- 277
- IGN
- videogamesm12
An interesting comparison of what Call of Duty is like now versus what it used to be in the 2000s, showing a stark contrast in how badly it declined over the years.
The Call of Duty franchise used to mean something back in the day.
The singleplayer campaigns were masterfully crafted and memorable. I still vividly remember the campaign of the original Modern Warfare where you literally witness a nuclear bomb getting detonated and you have to witness the effects of lethal amounts of radiation being unleashed onto an unsuspecting massive city, along with your character who survives a helicopter crash but soon dies from radiation poisoning. You had to carefully walk through the remains of what was once a surviving civilization being completely abandoned after the explosion of Chernobyl and hope to god you don't make a stupid decision that gets you and your superior officer caught and killed, all the while you experience a hauntingly lonely atmosphere with the sounds of children playing in a playground that is now completely desolate. In the sequel, it's not long before you covertly participate in a massacre against dozens if not hundreds of innocent civilians in a Russian airport (in which you can hear the screams of terror in the background as people desperately try to flee the place) and then get betrayed several times by people you were working for, only finding out they were only working for themselves. World at War all the way to Black Ops 2 bluntly and clearly depicted the horrors of wars, the psychological impact they can have on someone, and the many atrocities committed by soldiers. What do the numbers mean, Mason? Soap trusted you, I thought I could too, so why in bloody hell does Makarov know you?
Multiplayer was always insanely broken, but the bugs made them so unique, charming, and fun as hell. You could dual-wield old-fashioned shotguns and then within seconds switch over to a compact machine gun that you could then unleash hell onto your opponents with. Yet, it remained somewhat fair as you had to work for everything, even your killstreaks. People actually had to work to get the best guns and work even harder to make them look flashy. You didn't have any of this "lootbox supreme season pass" paywall crap getting in your way and incentivizing you to pay Activision up the wazoo to get a chance of getting the one you want. Remember when you could end an entire match after getting a 25 kill streak by detonating a nuclear bomb? Remember when you could get an AC130 and become a nearly unstoppable force as you rained death and destruction from above? The bugs in Modern Warfare 2 were especially fun, especially the Javelin Glitch where you could run around and explode when someone tried to kill you and the overpowered akimbo Model 1887s, talk about interesting. Every gun had some quirk to them that made them useful or crap, and many people used different weapons depending on their style of gameplay. The lobbies were always fun too - if everyone had a microphone you were guaranteed to witness a showdown as two worked-up idiots went back and forth at each other with insults and every kind of slur in the book in between matches.
You look at what Call of Duty is like now and it's like, what the hell happened? Where's the impactful singleplayer story that you'll look back on fondly years from now? Why is there so many made-up cosmetic futuristic guns with Fisher Price (emphasis on the "price") "skins" and bullets and an overwhelming amount of paywalled bullshit? Why does everyone move around the map like they're playing in a fucking bounce house? Why did I get banned for "cheating" when I was literally not? What the actual fuck is this shit? The decline is just staggering.
The Call of Duty franchise used to mean something back in the day.
The singleplayer campaigns were masterfully crafted and memorable. I still vividly remember the campaign of the original Modern Warfare where you literally witness a nuclear bomb getting detonated and you have to witness the effects of lethal amounts of radiation being unleashed onto an unsuspecting massive city, along with your character who survives a helicopter crash but soon dies from radiation poisoning. You had to carefully walk through the remains of what was once a surviving civilization being completely abandoned after the explosion of Chernobyl and hope to god you don't make a stupid decision that gets you and your superior officer caught and killed, all the while you experience a hauntingly lonely atmosphere with the sounds of children playing in a playground that is now completely desolate. In the sequel, it's not long before you covertly participate in a massacre against dozens if not hundreds of innocent civilians in a Russian airport (in which you can hear the screams of terror in the background as people desperately try to flee the place) and then get betrayed several times by people you were working for, only finding out they were only working for themselves. World at War all the way to Black Ops 2 bluntly and clearly depicted the horrors of wars, the psychological impact they can have on someone, and the many atrocities committed by soldiers. What do the numbers mean, Mason? Soap trusted you, I thought I could too, so why in bloody hell does Makarov know you?
Multiplayer was always insanely broken, but the bugs made them so unique, charming, and fun as hell. You could dual-wield old-fashioned shotguns and then within seconds switch over to a compact machine gun that you could then unleash hell onto your opponents with. Yet, it remained somewhat fair as you had to work for everything, even your killstreaks. People actually had to work to get the best guns and work even harder to make them look flashy. You didn't have any of this "lootbox supreme season pass" paywall crap getting in your way and incentivizing you to pay Activision up the wazoo to get a chance of getting the one you want. Remember when you could end an entire match after getting a 25 kill streak by detonating a nuclear bomb? Remember when you could get an AC130 and become a nearly unstoppable force as you rained death and destruction from above? The bugs in Modern Warfare 2 were especially fun, especially the Javelin Glitch where you could run around and explode when someone tried to kill you and the overpowered akimbo Model 1887s, talk about interesting. Every gun had some quirk to them that made them useful or crap, and many people used different weapons depending on their style of gameplay. The lobbies were always fun too - if everyone had a microphone you were guaranteed to witness a showdown as two worked-up idiots went back and forth at each other with insults and every kind of slur in the book in between matches.
You look at what Call of Duty is like now and it's like, what the hell happened? Where's the impactful singleplayer story that you'll look back on fondly years from now? Why is there so many made-up cosmetic futuristic guns with Fisher Price (emphasis on the "price") "skins" and bullets and an overwhelming amount of paywalled bullshit? Why does everyone move around the map like they're playing in a fucking bounce house? Why did I get banned for "cheating" when I was literally not? What the actual fuck is this shit? The decline is just staggering.
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