Call of Duty has become a video game juggernaut. Just like the juggernauts in the game everyone has taken aim at them, attempting to take the FPS king off their throne. And just like the juggernauts they have soaked up the damage thrown at them so far. It has honestly become just as much of a trend to hate the Call of Duty series, as it has been to play it. EA brought Battlefield to the court this year, touting their game was better, and that Battlefield 3 would knock Call of Duty off their high horse. Activision remained strangely silent, not being drawn into EA’s psychological warfare. Even after soundly out selling Battlefield 3 Activision made only one statement. This was something to the tune of “We hope the best for both games in the future, competition builds better games.” I will openly admit to being a Call of Duty player, but I think my review below is fair and just.
Campaign – some spoilers involved
Pros - Infinity Ward does a great job of finishing off the story line for Modern Warfare (or so we think), It would appear no loose ends remain. I really enjoyed the story, and I think the levels were well thought out. The graphics are beautiful, and the Russian airplane level is great. Weapons choices are good, and the kick from most weapons is reasonable. No traveling around the screen when you full auto. Enemies are smart enough to make it fun, but not so hard that it frustrates you. Infinity Ward does a great job of getting you to fall in love with the new characters, but in true modern warfare style punishes you for every success till the end.
Cons - OK Activision/Infinity Ward first and foremost WTF???? Soap…….really???
We watch him pass out in Modern Warfare 2, you save him at the beginning of 3, then promptly beat the crap out of him through multiple levels, and kill him? I almost started clapping when he died just because I was tired of seeing you guys beat him up, OK rant over. I liked the story line but it seemed a little forced. I know you were trying to create urgency, but it just didn’t seem urgent it seemed like you just tossed it together and pushed it through a single door. I know in this day and age especially with your franchise Multiplayer is the game, but dang this game was short. I beat it way too fast. One big surprise was no level at the end of the credits. I have always looked forward to that level, and was very sad when there wasn’t one.
Multiplayer/special ops
Pros – The matchmaking system in Call of Duty is great. I rarely see one team regularly beating up the other team repeatedly. The spawns during team fights seems fairly good. Graphically speaking the game is beautiful, although some shadows seem a little too deep, and people tend to camp in them. There were a few glitching bugs early on but Infinity Ward quickly fixed those. Infinity Ward has also listened to its fan base and already has patched and adjusted a few over powered guns. The special ops mode is fun, particularly the survival mode; this addition is great to play with friends. The new strike packages are a nice addition; I am not the best player in the world, plus I play a lot of ground war domination and worry about capping flags not my K-D ratio, so I rarely received kill streak rewards. But now I can use support packages to support my entire team and I even get the top tier ones every couple of games. The weapon leveling system is cool; I have enjoyed unlocking equipment for my favorite guns. Kill confirmed has to be the most fun I have played in a long time in a FPS. The idea of having to collect a dog tag after a kill is great, keeping everyone on their toes.
Cons – while team based spawning seems OK, let’s talk about free for all. Infinity Ward did you test this portion of the game? I understand the whole close spawn thing to keep the game moving, and exciting. But when an enemy player literally spawns inside you after you killed them, this really needs to be fixed. I also feel the shotguns are way too underpowered. Unfortunately it is still the same game with a new skin, and some weapons. I really feel this entire genre is starting to get a little bogged down and welcome any change the game companies think up.
No comments:
Post a Comment