity Ward. Or rather, Respawn Entertainment.