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Veteran Member - Level 11
Since 2004, I have bought, played and completed every Call of Duty game. Now, after 8 years, I'm officially breaking up with Call of Duty.
My experience with Call of Duty first began with the mediocre Call of Duty: Finest Hour. After that followed Call of Duty: Big Red One, until finally with the launch of the Xbox 360, I got my hands on the Call of Duty game I had been waiting for -- Call of Duty 2.
I was amazed by the incredibly detailed graphics. I was blown away by the intense action and the precise yet simple controls. I played the game over and over, beating it on every difficulty and acquiring every achievement, all 13 of them. I had officially become a fan.
I purchased and played CoD 3, a not so great game not developed by core Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward. I still held on to my faith though, eagerly awaiting Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. When it arrived, I wasn't disappointed. The intense and cinematic action of CoD 2 was still there in the single player campaign. It was multiplayer however that would see the franchise explode in popularity. Killstreaks, insane customizations, prestige mode, CoD 4 was the game that started it all. I was hooked.
CoD: World at War was an entertaining return to World War II. Modern Warfare 2 was very similar to the first Modern Warfare. It was more of the same, but if it was more of the same good thing I didn't complain. Black Ops actually impressed me with a storyline unlike any other CoD, and Modern Warfare 3 brought a satisfying conclusion to the Modern Warfare trilogy. Black Ops II looks to innovate in some ways, and rumor is that the next CoD game will simply be Modern Warfare 4.
Now after 8 years, something has changed. To me, Call of Duty has become a ritual. Every year gamers, myself included, rush out during the holiday season to purchase essentially the same game over, and over, and over again. The formula has barely changed since CoD 4. Are the games incredibly polished, gorgeous to look at, and memorable first person shooters? The answer is a resounding yes on all fronts. However, put simply, it's all been done before just a year before by the previous installment. I'm bored. And now we reach my reasoning for ending the relationship and not purchasing Black Ops 2. Before I was a fan of Call of Duty you see, I was a fan of Halo.
This might seem like a contradiction. How can I be bored of Call of Duty when Halo is another first person shooter that has spawned numerous sequels? It's true, Halo has numerous sequels. The series currently includes 6 games if you include Halo Wars, the RTS spinoff and the upcoming Halo 4. Call of Duty on the other hand will have 11 games if we include Black Ops II. That is a ton of video games in a short period of time, and I'm simply burnt out.
Halo is the reason I'm an online multiplayer gamer today and why I've enjoyed Call of Duty all of these years. Halo 2 was the game I bought my Xbox and Live subscription for. After playing Call of Duty, my interest slowly left the rich sci-fi universe that is Halo, instead opting more for an adrenaline filled, Michael Bay like roller coaster ride every November.
It now occurs to me that Halo is something more than Call of Duty ever can, or will be. It boasts an expansive sci-fi setting with enough characters and lore to fill several books. It to be sure features explosive and action filled gameplay, but also slower moments of awe and sometimes even terror. There is simply something more to a Halo game, something less throwaway than Call of Duty is year after year.
So now I'm back on the other side of the fence. I've officially broken off my long relationship with Call of Duty and I'm returning to Halo. I won't be purchasing a Call of Duty title for the first time in 8 years. As I'm standing in line leading up to the midnight release of Halo 4 on November 6, I'll remember all the fun Call of Duty and me have had together. I'll miss you, CoD. But I truly believe that this is what's best for both of us.
Black Ops 2 looks like it may shake the many of COD's aging concepts, so I think it is worth a look.
Never been a big CoD fan. Welcome back to the good side!
Battlefield Bad Company was my first multiplayer combat game and I played incessantly. CoD World at War was my second and I likewise was addicted. But subsequent titles in both series have have grown tedious with regular, comparable installments. Despite being intrigued by Treyarch's direction with Black Ops 2 and a fan of their games, other games out now give me quality alternatives to this increasingly tired genre. I am going to cancel my BlOps 2 preorder and do not plan on getting any more titles in these series.
Modern Warfare 2 was my last one. I was never really impressed with the Treyarch developed titles; they weren't bad, but they didn't excite me the way the Infinity Ward games did. After the whole Activison/IW fiasco I vowed never to buy a Call of Duty title and purchase any Activision games used and haven't gone back on that. There are too many great games that go unnoticed year after year to waste your time and money on an assembly line cash cow like that.
As for Halo I never stopped being a fan. Microsoft's been generally good to it's developers (they could have bought Bungie at any time, but let them remain independant) and careful to avoid franchise fatigue. I've never had anything but good things to say about each game in the series and can't wait for Tuesday
I've always like Infinity Ward's Call of Duty games, but never really got into Treyarch's entries. So now, I buy a game every other year. I miss out on zombies, but it helps to keep the series fresh for me. At the same time, I don't play the multiplayer very often.
With MW3 I put more than 24 hours into Survival Mode and felt like I got more than my money's worth out of the game. So, if there is a Modern Warfare 4 (which I put no stock in the rumor as it was presented), then I'll likely buy it. The series fits a need and does it with a great deal of polish that one only need look at Medal of Honor: Warfighter, or Homefront to be able to acknowledge.
You speak the truth well. I'm one of the few who can stomach both Halo and CoD together, and I must say I've seen CoD's imminent demise for a long time... I feel like, no matter how successful it still is, in the coming years Activision will burn it all down like they did with other popular series' such as Guitar Hero. Hopefully I'm wrong, and hopefully 343 doesn't send Halo down the same path with their proposed second trilogy after 4...
Oh well... It's gotta end somewhere, so maybe at Halo 7 and CoD: Modern Warfare 6 they'll wrap things up by roughly 2020... One can hope we move on to better and brighter things even than the two juggernauts that started- and continued, it all. ;-)
Not rly sure why you would break up with COD after 8 yrs when they keep improving each time, i tried playing the other FPS's or Battlefield, and it never kept me attached like COD
I'm right there with you man, this will be the first one I won't get, at least not right away. I can see myself renting it at some point. I haven't seen real, huge innovation since COD4, my favorite in the series. Maybe the first cod on next-gen will get me back in
I've always liked COD but never loved it but for some reason I keep buying the new COD every year. However this year, i'm with you. COD has just got old for me and as I don't play the Multiplayer that much (which they've added a lot to) but instead prefer to play the Campaign (which they haven't added a lot to) so the series just got old for me. It's going to take an amzing review to drag me back into the series.
Good blog, by the way. A lot of people write blogs about COD but you do it in an intresting and unique way.