Sunday, October 30, 2016

How to fix Call of Duty

Hey Guys, with the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare this Friday it's finally time to talk about the state of Call of Duty. It's starting to get annoying having to hear people bitch about the game and say stuff like "COD is Dead", "It's not cool to make fun of the dead", etc. As soon as the beta released, people were already bitching about it. Instead of me bitching about Infinite Warfare, I'm actually going to be civilized and provide constructive feedback on how to fix future Call of Duty games and possibly "resurrect" the franchise.

Seriously, Infinite Warfare is a dead meme at this point...
1) Change the Release Window
Even though this list isn't in any particular order, I will say that this has to be the most important point that I will be making here. In order to get people to stop saying that Call of Duty is recyclable, then it's time to change the development cycle. Ubisoft made the wise decision to skip an Assassin's Creed entry for this year because fans were not please with the more recent titles. Remember Assassin's Creed: Unity? Yeah, Ubisoft at least learned their lesson and finally will take the time to make the games better. If I remember correctly, there are about 3 developers for Call of Duty. I say that it's time they change up the cycle completely, so they get more time to work on their games. Maybe every other year at the least will be fine for a release.

2) Improve the Campaign
Seriously, I have to be in the minority that still enjoys the campaign mode. Older Call of Duty games had great stories even though they were released annually. Even Ghosts had a tolerable story. First off, the length of the campaign should be longer. If the release window were to be changed, then there should be more time to put more effort into writing a good story. Additionally, I think it's time to finally add nonlinear gameplay into the campaign just like Black Ops II did almost 4 years ago.

The campaign does not have to be super long, but if it were to last over 10 hours then that would be more than enough. The Modern Warfare franchise is a good example of how long a Call of Duty singeplayer campaign should be. It's annoying to have to go through a campaign that lasts 4 hours and end on a cliffhanger.

Treyarch at least tried to put effort into making a tolerable story for Black Ops III. While I wasn't a huge fan of the campaign, I still thought it was serviceable and provided an interesting plot.

3) Ditch the Future Setting
This has to be obvious. I'm sure that about 90% of the Call of Duty player base is tired of the futuristic settings. Black Ops II took a risk by being the first Call of Duty game to take place in the future as well as having a nonlinear campaign. However, nobody wasn't expecting the future settings to be the new norm for Call of Duty games.

Ghosts is literally the most recent game in the franchise to have your feet on the ground without any kind of Exo jumping. Sure it was innovating to have the Exo suit in Advanced Warfare, but only half the player base liked it.

Personally, I feel like Vietnam or the Korean War would be the best settings to have in a new Call of Duty game. Go back in time and start a mini-series much like the Modern Warfare Trilogy and Black Ops Trilogy. I know Vietnam has been done before in Black Ops, but those were only bits of it. Essentially, just set the game in the past or in our modern time without any kind of Exo jumping at all.

4) Overhaul the Multiplayer
Multiplayer is where the core of Call of Duty is at. However, this is how people complain that each Call of Duty game is pretty much the same is because a lot of them don't even try playing the campaign. Well, it's time to start from scratch with the multiplayer in order to get whiny little bitches to stop their bitching about Call of Duty.

I think it's time for a more casual approach with the multiplayer. I know I might get some shit for saying this, but it's time to take Call of Duty in the Overwatch direction.

Seriously, if the multplayer were to be simplified to get even the most casual player online, then it could attract a more wider audience. Additionally, there can be more teamwork orientated game modes and classes. Balancing needs to be revamped, so there is nobody complaining about a weapon or class being overpowered.

Multiplayer maps should be smaller as well as simple in order to keep the game moving rather than move at a slower pace. If the matches were to go faster, then people would be more tempted to try to get one more game in.

5) Remaster older Call of Duty games
If any of the developers really wanted to make a profit, then it's time for them to put in the effort to rebuild the older Call of Duty games and make them better. However, this shouldn't be done yearly. Maybe remaster an older game every 2 years of so to improve the longevity of the remastered games.

These remasters shouldn't be full priced as well. I would say no more than $30 would be okay. I should also add that the DLC released with the older games should be made for free as well, so there would be more of a reason for people to buy them.

That's all I have to say. The chances of any of these suggestions actually being put to use are slim to none. Hell, most of you might not even give a shit about what I say and I'm okay with it. Maybe you're tired of COD. However, this franchise still has some life to it.

There pretty much is no chance Infinite Warfare will prosper. The game was dead before it even hit the water. It was dead while it was in development. However, people jumped the gun way too quickly because the story might actually be good, but what are the chances of that happening? I know I won't be getting it. I won't even buy it for more than $40 because I'm paying for the Modern Warfare remaster.
Till Next Time!!

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