With the recent announcement of Modern Warfare 3 (and the complete spoiling of the storyline if you're Google savvy), I can't help but wonder if enough is enough. I've played my share of First Person Shooters, but since the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the implementation of the perk system and killstreaks, it seems like games are trying to be just like Call of Duty or trying to become "the next big thing." Thing is, no one's succeeded and Call of Duty is still on top.
So my question is, when does it end? How many more Call of Duty games are we going to see before the series comes to an end? Is Activision going to run it into the ground like they have with the Guitar Hero series? I'm worried, to be honest. This is a series I love, is the one that pulled me into online gaming, and is the one I have a hard time letting go of, even though my mind is telling me that enough is enough.
I've played every Call of Duty game to date, but since COD4 there hasn't been much of a change. When you take a step back and look at the subsequent games and their online components, the core is still the same. The game is based around a Perk and Killstreak system, one that is easy to pick up play, is diverse, and allows a certain level of customization and diversity. And I suppose that's what makes it so appealing, the accessibility, the focus on the individual as opposed to the team element. You can play Call of Duty multiplayer by yourself and still have a good time. Games like Battlefield Bad Company 2 and the newer releases such as Brink are much more team based and require teamwork to succeed. Could this be why they don't warrant the same kind of attention as Call of Duty, or are these the games of the future?
My expectations for Modern Warfare 3 are low, but I realize that's because at this point I know what to expect and I can assume they aren't going to deviate from their formula for success. I can assume the game is going to have perks and killstreaks, that the button layout will be the same, and the focus will still be on the individual as opposed to the team. Sure, there will be changes within those models, but after four years of painfully similar games, it's safe to say they won't be changing too much. The formula they discovered was a winning one and it's carried them to the top of the sales charts and allows the series to retain three Top Ten spots on Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (via Major Nelson). Even Call of Duty 4, which is almost four years old remains one of the top played games.
They have no reason to stop making the series. People are still playing their games, even though year after year they're essentially the same. They offer new perks, weapons, killstreaks, and maps, but at the core the game remains a copy and paste of COD4's formula. So I wonder why people still eat up this series like it holds the answer to all of life's questions, I've asked myself this question more and more in the last few months and I'm starting to believe there will always be people playing Call of Duty. I really think the series is so popular and accessible that people will always be playing it. They'll be making Call of Duty games fifteen years from now and my own rotten children will be asking for a copy for their birthdays or Christmas.
That idea frightens me. I fear the series is so popular and so influential that if it isn't the Call of Duty name the guts of the game will still be the same. It seems the FPS genre is stuck in a groove, one they're obviously trying to break, but are having a hard time cracking. Call of Duty has blown up so much, and is praised as The FPS to play, that many people don't look twice. "It's got the Call of Duty name, so it must be good," is the mentality I see a lot. Many players are so caught up in the series that they leave little room for other games. Some will even compare it to games of other genres. "Oh, Mass Effect 2 is garbage because it isn't Call of Duty," I kid you not, I know people who have said things like this to me.
In that sense, I think Call of Duty has ruined many aspects of gaming. People get into gaming because of Call of Duty and it's all they'll play. They only know one genre, one set of controls, and they think that's how every game should be played. They'll compare a loaf of bread to Call of Duty, and since that loaf of bread doesn't have perks and killstreaks it's inferior, even though the two are so completely different they're impossible to compare.
So I pose this question to you ladies, when does it stop? When will Call of Duty be dethroned? Will it ever? How has it affected the way you play or what you play? Have you even played a Call of Duty game? I've played them all, put countless hours and hundreds of dollars into this series, but I'm starting to become aware of what I'm playing. For me the series is losing it's hype and I'm getting tired of playing the same game with a different coat of paint over it. But at the same time I find myself coming back to the series. I play a few games of Black Ops and I see why the series hasn't changed much, that you don't fix it if it isn't broken.
However, if you don't make a change, it's only so long until the formula wears thin and you're left with a dead series. People will get bored--eventually--but the real question is how long will it take?
