I'd be lying if I said I was excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The game to me was just a sad compilation of every other game from recent titles like Titanfall or forgotten titles like The Darkness with a heavy dose of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Overall, Call of Duty has become a boring franchise.
Before I started writing this, I was watching a video of Seananners of him playing the newest edition of Zombies on Black Ops 3 and thought to myself "this is a really interesting atmosphere for a zombie game" and "the gameplay looks amazing". I decided to finally look at the trailer for the Shadows of Evil Mode and said out loud "that is an awesome concept!".
A story that takes place in a colorful, 1940s/50s noire with unique corrupt characters in a town of zombies. That's awesome! Granted, the zombie scene is getting over crowded and done too much like every annually released game title, but still. This isn't a war game with futuristic exo-suits and super machine guns and explosions galore; it's almost it's own game. Which really begs the question that's been on my mind, in my heart, wants to come out of my mouth and through my fingers to the appropriate keys on my keyboard; why can't they make a new game!?
Call of Duty has so many different companies making games for them to come out once a year; with names like Activision, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledgehammer, etc. With that many people behind one franchise, there's no way they can't make an original, independent game, without relying on Call of Duty's sales and namesake. Games like Dishonored, Wolfenstein, Mirrors Edge, Bioshock and Fallout 4 have re-imagined the first person shooter with immersive environments, dimensional characters with backstories and making you earn and work for your kill. Call of Duty, it's just shoot through bunch of people that are just waiting to be killed and killed easily just to get to a checkpoint so you can "Press X" to bring more empty, armed meat targets. I'm not even going to begin on its multiplayer, because we've all heard it. You can make the same argument with Wolfenstein and Dishonored with targets waiting to get killed to advance the plot, but those games at least give you different options on how to approach the target and challenges you on your ammo count; y'know...TACTICAL STRATEGY. Plus, you get to understand the world you're in with different collectibles and overheard dialogue to make the game world seem bigger. It balances the action and adventure with stealth missions to "retrieve intel". That's why I always use these games as examples on good game design. It takes a genre and expands on it.
If you look up the reviews and scores for all the Call of Duty games from Modern Warfare 3 to Black Ops to Ghosts and Advanced Warfare, they all went from 90% or 9/10 to 60% or 6/10. But if you look up games like Fallout 3, Dishonored, or Bioshock, they're up in the 8 and 9%. Call of Duty is becoming a mindless routine that becomes forgettable. Which game do you really think will impact you and be unforgettable; a game about shooting, or a game that gives a cause and a reason to shoot and kill?
It frustrates me when devs with Call of Duty talk about all the new features they put in their latest installments that is only used to enhance your kills to get a rank, when they can put that same amount of work into making new, creative mechanics, story lines, open environments, and characters. If I'm going to be paying $60 for a game, I want that game to stick with me. I want to relate with that character I'm playing as. I want to remember the difference I made in that world. I don't want to pay $60 for enhancements to a game that I played before that didn't make an impact on me in the first place. I don't wanna pay $60 for a time killer that'll leave me angry or frustrated because I'm not as good as the one who shot me.
Now I am no businessman, but I don't think it wouldn't even hurt their business as much, really. Think of an E3 announcement trailer and the first thing you see in text is "From the team behind Call of Duty", you already know it's going to be something epic and different. It's like when Bloodborne was announced. When the words "From Software" shows up and "Created by Hidetaka Miyazaki" comes on the screen, you know from his past work it's gonna be a hit. They have enough people that can either make their own company and Kickstart it, or a team branches off within either Activision or Treyarch, get a small funding to make this game. If works, that's more property under their roof that's making money. If not, that team just goes back to work on the next CoD.
I'm not saying Call of Duty should be stopped or discontinued. If there's an audience for it and it's making money, good for them. I'm saying you guys at Team Call of Duty are smart enough and capable enough to make something new and memorable. I enjoy a few rounds of Call of Duty every once in awhile, but if that's all you're going to be remember for is Call of Duty 1 through 17, you're not gaining anything, experience wise. Dali didn't just draw melting clocks.
But Then Again,
That's Just Me...
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