History of Call of Duty (2003 - 2019)

welcome back at one I'm Nick 9:30 and to celebrate the upcoming lease of called duty modern warfare I want to share with you the complete history of called duty Kolbe duty is a first-person shooter franchise initially created by Infinity Ward and published by Activision the series spans multiple time periods with several of the earlier titles focusing on real battles that took place during World War 2 while later more recent titles focus on fictional modern conflicts and futuristic scenarios Call of Duty is known for its epic over-the-top battle sequences and its incredibly addicting multi-part components and is easily one of the biggest most popular first person shooter franchises in the gaming industry but exactly how did call duty get to be so popular and more importantly how has it managed to stay on top of the sales charts every year for nearly two decades well to answer that let's start by looking at how the series started back in the early 2000s in the year 2000 the American filmmaker Steven Spielberg reached out to a small PC game development studio called 2015 incorporated to design the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor 2015 Inc who had made a name for themselves for their high quality fps quake engine mods accepted the contract and in 2002 they released Medal of Honor Elida soul one of the most influential world war ii shooter games of all time not only did allied assault successfully deliver a vivid recreation of the DJ sequence featured in Saving Private Ryan but the various game mechanics like movement combat and the design of the mission structures would directly inspired the design of the Call of Duty series after the success of Allied assault 20 some developers left 2015 Inc to form their own studio called Infinity Ward and began development on a new project that they called the Medal of Honor killer to differentiate itself from their past work Infinity Ward wanted this new IP to feel even more authentic with a more fragile lead character that would need to rely on the support of his allies to complete objectives to help fund the project Activision agreed to publish the title and acquired 30% of the studio as a result after a full year of development called Duty hit store shelves exclusively for the PC platform and just like allied sold before it would push the oversaturated FPS market into a more grounded cinematic direction the original Call of Duty is split into three separate single-player campaigns the Americans British and the so yes the American campaign puts players in the boots of private Martin a paratrooper that has dropped behind enemy lines the night before the d-day landings after linking up with the squad martin and the rest of the Allied forces then proceeded to rig various French towns and alleys of the Nazi threat destroying tanks heavy guns and the occasional German counter-offensive the games campaign then shifts to a new set of characters the British campaign feels a bit more like classic Medal of Honor with a heavy focus on infiltrating enemy positions sabotaging equipment and acquiring Intel the final campaign takes place on the Eastern Front as players participate in the Battle of Stalingrad as a Soviet soldier named corporal Verona in these battles are arguably some of the most intense sequences in the game as players will need to push the Nazis out of Russia and ultimately capture the Reichstag in Berlin the campaigns in the original game are based heavily on the actual events during World War two while also taking heavy inspiration from the likes of Band of Brothers a bridge too far an enemy at the gates called duty frequently imitates classic action and war films giving players the opportunity to experience these harrowing events firsthand this idea of being able to experience epic battle sequences is at the heart of what makes Call of Duty so entertaining and the game's large level designs and open-ended approach to combat give players the opportunity to experiment adding a significant amount of replay value to the campaign's missions typically tasks players with neutralizing enemy positions and sabotaging key objectives like field guns and video equipment in sub missions players need to hold their ground against waves of hostile reinforcements greatly testing endurance and the player's ability to utilize available weapons and equipment there's a lot of mission variety and call of duty and the drastic change in environments between the three campaigns helps to keep the experience fresh all throughout the gameplay is built around the same first-person shooter mechanics incorporated into allied a soul with simple movement controls and abilities like running jumping crouching and going prone bears can use several iconic World War 2 weapons including the m1 garand Thompson submachine gun mp40 and car 98 but can only carry two weapons at any one time requiring players to swap their weapons off of fallen soldiers players can either shoot from the hip or aim down the sights to improve accuracy unlike the fast paced shooters released around the same time call duty requires players to utilize covered in the environment to avoid incoming fire if the player is hit they'll lose a portion of their health which is represented by a bar in the bottom left corner of the screen and can only replenish it by walking over various health items in the environment enemies offer a decent challenge intelligently taking cover flanking allied positions and laying down suppressive fire with powerful mg42 machine guns players need to carefully peek around corners and flank hostile positions to best their enemy and can be easily overwhelmed if they stray too far from their allied teammates to help make battles feel more epic and enduring allied soldiers that are killed on the frontline will respawn under a different name and reinforce the frontline preventing enemy AI from ever completely dominating an attacking force this technique is sometimes used for enemies as well giving players the illusion of the long lasting battle and will only ever stop after players complete certain objectives and then of course there's the multiplayer the multi part of the original Call of Duty is incredibly simple by today's standards players simply choose between the Allied or axis team select between a few preset loadouts of weapons associated with that particular team and then proceed to shoot at each other in maps built using assets from the single-player Maps were designed to be open-ended with several different back alleys hedgerows and elevated windows to get the jump on the opposition but are still a small enough size to maintain a consistent flow of combat between players after being killed by another player the victim is then given the option to view a kill cam which shows a replay of the killer's angle and execution call duties multiplayer allowed for some simple straightforward brawls across 16 different Maps but the initial intention was to have the community expand on the experience Infinity Ward designed the multiplayer to be mod friendly and encourage players to create unique game modes and gameplay alterations to expand on the experience this open-ended mentality to the multiplayer helped to establish a strong online community one that surprisingly is still active today visually the original Call of Duty set the bar high for first-person shooters environments are highly detailed with various burning vehicles and piles of debris along with some impressive explosions and smoke effects but the most impressive aspect of call duty is its artificial intelligence massive large-scale battles are brought to life thanks to the way soldiers take cover as each other with automatic gunfire when combined with the players actions and various scripted events where's really feel like they're part of a major battle as opposed to the cliche one-man army it's an effective illusion that for the most part still plays a major role in call of duty campaigns today the original call duty was met with overwhelmingly positive critical reception it won several Wars and was praised as chosen threes best computer game reviewers praised the game for its intense action excellent sound design and realistic art direction the call duty series had taken off at a running start and would only continue to grow in popularity from there on out after seeing the exciting potential of infinity Awards new franchise Activision immediately reached out to other cities to expand on the property first activision acquired a studio called gray matter interactive the very same team responsible for the popular Return to Castle Wolfenstein since their Wolfenstein game ran on a similar modified quake 3 engine is called duty Activision TAS the studio was creating an expansion for the hugely popular world war ii shooter after only a year of development called duty united offensive was released offering players even more intense action-packed war scenarios along with some new gameplay mechanics and Abe refined multiplayer experience united offensive again offers three separate campaigns from different soldiers perspectives the American campaign takes place during the Battle of the Bulge throwing players into the foxholes of one of the most brutal battles of the war the British campaign gives players control of Sergeant James Doyle a b-17 bomber gunner who is shot down over the Netherlands he is rescued by the Dutch Resistance and assist with the sabotage of Nazi fortifications Doyle now an sas operative is sent to Sicily to destroy several cliff mounted cannons similar to those in the 1961 film the Guns of Navarone the game wraps up with the Russian campaign as players are dropped into the Battle of Kursk as private yuri pochenko once again showcasing massive large-scale battles with plenty of tanks and artillery showing united offensives gameplay was also expanded upon greatly players can now equip more iconic weapons like the Gewehr 43 browning machine gun and bazookas in addition to smoke grenades that allow players to create visual cover to avoid enemy machine-gun fire although changes include the ability to sprint deployable by pods for heavy weapons and the ability to cook Gurney's so if they explode closer to the enemy but the biggest changes introduced in united offensive are to the game's multiplayer suite the multiplayer includes 11 new maps on top of the pre-existing 16 masquerade by Infinity Ward and also introduces new game modes including the first instance of the fan-favorite domination united offensives multiplayer also offers more large-scale battle experiences commonly associated with the Battlefield franchise prayers not only fight on foot but can also climb into vehicles like jeeps and tanks the united offensive also utilizes a basic rank progression system within each match players earn points by completing objectives or killing enemies and are awarded with various player buffs including increased starting ammunition and even the ability to use binoculars to call an artillery strikes marking the first instance of a score streak in the series this game also introduced a few new graphical enhancements including more impressive layered smoke effects and much larger level designs with much more AI actors on screen at any given time United Offensive was once again met with glowing reviews while many praised the game for its excellent campaign most of the positive reception went towards the game's expanded multiplayer further reinforcing the Call of Duty series as a major contender in the PC market during development of the original Call of Duty activision also hired a small team of developers out of los angeles called spark unlimited to create a standalone console port of call duty this title called called duty finest hour is the very first title in the franchise to be released for the console market and offers a rough translation of what was made available to PC players finest hour just like his PC counterparts offers 3 unique campaign experiences during World War 2 only with a much more cinematic approach instead of controlling a single soldier per campaign finest hour swaps between several different characters between individual missions the first campaign revisits the Battle of Stalingrad from the original Call of Duty homey from a different perspective and again features several scenes from enemy at the gate the British campaign takes place in North Africa and features missions involving sabotaging Herman feel deep oats and positions the game ends with the Americans making the initial push into Germany after Market Garden offering a much heavier focus on urban warfare find the sour place very differently from the other titles in the series first to compensate for the lack of a mouse and keyboard finest hour by default utilizes a heavy auto aim Peter with hits registering easily on enemy combatants unique to finest hour is the ability to collect health packs to heal later on and even the ability to heal AI soldiers finest hour also slows down player speed when being suppressed by enemy fire and even slows the game speed into slow motion when shell-shocked and the game's multiplayer allows for massive 32 players system link matches through Xbox and 16 player online competitive play for both Xbox Live and PlayStation 2 finest hour is one of the few games in the franchise to not be built using the quake engine and was instead built using render where the same engine used to create Activision and Neversoft Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series once I switched over to the newer ps2 and Xbox hardware because of this the visuals aren't nearly as impressive as the PC games with lower polygon faces smaller levels and less complex animations however spark unlimited still managed to squeeze a surprising average 60fps have the title something that the series would eventually become known for when it comes to console releases but despite this accomplishment Call of Duty finest hour was met with a mixed critical response while this first foray into the console space certainly delivered a lot of what made call duty great it still failed to deliver the same level of intensity in action as its PC counterpart on top of this SPARC unlimited had completely blown the budget activision had allotted to them effectively canceling plans for a follow-up and the termination of the contract together meanwhile the core development team for the franchise Infinity Ward had been hard at work on the official sequel to the chest and three classic the sequel aimed to push the boundaries even further with vastly improved visuals much larger battles and an overall more authentic experience Infinity Ward travelled to several of the actual battlefields featured in the game and decide to expand on the level design giving players more freedom to pick and choose how they approach each situation after several years of development called duty - released for the PC and the xbox360 as a launch title this additional console release marks a major turning point for the franchise as over 77% of all consumers that purchased the xbox360 that year also picked up a copy of the game go out we strengthening the series brand recognition and cementing the console called duty market as a major pillar of the series Call of Duty 2 starts off on the eastern front with players controlling private facili coastal off during the Battle of Stalingrad Vasily along with this Russian comrades need to fight street-by-street to clear the Nazis out of the city ultimately ending with an epic defense of City Hall the second campaign follows sergeant John Davis of the British 7th armored division as they fight the German Afrika Corps in the Battle of El Alamein returning characters include Captain Price who can be heard frequently scolding a private MacGregor throughout the main battles and skirmishes the white camaraderie here echoes some of the things that spark Unlimited had managed to accomplish in finest hour though it's still very low-key when compared to later titles the final campaign takes place on the Western Front again revisiting the events of Normandy on June 6 1944 but instead of revisiting the iconic omaha beach landings Infinity Ward instead decided to feature the lesser-known Battle of Point to Hulk where Army Rangers had to climb up steep rock cliffs defended by heavy German resistance in an effort to neutralize heavy guns that threaten the success of the other d-day landings this sequence is one of the longer sections of the game as players are forced to push back and forth across the cliff sides in nearby town fighting off German counter-offensives and waiting for reinforcements relief Kolbe duty to single-player offers a unique perspective on the war with less of a reliance on trying to recreate classic movie scenes and more on trying to recreate some of the most intense battles in the modern era called duty 2 also features several reworked gameplay mechanics in order to improve the flow and pacing of the action infinity war scrapped the classic health bar in favor of the more forgiving health regeneration this system allows players to take a certain amount of damage causing the screen to turn red around the edges and then take cover in order to return to a stable condition this removes the need to walk away from battles to search for old health kits and keeps the pacing a more consistent for allowing for a dull moment the actual gunplay remains mostly unchanged for the original game though the multiplayer now features hitmarkers when landing shots on the enemy another major staple of the franchise other changes include a heavier emphasis on using smoke grenades to bypass enemy hardpoints binoculars to call and friendly air strikes in artillery and grenade icons players can more easily track explosives the enemy AI now flank players more consistently and behave much more intelligently throwing grenades back and even pulling out their handgun when injured to get a few last shots off before they die levels are designed to be much larger allowing for the freedom to approach objectives from several different avenues some missions even offer multiple objectives at the same time which can be tackled in any order the player wants cod - also improved a great deal on the multi-part component while the 360 version only allows for a small scale a player match the PC version allows for massive 64 player competitive action along with the same mod friendly features fans had come to expect the larger levels in cod 2 were made possible thanks to the new iw engine 2.0 a modified version of the same tweaked in tech 3 engine used for Cobb 1 this new engine allowed for much larger detailed environments new fancy smoke and weather effects and significantly more actors on screen making the huge battles come to life even more Call of Duty 2 was met with mostly positive reviews with many praising the game for its beautiful visuals excellent sound design intelligent AI and attention to authenticity though while some reviewers praised the game for its implementation of regenerative health others criticized it stating that the new health system made for a less realistic experience and allows players to fulfill the sort of super soldier fantasy that the series was trying to avoid either way called duty 2 was an even bigger success than the original title by releasing the game alongside the launch of the Xbox 360 activision had managed to corner a completely new market a move that would benefit the series significantly with infinity ward's next release in the same year another game development studio called Treyarch released their own version of Call of Duty 2 built specifically for the old gen consoles after work wrapped up on the united offensive activision assigned gray matter interactive to assist in development merging the two development teams together unlike infinity ward's call of duty to big red one was developed exclusively for the previous generation of hardware including the ps2 GameCube and the original Xbox and was the first game to use tray arcs internal and GL engine big red one was notable for breaking the formula of the previous games and focusing solely on a single American Infantry Division players assume the role of American soldier sergeant Roland Roger of the 1st Infantry Division the player along with the rest of the big red one are tasked with capturing cities in attacking key strategic locations throughout North Africa Sicily and Germany notable characters include the wisecracking Brooklyn and the no-nonsense Glenn Hawkins whose frequent chattered before and during combat greatly adds to the immersion big red one also features some of the cast from Band of Brothers in addition to a loading screen narration voiced over by Mark Hamill in a world war 2 documentary style big red one shares a lot of the same gameplay mechanics of the previous main line titles though due to the limitations of the older hardware the level designs are much smaller and more linear than its Xbox 360 counterpart players need to fight alongside the big red one across several different iconic battles including another interpretation of the omaha beach landings marking the first time the sequence has ever been attempted in the Call of Duty franchise the game's multiplayer shares a lot in common with grey matters united offensive expansion including larger level designs and drivable vehicles and more distinct character classes from a graphical standpoint big red one is pretty impressive considering the hardware name was built four levels are more detailed and share a similar tone to the mainland series a major step up from the previous console only title and unlike the other titles big red one was built using chairs own internal engine though still shared a lot of the same code from ed tech 3 while not a major primary entry to the franchise big red one was given generally positive reviews from critics the game's success propelled Treyarch into the forefront of the Call of Duty scene and ultimately led to the studio becoming a major pillar of the franchise only a year later Activision revealed that Trek was hard at work on their first mainline entry to the series titled called duty 3 but because the team only had eight months to develop the title the games planned seaport was canceled in the title instead released in 2006 exclusively for the console market call of duty 3 takes place entirely on the Western Front and fouls several interchanging storylines involving the Americans British Canadians and the Polish all four stories center around securing towns and villages like st. lo and Shinhwa offering a unique world war 2 experience rarely featured in video games like big red one called duty 3 features more memorable characters with actual personality including hard-ass sergeant McCowen who at one point threatens to kill a deserting allied soldier this'll take in an uneasy relationship throughout the story while finest hour and big red one offered some decent examples of this expanded narrative approach Colton III was the first major entry to push for it and would help to shape the franchise moving forward Crabtree introduces a number of unique gameplay elements to the franchise including the first instance of the grenade throwback feature that is used in every title since in order to emphasize the more close quarters nature of the action during these battles Call of Duty 3 features scripted melee sequences requires are forced to mash buttons on the controller to fight one-on-one against a German soldier likely inspired by the final act in Saving Private Ryan called duty 3 also features an expanded multiplayer component offering even larger levels built around using vehicles and long-range weaponry the multiplier in general feels almost exactly like a battlefield game with unique classes and specialized tools that encourage team play and tactics players can equip a medic class for example and revive down teammates or lay down suppressive fire with a machine gun and drop down boxes of ammunition vehicles just like in United offensive and big red one play a major role in the multiplayer and can turn the tides of a fight especially when used to assist players in the fan-favorite capture the flag mode visually Call of Duty 3 was not only a huge step up for betray arks previous game but a noticeable improvement over infinity ward's Call of Duty 2 environments offers significantly more detail including an impressive amount of grass sprites more detailed character models and much smoother emotion but despite these improvements Call of Duty 3 was the last game to be built on trailers internal and GL engine as the studio would later adopt Infinity Ward's code and build off of it instead critically Call of Duty 3 was well-received reviewers praised the game for its beautiful presentation engaging narrative and expanded multiplayer modes the game managed to sell extremely well likely as a result of returning fans from call to d2 in addition to the new market from early PlayStation 3 in Nintendo Wii adopters again just like call of duty to call duty threes early financial success was a major part of what helped the series grow and why the next main line channel from infinity award would prove to be such a monumental success but before we get to that Activision had a small studio called amaze entertainment create a title for the PlayStation Portable called call of duty roads to victory roads to victory features three different campaigns set around operation Market Garden because of the limited Hardware rose to victory features a much more slimmed down version of the Call of Duty experience with very linear level designs that could be completed pretty quickly first can still equip classic World War 2 era weaponry and blast Nazis away but the experience fails to deliver the same level of immersion and quality that fans have come to expect from the series the game received mixed reviews was some noting but the AI was a laughably bad though considering the platform is designed for roast of victory still looks fairly impressive ed would only continue to expand on the franchise's growing to reach in the market after releasing the original call duty in chess and 3 Infinity Ward was already eager to move away from the world war 2 setting and try their hands at a game based in present day but it wasn't until after called Duty 2 and its massive success on the Xbox 360 that the team was able to finally pursue this Modern Warfare concept after work on call duty 2 wrapped up the team at Infinity Ward which now consisted of upwards of a hundred employees began working on tweaking the game engine resulting in a significantly more powerful iw 3.0 the developers incorporated an exhaustive list of new visual tweaks and effects including more dynamic physics enhanced lighting more effects like particles and smoke and substantially more lines of script a move that resulted in a massive leap forward in terms of cinematic presentation just like with Cod 2 Infinity Ward sent out a team of researchers to gather reference photos and video only this time they visited a US Marine training facility called 29 palms where real live fire training exercises with actual m1 Abrams tanks are can did the team also interviewed several individual Marines and hired specialists to come in and consult on animation designs in order to ensure that their first foray into the modern era was as authentic as possible after the initial year of development the team looked back at what they had created and were collectively unimpressed most of the missions they had created featured small-scale infiltrations and SpecOps based action it was certainly unique but failed to really deliver on the core principle of the Call of Duty franchise Infinity Ward stripped away a large portion of the game and practically started over adding more large-scale battles while preserving some of the missions that they felt were unique and special additionally the game's multiplayer was given an extra level of effort this time around with the specialized team assigned to work on it from day one as opposed to being second priority like in the past the result of these decisions culminated into one of the most influential video games of the last console generation called duty 4 modern warfare Call of Duty 4 takes place in the year 2011 with a group of Russian ultra-nationalist attempting to restore the Soviet Union to its former perceived glory and a coup d'etat in an unnamed middle-eastern City resulting in a live execution of its president throwing the world into chaos in response to the execution the United States deploys a platoon of Marines to secure the separatist leader Khalid Al Asad where they are forced to fight to the streets using high-end weaponry and heavy armor and air support meanwhile the British SAS runs several special operations in parallel in an attempt to not only identify al-assad's true location and also track down the source of a nuclear device found on a ship in the Bering Strait the story is the first entirely fictional plot in the franchise though many of the action sequences throughout the campaign borrow heavy influence from modern war films especially Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down this games much more cinematic approach to storytelling also plays a major role in how the game plays missions now range from classic all-out open warfare to more slow-paced tactical stealth sequences including the landmark all Gili DUP that sees players sneaking around the remains of Pythia and bypassing soviet soldiers with some brilliantly scripted set pieces the basic gameplay mechanics were also improved upon tenfold all the best gameplay mechanics introduced to the series so far were taken and redesigned in order to improve the the experience the sprinting from united offensive for example was reintroduced and now shows the characters weapon bobbing around on the screen giving a better sense of inertia the grenade throw back from cod 3 functions much faster allowing players to use the mechanic more effectively call duty 4 also introduces several new game-changing features including bullet penetration that allows players to shoot through various surfaces and kill enemies on the other side thanks to the new modern setting all the weapons are completely unique from past Cod games with m4s aks and 50 calibre snipers all with various attachments like scoops and underbarrel grenade launchers to make them more useful where's can toss flashbangs to clear rooms fire javelin launchers to neutralize armor and even take control of a powerful ac-130 gunship and then of course there's the revolutionary competitive multiplayer mode which introduces April bust progression system and a heavier focus on infantry based arena combat players now earn points for scoring kills and capturing objectives which are then applied to that players overall rank with certain rank milestones unlocking additional weapons and the ability to customize low deaths to suit a preferred play style players can select unlocked weapons grenades and can even equip specialized perks that grant gameplay benefits like fast for reload increased bullet penetration and faster fire rate this on top of the ability to unlock additional attachments on a per weapon basis greatly incentivizes players to continue playing round after round a design that's at the heart of what makes call duties multiplayer so enduring cod4 also officially introduced the kill streak to the series which rewards players for successive kills with powerful air support including an aerial UAV to spot targets an airstrike and a devastating helicopter that will fly over the map and automatically target enemy players visually cod form marked a new era for the call duty series thanks to the engines ability for normal mapping character models were able to be detailed significantly more without needing as many polygons as in call duty 2 in order to capture the movement of soldiers more authentically Infinity Ward decides to deduce motion capture technology for the first time thanks to this implementation the characters and call duty for realistically Chernykh corners take cover blind fire and even stack up on walls like Marines on top of the improved animations cod4 also features a ton more particle and physics based effects making each environment feel more visceral and dynamic firefights in the streets are brought to life thanks to lingering smoke from burning vehicles and tons of debris that react to any nearby explosions Infinity Ward had put an excessive amount of work into the original modern warfare resulting in one of the most visually impressive games of 2007 and their hard work paid off as called 84 was both critically and financially an absolute massive success reviewers praised the game for its top quality campaign and highly addictive multi-part component despite releasing in November called duty for ended up being one of the highest selling video games in 2007 with over three million copies sold by the end of the year most of which were purchased for the Xbox 360 providing further evidence of Call of Duty twos positive effect on the franchise's relationship with the platform unfortunately the PC version didn't sell quite as well as the game was later revealed to have been widely distributed illegally via piracy websites something that most likely would result in the franchise's shift away from its strong PC centric roots still Call of Duty 4 was a monumental success and not only helped to determine the direction that the franchise would take for several years to come but has even influenced hundreds of other major game franchises many multiplayer modes soon began to adapt similar design elements like progression systems unlockable weapons and attachments character perks and even killstreak rewards and while this arguably has resulted in a decline of quality in a number of beloved game franchises it undoubtedly pushed the gaming industry into a new era for better or for worse hot on the heels of the revolutionary call 2d for charit was up to bat with another mainline entry to the series but unlike Infinity Ward Treyarch were convinced that the world war 2 era still had plenty of stories to tell and decide to build yet another experience set in the 1940s but instead of using their ngl engine cherrick instead built their game off of the refined IW 3.0 used to make Call of Duty 4 this allowed them more time to better realize their vision of a gritty authentic interpretation of some of the most brutal and underutilized battles in the war just like with modern warfare jarick send out teams to not only research the various settings for the game but also record new audio for all the weapons in hopes of creating the most authentic World War 2 shooter game in the franchise after two years of development Jarek released their final foray into world war ii with called duty world at war rolled it war focuses on two main theatres of the war the Pacific and the Eastern European front the game opens with players taking control of US Marine privates eemiller on make an island in the Pacific campaign this scene immediately sets the tone of the game as world of war is easily one of the darkest most mature entries in the series throughout the campaign private Miller and his unit pushed their way through heavily entrenched enemies fend off Banzai charges and use flamethrowers and bazookas to clear enemy encampments the other half of the campaign focuses on Dimitri Petrenko on the Russian front the Eastern European campaign begins with another dark and brutal scene inspired almost entirely from the sniper sequence an enemy at the gates it's here that Dimitri meets sergeant Victor Rezanov one of treks most iconic characters in the series as the game unfolds Dimitri continues to fight alongside Rezanov and participates in the recapturing of salan grad and eventually the capture of Berlin offering a new interpretation of the same sequences Infinity Ward had created in the original game while in Berlin the game presents a few choices which test the moral compass of the player like deciding whether to execute a group of surrendering German soldiers world at war features a uniquely dark tone when compared to the rest of the franchise thanks largely in part to the music design and visual art direction often depicting atrocities and making the player question their own actions a philosophy that would go on to shape on one of the design choices and charity titles moving forward rule de Bourgh's gameplay shares a lot in common with Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 including a similar focus on more scripted action sequences and the same smooth and functional gunplay mechanics only they're incorporated around the returning world war 2 setting available weapons once again include m1 Garands thompson SMGs and fg42 s only they now feel more powerful thanks to the implemented gibb system and the return of called 2d force bullet penetration roulade war also includes a reworked flamethrower similar to the one used and united offensive allows players to burn enemies out of the fortified bunkers and light vegetation on fire to force them out of hiding the Japanese soldiers in the Pacific side of the campaign offer a unique challenge to players with several unusual guerrilla tactics like Banzai charges dangerous traps and plenty of deadly ambushes meanwhile the Russian side of the campaign offers another heavily scripted sniper mission similar to all kill it up in addition to several missions that see the Nazis playing a much more defensive and weakened role than in the past as the enraged Russian forces overwhelmed the positions and brutally execute any survivors they find the multiplayer component borrows heavily from call to d4 with a similar player progression system loadout customization player perks and killstreaks only all these are reworked to fit the game's theme weapons for example can now be equipped with things like aperture sights and rusty bayonets to extend their melee range perks like juggernaut and sleight of hand return but new perks are introduced like gas masks and shades to protect for the new special grenades world amour also reintroduces vehicles to the multiplayer vine players to control tanks on some of the larger maps and can now equip unique vehicle perks to improve their performance districts were also tweet with the UAV now being referred to as the recon plane the airstrike being replaced with the powerful artillery strike and the helicopter now taking the form of a pack of dogs that automatically run around the level and viciously attack enemy players but world at Wars most defining feature is its new cooperative modes world at war is the first title in the series to feature a cooperative campaign experience allowing players to play through the missions together but the most popular new feature first introduced with world at war is the secret bonus in Nazi Zombies wave based survival mode in this mode players either alone or with their friends need to survive a wave after wave of attacks from undead nazi zombies that will spawn outside the playable zone and try to breach through various walls and boarded up windows players start off with a weak handgun and kind of lock more powerful weapons with points earned from killing zombies and repairing defenses whereas can also spend their points to open blocked pathways and access more of a level and even try their luck at the mystery crane that will randomly select a weapon to help fight off the Horde this mode which Treyarch had added very late in development as an Easter egg has become another major pillar of the Call of Duty series like the past several called duty games Trek offered additional downloadable map packs for purchase on PSN and the Xbox Marketplace with PC players able to download the maps for free a month after release but because of the inclusion of the new expansive zombie experience the map packs became a much more popular purchase for fans of the series something that Activision would strongly push for over the course of the next decade visually rolled it warm makes use of a lot of the benefits offered with IW 3.0 it also takes a completely different artistic approach environments are darker and more grim and the game's new core system greatly enhances this more disturbing direction to emphasize the devastating power of the game's flamethrower Cherokee expanded on the visual effects to allow for more realistic fire propagation in addition to higher-quality flame effects and explosions the final presentation isn't quite as visually pleasing as Call of Duty 4 mainly because of its washed out color scheme and less physics space props in the environment but the art design is certainly one of the more unique and interesting in the franchise's history wilded war was met with mostly positive reviews reviewers applauded Trek for the more dark and grim interpretation of the war and loved the way it introduced interesting questions about morality to the narrative others praised the game for its inclusion of a full cooperative mode in addition to the addicting zombie survival but at the same time fans of call to d4 complained about the reverse direction of the series confused over the decision to return to the already oversaturated World War 2 era others complain about gameplay related issues including the dog kill streak poor multiplayer spawns and the implementation of tanks still thanks to the momentum built up from call to d4 world at war still managed to sell remarkably well with over 2.75 million copies sold one more success further cemented Treyarch as a force to be reckoned with and established an interesting schism in the fan community with some players preferring infinity ward's clean and refined modern warfare approach while others preferred chairs gritty story oriented experiences and signature zombie mode either way Activision was pleased with the results and the new year on year off development cycle rhythm not only provided each team enough to innovate and expand on their formula but also continue to build upon the serious legacy within the industry immediately after work had wrapped up on Call of Duty 4 Infinity Ward had begun working on the sequel which was set to be bigger and more impressive in just about every way the first step was to once again redesigned the game engine resulting in iw 4.0 which allowed for much larger environments improved lighting effects and less scripted artificial intelligence after the exhaustive work that was required for scripting the alga lead up sequence it was decided early on that the AI would need to be designed differently leaving behind the old method of having enemies spawn in and rushed to various points of cover infinitely never replacing them with AI that actually hunt the player down creating missions that played differently every time character and weapon models were also reworked to appear more crisp and clean and motion capture technology was once again utilized to build on the already extensive library of animation loops introduced previously a year later only a few months after tre arks world at war release Activision announced the follow-up to the modern warfare series called called duty modern warfare 2 a title that propelled the franchise to an entirely unprecedented level of Fame and popularity modern warfare 2 takes place a few years after the events of Call of Duty 4 with the death of Imran ckf only strengthening the ultra-nationalist grip on Russia further escalating tensions between the world superpowers in an effort to spark a third world war the camp's right-hand man Vladimir Makarov stages a terrorist attack against Russian civilians at an airport and then frames an undercover American operative convincing the Russians to launch a massive retaliatory invasion of the United States meanwhile the British spec ops unit known as task force 141 travels across the globe to discover the truth about the incident only to discover a much more insidious plot at the core of it all modern warfare 2 story marks the start of a new era for storytelling in the Call of Duty franchise missions are now more bombastic and exciting than ever before with massive set pieces and unbelievable stunts that favour excitement over authenticity missions once again borrow heavily from popular action in war films including more scenes rip street from Black Hawk Down the rock several James Bond films cliffhanger and of course Red Dog the story overall is much more ambitious and is arguably one of the most memorable in the series though the most important topic regarding this game's story is the controversial no Russian mission this mission allows players to partake in Makarov smash shooting at the Russian airport while the player is in no way forced to shoot at civilians and can even skip the mission entirely if they choose it's still sparked major controversy across the industry with many criticizing the game for its unnecessary inclusion modern warfare 2's gameplay shares a lot in common with the previous modern warfare with plenty of scripted action epic battles and an emphasis on making use of advanced weaponry to defeat enemies but unlike cod for mana warfare 2 features much larger level environments allowing players to once again approach mission objectives from slightly different angles and the improvements to the enemy AI allow for a more varied experience greatly improving the campaign's replayability throughout the campaign letters make use of a number of unique devices and weapons including a side mounted heartbeat sensor automatic deployable sentry turrets and breaching charges that allow players to stack up with AI teammates and blast through doorways to neutralize enemies in slow motion while all unique and interesting new mechanics many of these features only appear once or twice throughout the campaign though the sheer volume of different tools and weapons keeps modern warfare 2 interesting all throughout this game also introduced a separate mode called spec ops spec ops missions offer a unique three-star rating system that grates the quench performance on a per mission basis greatly encouraging experimentation and replayability but it's the game's multiplayer that really steals the show everything from the weapons and kill streaks to the player customization has been reworked giving players significantly more incentive to play weapons now feature an unprecedented amount of weapon attachments with players able to use perks to apply more than one attachment for the first time in the series perks are also expanded upon with unlockable perk upgrades that enhance their effects like extending the reach of the knife attack using the infamous commando Pro another major change is to the kill streak system that now gives players the option to choose between 15 different kill streak rewards each with their own required kill numbers first can equip the same old UAV airstrikes an attack helicopter but can now swap them out for new killstreaks like predator missiles the ac-130 and of course most famous of all the tactical nuke that after an impressive 25 kill streak allows a player to end the match instantly killing everyone on the map other changes include the ability to dual wield certain weapons new customisable emblems and player cards to help players identify who had killed them more easily and a much more extensive list of unlockable weapon skins one or more for to extraordinary expansion to the multiplayer helped to stimulate the growing player community and with the rise of user created content on platforms like YouTube the series began to encourage this sort of dragging mentality with players decking out their characters with vanity weapon cosmetics and fighting tooth and nail to achieve powerful kill streets and be featured in the newly implemented final killcam this mentality mixed with the increased popularity of the series and the wide-reaching accessibility on the console platform helps to promote the more competitive and often toxic multiplayer experience that's become synonymous with the franchise a trend that has progressed further into other franchises throughout the course of the past decade Modern Warfare 2 also marks another major step forward in the visual Department thanks to the increased efficiency of iw4 point nose texture streaming the levels are much larger allowing for more impressive action set-pieces like the battle on the National Mall enemy AI now behaves more unpredictably making fights in areas like the favela more chaotic and challenging other changes include higher-quality weapon and character models an expanded library of animations several reword HUD elements and more physics based props making fire fights feel even more intense modern warfare 2 was massively successful and marked a steep increase in popularity for the growing first-person shooter series the game was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews in line with the original game with many noting the exciting single-player campaign the robust multiplayer features improved graphics and the overall well polished gameplay experience the game managed to sell a staggering 9 million copies with them only in the first 5 days easily making it the best-selling game of 2009 though not everyone was happy with the game unlike every Infinity Ward created call of duty prior mana war / toospicy release does not be native support for mods dedicated servers or even an easy way to access the developer console additionally mana war for two is the first title in the series to not offer free downloadable content to PC players marking a major turning point in the series for fans of the once PC friendly franchise others criticize the game for its controversial no Russian mission citing actual real world tragedies like the 2011 Norway attacks as an indirect result of its inclusion still despite this major controversy modern warfare 2 was a landmark success and propelled the Call of Duty series to an unprecedented level of popularity among the gaming community shortly after the release of world at war tragg began development on a new title in 2009 built using a slightly improved iteration of the IW 3.0 engine just like before the time saved not having to worry about reworking a game engine gave Turk the time to write out a more compelling narrative while also expanding on the well-received multiplayer and refining gameplay elements to appeal to the fanbase only a few days prior to the release of modern warfare 2 activision revealed at a fiscal earning call that charity would deliver a call to d7 in 2010 after months of various leaks hinting at the title being set during the Cold War check revealed hull duty black ops which would go on to release in the fall of the same year call duty black ops throws out the rulebook when it comes to his narrative approach for a call duty game and centers mostly around a single character named Alex Mason who was strapped into a chair in an interrogation room forced to recount the events of his time fighting in various major cold war-era conflicts including the Bay of Pigs the Battle of Khe Sahn the Tet Offensive and various undercover special operation missions in Laos Hong Kong and the former Soviet Union throughout the story Mason is accompanied by several iconic characters including Jason Hudson sergeant Frank woods and the returning Victor Rezanov establishing a direct connection to the events of tracks previous rule of war black ops is famous for its well written tale of espionage and action and features some of the most profound twists in the whole of the call duty franchise while also perpetuating the trend established by Infinity Ward of building levels around unique scripted gameplay mechanics in an emphasis on an excessive amount of explosions which at this point are just happening around the character for no reason why also perpetuates the series obsession with replicating popular films only this time borrows from the likes of deer hunter Full Metal Jacket Apocalypse Now and even some James Bond films to round out the more top secret agent stuff black ops again doesn't do much to mix up the design of the movement in control though is the first title in the series to implement the dolphin dive allowing players to dive into the prone position to avoid incoming fire black ops also leans into its unique Cold War setting by introducing a plethora of mid century weapons including the ak-47 the spas-12 automatic shotgun and even less conventional weapons like a ballistic night and an explosive tip crossbow the multiplayer expands on this new arsenal even more with a ton of new gadgets and killstreaks that border on the ridiculous including remote-control explosive cars camera picks to watch around corners and a portable minigun called the death machine that can be used to completely decimate the battlefield other notable kill streaks include napalm strikes the sr-71 Blackbird the return of world at Wars infamous dogs and the semi controllable gunship allowing players to shoot at enemies from a helicopter high in the sky black ops also features a reworked unlock system that allows players to have more control over the weapons and items they want to unlock players can also customize character outfits equip more weapon skins show off stats with the new player cards create their own player emblem and record matches using theater mode to more easily share their favorite moments Black Ops also introduces the first official bot support for private matches allowing players to easily play the game's multiplayer component without the intensity of a live match other new modes include wager matches that allow players to bet hard-earned Cod points on unique competitive modes like gun game one in the chamber and sticks and stones adding a fun twist to the multiplayer suite cherrick also greatly expanded on the fan favorite zombie survival mode with two new maps had launched along with additional maps being included with the season pass unlike the first view zombie maps in world of war zombies and black ops greatly expands on the story component offering players the opportunity to uncover more detail about the four playable characters while also expanding slightly of what caused the outbreak to begin with black ops much like modern warfare 2 before it features an exhaustive list of features giving players even more ways to play and even sees the pattern of a dedicated server browser for the PC along with full native controller support for the first time in the series visually Treyarch employed similar techniques infinity board had utilized when creating model warfare - including an improved texture streaming process to allow from larger level environments in some rebirth lighting effects one of the biggest improvements incorporating - black ops though was the advanced motion capture used to generate the various character facial expressions for the more dramatic narrative sequences this is a key component of the game's presentation that allows for much more emotionally charged moments necessary to tell cherish story call of duty black ops received generally positive reviews across most major gaming news publications many of which praised the game for its engaging narrative and improvements to the multiplayer however black ops wasn't received quite as positively as the previous game with some complaining about various technical issues while others faulted the direction of the gameplay stating that the experience was becoming repetitive and feeling more and more like an on-rails shooter despite these issues it would establish a launch date record for most units sold within 24 hours and managed to outsell Modern Warfare 2 by over 2 million copies within the same initial 5 day period black ops was incredibly well marketed with the first full-length trailer airing during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and a gameplay demo headlining the opening of III 2010 as such sales would remain strong as the worldwide revenue would surpassed 1 billion within the first few months and would cement itself as one of the highest selling Call of Duty games in the franchise's history only a few days after the release of 2009 s modern warfare 2 infinity board had begun development on the third and final entry to the modern warfare trilogy however ahead of an anticipated royalty payment from modern warfare 2 Activision fired Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella who in response launched a lawsuit against the publisher accusing them of an attempted takeover of the studio the resulting disagreement triggered a massive fallout of key developers from the Infinity Ward development team prompting Activision to bring into the fold series newcomer sledgehammer games flood chamber had begun working with Activision in 2009 it was in the process of making a third-person Call of Duty game set during the Vietnam War but after the unexpected Infinity Ward fallout they were brought on board to help develop the final modern warfare title alongside Raven Software and the remaining members of Infinity Ward focused primarily on the game's multiplayer the resulting title was 2011's call of duty modern warfare 3 the final title in the groundbreaking modern warfare trilogy modern warfare 3 takes place immediately after the events of modern warfare 2 with the injured captain soap MacTavish being extracted via helicopter by price and their friend Nikolai the player assumes the role of Nikolai's friend Yuri Lube has his own score to settle with Makarov meanwhile the American forces on the east coast of the United States continue their fight with the invading Russian forces eventually pushing them back and opening potential peace talks between the two nations the action then turns to Europe where Makarov uses chemical weapons to take control of several European cities prompting a retaliatory strike from the United States and its allies the story of modern warfare 3 revolves heavily around locating two captured Russian president and his daughter in an effort to put a stop to Mack Roth's plans for global domination this story provides the opportunity for players to participate in absolutely massive world war 3 based scenarios including a battle on the streets of New York City Paris London and Germany along with plenty of intense sequences in Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula once again borrowing thematic elements from the likes of popular action films from a gameplay perspective modern warfare 3 offers very little new to the formula practically everything offered in previous modern warfare titles makes a return including many of the same weapons attachments and mechanics however because of the stories larger scope everything about model warfare 3 feels more grandiose battle sequences are stretched out longer with almost comically over-the-top fireplace in iconic locations things that were previously novel like the ac-130 gunship predator missile launcher and scripted sniper sequences are recycled back into the mix often featuring more targets to shoot at but there are still a few minor things that are unique to modern warfare 3 like a ground-based remote-controlled tank new attachments like the hybrid sight and a few tweaks to the multiplayer modes spec ops returns only in addition to the two-player missions players can also participate in a survival mode that drops players into multiplayer maps and test them with surviving ways Hostel infantry all with varying weapons and tactics mw3 multiplayer also received several changes the biggest change is the reworked killstreak system which is now referred to as a point streak while successive kill still unlocked powerful support like gunships and Predator drones pers can now earn those rewards by completing objectives as well greatly encouraging players to focus on objectives and the modes outside of the piper team deathmatch on top of this the point streaks are now broken up into three separate Strike Packages assault support and specialist but aside from some new kill streaks slightly reworked weapon progression and additional modes maddewar for three's multiplayer offers very little to mix up the formula graphically mw3 made only marginal improvements the developers tweaked the game engine used previously in order to improve the efficiency of the texture streaming resulting in the much larger single-player environments other improvements include enhanced audio allowing for more realistic reverb modern warfare 3 received mostly positive reviews with many praising the satisfying narrative conclusion to the series however a few publications commented that the game scripted set pieces were beginning to lose their luster and the multiplayer while still just as addicting and well polished as the past few entries failed to innovate enough to set itself apart it's also important to note that around this time Electronic Arts had decided to push back against the franchise that was indirectly borne from them with aggressive advertisements for dices highly anticipated battlefield 3 using slogans like above and beyond the call in an attempt to attract fans of the Call of Duty franchise this combined with a negative reputation that the Call of Duty franchise had inherited regarding its online player base culminated into a new rivalry between the two intellectual properties one that continues to persist to this day and while battlefield 3 was well received and was subjectively a good game these efforts did little to hurt the reputation of Call of Duty as modern warfare 3 dominated the sales charts once again proving the profitability of Infinity Ward's military shooter formula throughout the development of modern warfare 3 Treyarch had been hard at work on their next project one that was intended to address the growing concern over the lack of innovation associated with the franchise Treyarch not afraid to innovate decided to take the franchise completely out of its comfort zone and set the game's narrative in the near future with a heavy focus on high-tech futuristic weaponry and deadly drones the result was 2012 call of duty black ops 2 the final title in the series built primarily for the old gen Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and the first entry to be released for the Nintendo Wii U black ops 2 takes place throughout the course of two different time periods the 1980s and the futuristic 2025 during the 1980s timeline players assume the role of returning main protagonist Alex Mason who along with woods and Hudson are in pursuit of a deadly arms dealer named Raul Menendez Menendez his art could be one of the most compelling villains ever introduced to the series as he always seems to be a few steps ahead of the heroes and thanks to a flashback sequence explaining his resentment towards the United States the player is given a better understanding of his motivation making for a more dynamic character the game's narrative also saws forward in time to the year 2025 and follows Mason's son David who along the squad of Navy SEALs attempts to track down Menendez who's gone on to form his own private military called the Cortez dia and commits several large-scale cyber attacks in an attempt to force the world into a new cold war unlike all previous Call of Duty campaigns black ops 2 offers a substantial amount of player choice players not only have the option to customize their weapon loadout and kit before each mission but are also given the opportunity to make major pot based decisions that can directly influence the narrative additionally players can partake in new Strikeforce missions that drop the player into a repurposed multiplayer map and force them to complete basic objectives in an effort to change the outcome of the story this new emphasis on player choice along with the well-written dynamic narrative encourages repeat playthroughs made even more enjoyable by the refined gameplay mechanics while still very much the same as Past called duty games on the surface black ops 2 offers a number of new gameplay mechanics built around its new futuristic setting weapons range from basic aks and m16s in the 1980s to new futuristic variants of real-world weapons like the m8a1 m27 and an-94 additionally guns can be equipped with more advanced attachments like the target finder and the millimeter scanner site that can highlight enemies directly through cover where's not only need to contend with the standard human soldiers but occasionally are also forced to fight various drone enemies and are even given control of a futuristic jet fighter at one point later in the game by cops two's multiplayer also features a number of major changes most notably the redesign of the low-tech customization feature similar to black ops one players are rewarded with points to unlock preferred weapons and attachments more freely but this is simplified more with player points being replaced with unlocked tokens making it easier to customize classes for preferred play styles additionally weapon customization is not limited to the pick-ten system where every single equipped item including weapons perks and attachments now count as one of 10 available slots this allows players to pick and choose more freely how they want to customize their character whereas for example can put all the points towards a weapon souping it up with several different compatible attachments at the expense of using any perks alternatively rares can drop the weapons altogether focusing entirely on fast-moving abilities for players that feel that they only need a knife to be competitive speaking of which black ops 2 also introduces a new matchmaking system called league play that lets players participate in placement matches that will then in turn assign a skill division offering a more balanced experience the addition of this optional mode marks another major turning point for the series as a competitive atmosphere of the call duty franchise would only continue to impact the design choices moving forward especially in terms of the map design black ops 2 also sees the third iteration of the fan-favorite zombie mode and while it bears most of the same concepts from before is significally more complex this time around the primary map for the zombie mode is called transit which offers essentially three different playable arenas within a single session players can either choose to stay at the initial station or can board a bus that can safely escort players through a deadly fog filled with creatures called denizens but even when in motion will need to defend against the zombie horde players can even store collected points and weapons at set points throughout the map allowing for a slight advantage when replaying visually black ops 2 is a major improvement over tracks previous game thanks to the numerous tweaks and reworks applied to the old IW 3.0 engine allowing for improved lighting and shadow effects black ops 2 like it assessors was met with positive reception reviewers neared the more open in the nature of the game single-player in addition to the improved multi-part components however several reviewers criticized the game story for being too confusing and glorifying violence and a way that other shooter games were beginning to move away from the games choice based narrative received a bit of a mixed response with many finding it to be unnecessary still black ops 2 once again managed to sell a record-breaking number of units with over 8 million copies sold within the first 24 hours and only a few days after release Activision announced that the Call of Duty franchise as a whole have managed to surpass the theatrical grosses of several major motion-picture franchises including Harry Potter and Star Wars showing that while public opinion on online forums was becoming increasingly negative towards the series called Diddy was showing no sign of fatigue in the industry as the developers set their sights on the upcoming next-generation in the wake of the model war / - legal dispute that resulted in a massive reconfiguration of the studio Infinity Ward pressed on with their first next-generation project the title revealed to be a completely new Call of Duty experience aimed to reinvigorate the stagnating franchise with vastly improved graphics reworked animations and several tweaks to make the experience feel more interactive after a few weeks suggesting that the game would be a prequel to the modern warfare series following fan favorite Reilly ghost of modern warfare 2 Activision confirmed that the new title would be a standalone experience that was intended to branch out into a next generation trilogy one of the biggest selling points early on was the inclusion of an advanced AI controlled dog named Riley that was captured using sophisticated motion capture technology in order to behave more naturally than the wild enemy dogs featured in the past additionally the games reveal showcased a number of technical improvements including advanced ground tessellation high quality lighting and infamously dynamic AI fish in the fall of 2013 call of duty ghosts was released alongside the launch of both the Xbox one and PlayStation 4 in addition to old gen releases a few weeks earlier to eat in the franchise's transition Call of Duty ghosts takes place in an alternate near future where the world supply of oil is severely limited after an nuclear war has practically annihilated all the middle-east in response a massive coalition of South American countries unite and begin to push north towards the United States in order to weaken the USS defenses the federation hijack an orbital super weapon called odin and use it in a massive attack forcing the two global powers into a decade-long war meanwhile a team of American spec ops called the ghost not to be confused with ubisoft's own spec ops team of the same name work together to neutralize a broke soldier from the unit that is assisting the federation in their fight players take on the role of one of these ghosts named Logan Walker who along with his brother father and their pet German Shepherd Riley travel around the ruins of the southwestern United States in an effort to put a stop to the war before it gets out of hand the narrative features a lot of the same mission structure and designs prayers come to expect from the series including a heavy reliance on one-time use items and scripted set pieces and while there's plenty of intense action and even some compelling plot points it's ultimately a less memorable story than infinity ward's past trilogy call duty ghost does feature a few new gameplay mechanics to the series offering more fluid movement and slightly more dynamic action pirates can now vault smoothly over waste hide cover without losing the ability to fire their weapon and could slide into a catch for the first time in the series ghosts also reintroduces the ability to lean around corners an ability offered in all PC call duty games prior to modern warfare 2 but the mechanic is limited to cover that players are standing close to with small arrow icons indicating that aiming down sights will trigger the function automatically likely in response to the battlefield franchise's more tactile CQB takedowns cod ghost replaces the old knife swiping animation with a new stabbing animation that adjusts the player's view so that the attack connects with the character model more appropriately because of the game's more apocalyptic take on the future the weapons haven't seen the same sort of sci-fi enhancements found in black ops 2 though there are a few cool new attachments like a hybrid thermal sight and some interesting new weapons never introduced to the series before large-scale scripted battle sequences still make up a major part of the campaign but there are a few new unique moments including underwater and space combat and sequences where players can remotely control Riley but the multiplayer features even more interesting changes levels this time around are much larger than the past making weapons like sniper rifles assault rifles and marksman rifles more common choices though the smaller scale environments do offer plenty of obstacles encouraging the use of the new increased mobility options like vaulting and sliding some levels even feature dynamic properties allowing prayers to blow up walls at predetermined points or close gates to close off access strike packages from Modern Warfare 3 also make a return including a new iteration of the tactical nuke called the Kem strike that not only kills everyone on the map instantly it also changes the terrain on select levels goose also features additional character customization options allowing prayers to change out the appearance of their character in the multiplayer mode and even selected female character models for the first time in the series the games offline bot mode has also been expanded upon with more intelligent a add to behave more naturally in addition to a new mode called squads that lets players set up a sort of fantasy league of similarly skilled bots to fight each other to make up for the lack of the cooperative spec ops missions ghost also introduces extinction a sort of twist on track zombie mode only with aliens instead ghosts most notable improvements though or to its graphical design ghost is built using yet another updated engine this time referred to as iw 6.0 next-gen this next-gen engine allows for a number of enhanced visual effects including realistic smoke water simulation reworked character animations improved lighting and even some advanced hair physics to make the firaon riley appear realistic the resulting presentation is a noticeable improvement over passage to the series though unfortunately it's still a major step behind the competition with dices battlefield 4 setting the bar extraordinarily high on top of this the game's performance is more unstable and the reworked animation and movement design offer a slightly more stiff feel to the gameplay call duty ghosts received a mix of average reviews marking an uncharacteristic drop in quality for the legendary franchise many reviewers praised the various changes like the smooth vaulting entertaining campaign and the new extinction mode but many complained that the title did very little to innovate on the already stale concept the next generation consoles offered the opportunity for the series to take on a new form but instead they opted to only make marginal tweaks likely afraid of anything that would threaten their continued success the game also received a ton of negative attention including memes about the dynamic fish AI on top of a viral video that demonstrated a recycled cutscene animation from an older game only further fueling the idea that the franchise refused to innovate ghosts also failed to deliver the same sales numbers as to Eric's black ops 2 a metric that Activision blamed on the transition to the next generation consoles with the future of call duty at stake it was now up to sledgehammer to write the course after the team finished working on modern warfare 3 they began to rework the IW 5.0 engine from the ground up leaving only a minor fraction of the original code intact the additional year of time made possible by the newly introduced 3-year development cycle allowed sledgehammer to create their own dedicated game engine allowing for completely unique animations high-quality lighting and completely reworked audio but sledgehammer didn't stop there as they intended to tweak the stale gameplay formula into something completely different adding in their own vision of the future and redesigning the core mechanics heavily around it the resulting game was 2014's call duty advanced warfare advanced warfare takes place in the distant future istic year of 2055 where things like giant walking tanks and soldiers equipped with powerful exosuits are commonplace players assume the role of u.s. marine private mitchell who after being critically injured during a mission in korea is recruited by a private military called atlas and equipped with an advanced prosthetic arm the head of Atlas who unfortunately is voiced in motion captured by the disgraced Kevin Spacey assigns Mitchell to a team of advanced soldiers who proceed to hunt down a terrorist named Hades after he executes a global nuclear meltdown of apocalyptic proportions much like black ops 2 the game's narrative is expanded upon significantly using high quality pre-rendered cutscenes between levels giving sledgehammer more opportunity to build on the characters and the relationships between each other though this also inadvertently slows down the pacing in a that used to focus primarily on excessive over-the-top action in fact advanced Warfare's action feels incredibly different from past titles most missions involve smaller scale skirmishes with powerful soldiers with an increased emphasis on verticality and the use of advanced equipment practically every mission introduces several unique sci-fi gadgets like magnetic gloves to climb walls mute charges to surprise enemies undetectable drones to spy on meetings or lock down a perimeter and most importantly of all the exosuit the exosuit which offers different functionality between missions gives players powerful new abilities align them to dash out of danger or boost up into the air bears can also turn invisible to avoid patrols grapple to high ledges and deploy a personal shield to block incoming rounds first can also customize their exosuit with upgrade points improving things like armor and speed advanced warfare also offers a number of new firearms each with new augmented reality interfaces to display things like ammo capacity and grenade stock not only adding a cool sci-fi look but also removing the game standard HUD elements grenades have also been reworked allowing players to swap between different effects prior to throwing like a sensor mode to target enemies through walls any smart mode that will fly automatically towards enemies and explode enemies are also equipped with high-end gear and can boost around the level and make use of high-end weapons like swarms of drones powerful tanks and the towering Goliath's that fire arm mounted mini guns and require a ton of bullets to put down levels are designed specifically with all these new gameplay changes in mind offering larger combat zones and more verticality to allow for practical use of the exosuits jumping capabilities the game's multiplayer shares a similar design philosophy with a much heavier emphasis on the exosuits and various sci-fi weaponry low tech customization features a rework of tracks pick-ten system requiring players to choose between 13 items including weapons attachments perks scorestreaks and the new exosuit abilities advanced warfare also features a spin on chairs popular zombie mode called EXO zombies though unfortunately this mode did not release with the game and is instead available through two separate downloadable DLC packs though this is the first time a zombies appears in a non Trek called duty game likely in response to the modes overwhelming popularity in terms of presentation advanced warfare is a substantial improvement over previous Call Duty titles and still looks decent today sledgehammer needs to build a slew of new animations to go along with their new exosuit gameplay mechanics and utilize a highly advanced motion capture technology to capture the likeness of actors like Spacey and the end results are incredible things like fire and smoke effects were also improved upon along with realistic lighting and much more stable performance than the last game even the audio was reworked more properly accentuated each gunshot and explosion and giving it the much-needed punch the series have been missing for so long all of the hard work that went into this paid off as advanced warfare was met with much more positive reviews journalists applauded their effort to tweak the stale gameplay formula sitting that the new exosuit added a completely new dimension to the action however this sentiment wasn't shared by everyone without le'ts like us gamer noting that the new gadgets and exosuits couldn't hide what was more of the same advanced warfare also received harsh criticism for a scene early on in the campaign where a player is told to press a button in order to pay respects to a fallen comrade sparking numerous internet memes as a result additionally sales for advanced warfare while still topping the charts of all games in 2014 failed to match that of the already less successful called duty ghosts demonstrating a steady decline in interest in the franchise after the work had completed on black ops 2 in 2012 Trek had already begun working on their next entry and for the first time were given an additional year to develop it they use this extra time to once again tweak their personal black ops engine improving the lighting and incorporating a new system of animations to improve the flow of the gameplay but unlike sledgehammers jarring exosuit boosting shark wanted to make the enhanced movement feel more like an extension of the character allowing them to move rapidly through the environment with a much more natural and smooth feel to take advantage of these new movement capabilities Jarek also decided to expand on the environments and intended to make the next black ops game a full open-world experience however about halfway through development Trek was forced to scrap the concept completely and read the campaign into the more traditional linear design in 2015 chair elites the fourth mainline title call of duty black ops 3 black ops 3 takes place 40 years after the cannon ending of black ops 2 where Menendez is killed and the Quartus day of revolt pushing the world into chaos to prevent another major drone related attack like Menendez's strike on los angeles the world's military forces evolved adapting advanced air defense systems and armies of robotic drone soldiers players take on the role of an unnamed soldier who along with his friend Hendricks operate on behalf of affection called the Winslow Accord a sort of successor to NATO after the world falls apart but after a mission in Africa goes wrong with the players arms being torn off by a robotic soldier he or she is then escorted to the Winslow accords experimental cybernetic division whether equipped with advanced prosthetic arms and a cerebral interface device called the DNI to adapt to the new arm and interface device the players trained for several years by a commander Taylor and the rest of his team of DNI enhanced soldiers the DNI is designed to allow humans to easily communicate by means of a simulated hive mind making the members of Taylor's team more efficient as a result but after five years of training the player is informed that Taylor and his team are suspected of stealing top-secret information from a CIA black site and are then tasked hunting each member of the squad down this hunt across the world makes up most of the game's narrative offering a completely different experience from other called duty games players are no longer fighting alongside a massive military force in epic battles but are instead limited to small skirmishes in addition to some incredibly weird simulation based sequences what's even more strange is that black ops 3 has practically nothing to do with the previous two black ops titles there's an occasional reference to past events but major characters like Woods and Hudson are not featured and there's no cold war-era flashbacks which have become a trademark of the IP black ops 3 also features the slowest pace of any game in the series with entire missions being drawn out with lengthy dialogue this is an incredibly odd choice considering the more fluid design of a movement in combat though this is likely a result of the removal of the planned open-world elements black ops 3 much like advanced warfare features a redesigned movement system allowing players to slide vault and boost up into the air however instead of exosuits black ops 3 Smoove Minh is made possible by a thruster pack allowing for more precise vertical control and requiring cooldowns between maneuvers players can no longer - backwards or to the sides but can now run along any smooth wall surface and can even aim their guns and fireball doing south this system is one of the smoothest and most efficient movement designs in the entire Call of Duty franchise lying for incredibly fast-paced gunplay and raising the skill gap a great deal black ops 3 offers a brand new set of futuristic weapons though they aren't quite as unbelievable as the laser guns used in advanced warfare firearms still make use of normal bullets and attachments and there's no holographic ammo counters on the weapons like in the previous game but that's because cherrick saved all their crazy sci-fi ideas for the game's new cybernetic powers throughout the campaign players will earn unlocked tokens called cyber course that could be used to enable several different powerful abilities which are split into three categories control chaos and Marshall the control tree is designed around manipulating robotic based enemies it offers abilities like taking direct control over hostile units chaos cores let players deal with groups of human enemies like setting out diversionary holograms or a deadly hive that flies around matches on to nearby enemies and burns them and the marshal cores offer more player focused abilities like adaptive camo faster movement speeds and a concussive blast these abilities when combined with the enhanced maneuverability offered by the new thruster pack turns players into unstoppable one-man armies again an odd choice for a series initially intend to avoid that very thing black ops 3 multiplayer is even more far removed while the core concepts of the classic demons like domination and TDM remain the same black ops 3 now requires players to choose from a list of specialists each with their own unique weapon or ability while these specials handle exactly the same for general movement and gunplay they're powerful specialist abilities completely change the focus of the multiplayer action specialist weapons include ruins of gravity spikes batteries grenade launcher and nomads hive mines alternatively prayers can equip more support oriented specialist abilities like profits glitch inspectors active camo when used properly these weapons and abilities can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of a match and give players who are having a bad round a chance to more easily have a comeback especially when combined with new score streaks like the Rolling Thunder GI unit and the wraps which function just like the classic dogs but roll towards enemy players and explode on impact black ops 3 multiplayer maps are designed much more strongly around the standard competitive 3 lane structure offering very little variety outside of the new wall running feature a decision that would be adopted into feature called duty games for several years afterwards in addition to the competitive action black ops 3 also sees the return of four player co-op in the main campaign and even offers players a chance to customize the character's appearance weapons and personal bedroom in a small hub area ahead of each mission on top of this black ops 3 also sees the fourth iteration of cherished classic zombie survival mode the initial map release with the game is called shadows of evil which features a ton of unique gameplay mechanics including gobblegum machines new enemy types and an insane amount of secret trials and easter eggs the absurdity of this version of the zombie mode demonstrates just how far this mode has come though the exhaust a list of gameplay mechanics do make the mode less accessible as a result black ops 3 is trey arks first title in the series since black ops 2 and therefore the first century by Treyarch to be made for the next generation consoles as such chuck focused a great deal of time on updating their engine allowing them to more easily rework the animations improve the lighting and introduced new water simulation effects due to memory limitations of the older hardware chuck didn't include the games campaign on the ps3 or xbox 360 marking the end of the franchise for the old gen platforms black ops 3 had a lot going against it like the developers need to scrap the planned open-world campaign the major changes to the multiplayer structure the complex zombie mode and the lack of full support for the old consoles but despite all that sharks still managed to pull together a quality game black ops 2 you've received generally positive reviews with sites like IGN praising the game for its sheer volume of content though others criticized the game for doing enough to innovate and also fall to the campaign for feeling less like black ops and more like a retelling of advanced warfare only with a less crowd-pleasing angle to it but thanks to smart marketing and the anticipated quality associated with the subtitle black ops 3 still sold extremely well it continued called duties winning streak once again becoming the top-selling game of the year with nearly 10 million copies sold before the end of December but this success would be short-lived as the next entry to the series would push the fan bases patience a step too far after the mixed response to Call of Duty ghosts the team at Infinity Ward decided early on that they wanted to completely reinvent the franchise addressing the growing concern regarding the franchise's stagnation this of course was their same goal when making ghosts made even more evident by the inclusion of wild combat scenarios like fighting underwater and in space these space sequences in particular were a major inspiration moving forward as the team agreed that bringing players to other planets would not only offer unique environments to fight in but would also allow for interesting new gameplay mechanics Infinity Ward then proceeded to add in similar design concepts from their partners including the movement system Trek had been working on allowing for the same style boosting and wall running after three years of development Infinity Ward revealed Call of Duty infinite warfare but the game was met with immediate criticism from fans with the trailer on YouTube receiving an unprecedented number of down votes making it one of the most disliked videos of all time fan criticisms mostly centered around the decision to release another futuristic entry to the series as most players were eager to see the series return to something more relatable however Infinity Ward was already too deep into development at this point and the game released for ps4 Xbox one and PC in the fall of 2016 infinite warfare takes place in the year 2050 for in a timeline completely independent of Past called duty games in this timeline the planet Earth has been depleted of its resources and humans are forced to begin colonizing offworld in order to survive to govern this massive expansion into the solar system several like-minded nations form the United Nations Space Alliance as a way of effectively moderating trade across the system but after disagreements between colonists on Mars reach a fevered pitch a broke action called the settlement defense front secede from the unsa and after a war between them results in a stalemate the star system enters a period of uneasy peace but after the SDF attack earth during a unsa parade war breaks out once again in the outnumbered unsa are forced to retaliate to ensure peace in the star system players assume the role of a unsa pilot named nick reyes who after the SDF surprise attack is promoted to commander and in charge of commanding the counter-offensive from here the player is given a bit freer rein than other games as they can choose which moves and plants they want to strike next and can even target optional SDF ships to [ __ ] the enemy concerning the amount of crap that this game gets the story is actually really well done and offers an interesting perspective of what mass colonization in our solar system would look like the setting doesn't go full Star Trek with it and still feels grounded in reality with vehicles and weapons that are directly inspired by existing technology and character performances are top-notch providing an interesting story focused around making difficult decisions and sacrifices infinite warfare also borrows several thematic elements from popular sci-fi movies especially Star Wars Star Trek and even the alien movies the general plot structure also bears a striking similarity to 2016's rogue one though considering the development time frame with both projects this appears to be a coincidence what's not a coincidence though is how much infinite borrows from the other futuristic cod games infinite warfare gameplay builds off of many of the same designs introduced in previous games especially black ops 3 combat and movement friskin once again equip a thruster pack and booster around environments slide across the floor and run along the walls while firing their weapons however black ops 3 score abilities did not make a return making players feel more vulnerable again players instead need to make use of futuristic equipment like anti-graft grenades automated drones and a remote hacking tool to take control of enemy robots players also need to pay closer attention to their surroundings as different planets offer their own distinct advantages and disadvantages that can be exploited to defeat more challenging groups of enemies weapons have seen a complete overhaul with more unique alternate fire options like the ability to swap between different scopes and fire rates or even split a gun into two separate smaller weapon while many of these firearms behave as you'd expect some now feature energy based ammunition allowing them to be fired in the vacuum of space this is important as infinite warfare sees the return of the space combat first introduced in Call of Duty ghosts only now players could use a grappling hook to quickly move from cover to cover and can even grapple two enemies and kill them with a brutal melee attack players can even grapple to their own personal jet fighter and then fly around shouldn't get enemy fighters in epic space battles because these jet fighters make up a large amount of the campaign experienced players can personalize their fighters with preferred weapons and liveries this can be done via the load-out system which just like black ops 3 is available prior to each mission deployment and can be used to select between weapons attachments and equipment while infinite Warfare's campaign offers plenty of new unique features its multi-part doesn't innovate nearly as much the experience is practically identical to that of black ops 3 only with specialists being replaced with the combat rig system with different rigs offering different weapons and abilities like the widespread full auto cloth and the black hole launcher this game's multiplayer also introduces health bars to opponents for the first time though the time to kill feels consistent with previous games meaning most weapons only require three to four shots to down targets infinite warfare also includes its own cooperative zombie mode marking the first time a zombie mode has been included in a non Treyarch game at launch the initial map is called zombies in space land it offers a more beginner friendly approach to the classic survival mode players need to explore a wacky amusement park and take on the role of cliche 80s teenagers as they operate park rides collect powerful new weapons and fight endless hordes of zombies the gobblegum machines from black ops 3 now take on the form of fate and fortune cards which are unlocked by completing various challenges during each playthrough and unlock limited player buffs infinite warfare plays very smoothly and offers a ton of content but overall it does feel like it's retreading the same ground as its predecessors most of the new mechanics feel like recycled concepts from older games like advanced Warfare's wrist-mounted shield or black ops 3 zombie robots this is likely a result of the studio's collaborating on certain aspects like borrowing specific animations this along with the lengthy three years Altman cycle are the key reasons why the series feels like it never changes as each team essentially takes the same core idea and builds around it in their own unique way visually infinite warfare does improve significantly thanks to the new iteration of the iw engine called iw 7.0 next-gen with this engine Infinity Ward aim to improve the texture streaming process even further allowing for much more detailed and varied missions that combine both standard ground-based combat and the new aerial dogfights in space they also reworked the physics effects in order to properly demonstrate the effects of things like broken airlocks and different atmospheric properties other changes include improved lighting spotter AI and a ton of new animations both for NPCs and for the first person player model making the action slightly more immersive infinite warfare received a slightly more mixed response than usual with scores sitting in at around 70% across most major publications most of the criticisms stemmed from the game's lack of innovation and uninteresting multiplayer design though a few did praised the game's fun zombies mode and well-written campaign infinite warfare sold poorly when compared to previous titles in the series with a devastating 50% drop in revenue from black ops 3 likely a result of the overwhelmingly negative reception to the initial revealed trailer the game still topped s the 16s game sales charts but lost significant ground with many players choosing to buy battlefield 1 instead thanks to its unique world war 1 setting while the future warfare concept was an interesting attempt to keep the series fresh and relevant it wasn't enough to hide the lack of innovation in terms of the core gameplay aesthetic and Infinity Ward would need to rethink the strategy moving forward already anticipating a potential backlash from Infinity Ward's infinite warfare project activision reached out to Raven Software and assign them the task of remastering the fan-favorite called Diddy 4 with the goal of having it release alongside infinite warfare to appeal both to new and old fans alike raven software eager to work on the project started by incorporating as many assets from the original title as possible though because of the far more advanced iteration of the IW engine they were forced to remake a number of environmental objects weapons and character animations from scratch they also carefully monitored online fan forms for the game and agreed that in order to appeal to the fans they would need to ensure that all the core gameplay elements remained as closely aligned with the original as possible with only visual and audio based improvements in 2016 Raven software's remaster project was finally revealed in a teaser at the end of the infinite warfare reveal trailer demonstrating the incredible improvements made to various campaign missions like the bog crew expendable and war pig but to avoid this title directly competing with Infinity Ward's main entry Activision decided to only make the call duty for remaster available as part of a much more expensive $80 legacy Edition for infinite warfare effectively forcing fans to buy a game that they didn't want this decision completely destroyed the sales for the game and even after making a standalone version of the remaster available to following year it still fell significantly short of standard called duty sales numbers the remaster also suffered from several problems including a lack of mod support and matchmaking on PC along with some performance related issues modern warfare remastered while still a decent upgrade from the original wasn't enough to turn public opinion for the series around and moving into 2017 it was up to sledgehammer to relearn fans trust the idea to return to the series's roots stems from an interview between David Jenkins of Metro and a former co founder of sledgehammer games Michael Condrey where Condrey revealed that he would like to explore a story set during world war ii and deliver an experience similar to band of brothers but with the advantages of the more advanced graphics and hardware after pitching the idea to Activision work began on sledgehammers first attempt at a world war ii base called duty experience to make this experience the most authentic reimagining of these real-world events sledgehammer elicited the aid of a professional world war ii historian and sent a team out to europe to capture video and photographs of locations that they plan to feature in the game sledgehammer then utilized an updated version of their own game engine from advanced warfare allowing them to implement highly advanced motion capture technology again after a three-year development period sledgehammer released called duty world war ii in Call of Duty World War two players are given control of a US Army private named Daniels the campaign begins with another interpretation of the Omaha Beach landings and follows Daniels and his squad through several iconic battles including the liberation of Paris the battle bulge and the crossing of the Rhine Cod World War two shares a lot in common with sharks big red one and follows a distinct squad of soldiers throughout a single cohesive story this allows for much greater character development something that the classic Call of Duty games rarely focused on but unlike a big red one Cod World War 2 is the first entry to effort to pick the horrors of Nazi concentration camps a subject that the developers felt gamers were finally mature enough to handle this time around the gameplay has also seen some interesting changes first there's the health system ever since called duty to the franchise has utilized some form of health regen with a few games like advanced warfare offering health stems to speed up the process but World War two brings back the classic health bars only with a slight twist just like in finest hour players can collect health packs scattered throughout the environment to store them in their inventory for later use to emphasize the importance of the player's fellow squad members world war ii also offers new squad abilities this mechanic gives certain squad members specific abilities husband for example can provide extra health kiss turner can throw you ammo and Pearson can tag large groups of enemies for you also new to World War two or heroic actions which give players the opportunity to make quick moral decisions like choosing to give health to a fellow wounded soldier or sparing a group of surrendering Nazis many of the missions offer these as sort of collectibles and players are challenged to complete each moral action 200% the game outside of these new features cub world war 2 plays like any other modern Call of Duty game with a heavy emphasis on scripted events anymore linear approach to the level design Call of Duty World War two's multiplayer also features a strange hybrid of modern and old-school game play mechanics Maps for example or again built around the standard three lane format aimed to appeal more so towards competitive players however this game does feature a new game mode called war that lets players fight each other in large-scale structured battle sequences including a separate interpretation of the omaha beach landings players either play as attackers and try to complete objectives or defenders and prevent the attacking team from advancing this mode features the return of tanks and the multiplayer though they now function more as objectives and move along a strict track with players only capable of controlling the machine gun turrets unlike the campaign the multiplayer features the standard health regeneration system of past games in addition to customizable loadouts and scorestreaks however instead of the iconic perk system from Cod for world war ii operates on a new division system this system splits certain player buffs into distinct class roles recording printers to choose a class in order to take advantage of a specific type of perk the infantry division for example can unlock additional ammunition extra weapon attachments and allows the players to charge with a bayonet meanwhile the mountain division is built for snipers with perks like silent movement and the ability to hide from enemy recon planes this reworked system was criticized at release and sledgehammer made several changes in order to fix the balancing including making things like suppressors available to all divisions instead of just the airborne Kolbe duty world war 2 also introduces a destiny like hub area to the multiplayer lying prayers to roam around a Forward Operating Base in third-person and participate in various activities like scorestreak training a shooting range or a 1v1 cage match against a random player rounding out the experience is yet another zombie survival mode this version simply called nazi zombies offers a more classic approach with much darker environments and more disturbing zombie character models though the general idea is still the same which players need to complete several challenges to unlock more powerful weapons and extend the playable area while also fighting off endless waves of zombies and other monsters visually Call of Duty World War two paints a shockingly realistic depiction of world war ii with excellent HDR lighting implementation and realistic character animations all helping to make the harrowing scenes like the d-day landing feel more visceral effects like smoke fire and explosions are a substantial improvement over advanced warfare and the game's character models look incredibly lifelike though the environments do feel much more restricted than passport war 2 entries and there aren't quite enough AI soldiers on screen to sell the illusion of these grand battles like in the past called Diddy World War 2 while not quite the same as the classic Call of Duty titles was a return to form for the series reviewers praised the game's well-written story likable characters and beautiful visual direction others enjoyed the new war mode saying it was the most innovative change to the multiplayer four million years however some criticized the game for its strict linear nature over-reliance on scripted QuickTime events and poorly balanced competitive multiplayer others criticized the almost insulting amount of loot crate's incorporated into the multiplayer experience and found the player hub area to be a needless addition the game received a mix of average to positive reviews with reception almost mirroring that of infinite warfare but unlike infinite warfare world war 2 sold well with sales surpassing 8 million copies within the first week choosing to go back to world war ii proved to be the right decision which makes the franchise's next move even more peculiar after work had completed on black ops 3 morale at Treyarch studios was lower than ever with many disappointed that they have to scrap months of work on their previously planned open-world design as work began on their next project employees were assured that they would not have to worry about something like that happening again but unfortunately that's exactly what ended up happening the plan was to create a unique campaign experience that instead of featuring four player co-op like black ops 3 would implement a sort of competitive to be to experience where players would need to complete objectives while the other team would try to stop them the game would have followed the events of black ops 3 with more of an apocalyptic tone and would continue to innovate in line with previous entries to the sub series but as work progressed playtesting revealed that this new direction simply wasn't enjoyable missions were too repetitive and there were several issues related to timing that would need to be addressed to make the experience feel like a cohesive Call of Duty campaign on top of this rock stars Red Dead Redemption 2 shifted its release date - right before Call of Duty's typical November release forcing Activision to reschedule for an early October release instead by early 2018 the 2b2 mode was scrapped entirely and with only a few months left before release the developers were forced to make the difficult decision to not include a single-player campaign for the first time in the series history aware that release in the game with only multiplayer and zombies wouldn't be enough to police fans Turk decided to incorporate a new game mode inspired heavily by the game player unknowns battlegrounds this last-minute addition an exhaustive amount of work from the already morally depleted employees at rare but even so the team successfully managed to meet their deadlines and released called duty black ops 4 in October of 2018 black ops 4 is the black sheep of the series as it's the only mainline entry to not feature a story of any kind there are a few cinematics that help to expand upon the backgrounds for the specialist characters in the multiplayer mode but outside of that this game relies entirely on its gameplay first there's the multiplayer mode unlike black ops 3 black ops 4 features the pattern of classic boots on the ground combat bears cannot jet back around or run along walls here however specialists do make a return and are now equipped with new specialist equipment like runes grapple hook and nomads mesh mines blackest 4 also introduces a few new specialists including Ajax who can use a special ballistic shield with a slot to fire a gun through safely crash who could heal all of his teammates instantly recon who can spot enemies through walls for the team and torque you could deploy razor wire and barricades to defend Chitika locations black ops force multiplier is built around making the experience more competitive maps are strictly three lanes like before and unlike past games the radar now features a fog of war that displays friendly cones of vision and automatically relays spotted enemies to other teammates black ops 4 also replaces the health regen system with a health bar design requiring players to use a standard stim injection to restore their health to normal this along with the player's specialist abilities operate on a cool-down keeping the flow of combat consistent with past titles weapon customization is roughly the same as before only now players can stack weapon attachments to improve their functionality like laser sight - that allows for even greater hipfire accuracy but even with the changes made the game's multiplayer is still practically the same as the past several Call of Duty multipliers the real change up comes with black ops Force battle royale mode blackout blackout functions almost the same as pub G with a massive map that players parachute out onto any play zone that constantly shrinks forcing players to kill each other and become the last man standing it's an ambitious and unexpected mode for the Call of Duty series especially considering how small the maps have been in the past but cherished deliver a legitimate battle royale experience filled with mid-match weapon customization a variety of healing items temporary perks and even several of the specialist based weaponry and devices like grappling hooks and mesh mines the map itself is massive and features several iconic locations including redesigned versions of fan paper and multiplayer maps from previous blackops games and even special zombie locations with ai-controlled zombies that will spawn and attack nearby players vaca also features new vehicles to help traverse the environment though these are primarily for transport and offer very little offensive capabilities finally there's tracks signature zombie mode which at launch featured three different experiences voyage of despair that sees players fighting on the deck of the Titanic 9 which features a wacky battle and a Coliseum and a remake of black ops two's map mob of the dead ultimately the zombie mode offers very little new to the formula it still features a ton of hidden easter eggs and secrets to uncover but the additional maps had launched did help to soften the blow of the disappointing exclusion of a traditional campaign visually blackest pork is the step back from its predecessors with Wes impressive whiting and less reactive water effects though black ops Force large-scale environments included in the blackout mode helped to make up for this offering an unprecedented level of freedom never before seen in the series and proving that tracks evolved version of the old quake engine still has the capabilities to deliver some unique experiences only large-scale black ops 4 was met with an immediate negative response from fans upon hearing that the game would not feature a campaign but by release the game received some positive reviews with average review scores sitting in at around 80% many reviewers noted that while the campaign was removed the sacrifice was worth it in order to deliver the excellent battle royale mode fathers praised the game for its well balanced multi-part component and plentiful zombie-related content but this positive phrase wasn't enough to save the game as black ops four sales were down substantially over previous black ops games with only fourteen million units sold by the start of this year almost in line with Infinity Ward's infinite warfare black ops 4 proved to be the nail in the coffin for the futuristic era of Call of Duty an infinity ward's next step could prove to be fundamental in getting the series back on track and that finally brings us to now with the looming release of call of duty modern warfare a complete reboot of the iconic sub series that helped to jumpstart the franchise in the first place despite featuring iconic characters from past games like fan favorite Captain Price modern warfare story is entirely new and will be more cinematic than ever before with incredibly advanced motion capture technology and a heavy emphasis on gritty realism one of our story plans to demonstrate the darker side of war and how decisions made can directly impact the lives of people not directly involved from a gameplay perspective modern warfare slows down the pacing a bit with weapons that feature much more recoil and a slightly lower time to kill them in the past players will also need to make use of a number of modern era weapons again and will even need to carefully open doors similar to the door opening mechanics introduced in infinite warfare the game's multiplayer features some significant changes first several Maps now feature an alternate nighttime mode forcing players to utilize realistic night-vision goggles something that was typically in older games but never really all that necessary maps also returned to being more like sand boxes with more variety and less of a focus on creating specific three-lane paths also need to modern warfare is the large-scale ground war that aims to deliver large epic conflict with up to 64 players with the potential to raise the player count up to a surprising 100 players later on thus mode offers much larger map designs in addition to vehicles like Bradley APCs similar to the large-scale battles offered way back with united Offensive also new to modern warfare is the competitive 2b2 mode gunfight that automatically selects specific weapons for each player and forces them to fight in a note respawn deathmatch modern warfare also sees the return of the fan-favorite SpecOps mode however the survival portion of this mode first introducing modern warfare 3 will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 for the first year this is likely a compromise made with Sony in order to allow for Modern Warfare's unprecedented full cross play support allowing players from each platform including the PC Xbox one and ps4 to play against each other for the first time in the series this is a major game changer as the PC community has been dwindling with a series for over a decade thanks largely in part to the lack of dedicated servers and the excessive amount of downloadable content and loot crate's that the series has adopted speaking of which Activision has also confirmed that modern warfare will not include any randomized loot crate's or paid DLC maps but will instead feature cosmetic unlocks based on a battle past system requiring players to complete weekly and monthly challenges to unlock rare content this will likely keep the community together for longer as players are no longer locked out of maps because of a DLC paywall visually modern warfare is leaps and bounds better-looking than past titles in the series everything from the animation quality to the whiting has been vastly improved thanks to what Infinity Ward is claiming to be a completely brand-new engine something that fans have been demanding for several years now only time will tell if all these changes will help to bring the series back on course though early reception to the games released multiplayer betas and press feedback on the single-player campaign has been overwhelmingly positive with the only concerns being the recent Blizzard boycotts regarding to Hong Kong riots and a controversy over the game's implementation of white phosphorus in the gameplay but if you want to learn more about this latest modern warfare be sure to keep it tuned here this week free follow-up direct comparison video any final review that will cover all the details Call of Duty has had an incredible run so far what started as a shooter game built around competing with Medal of Honor has turned into a multi-million dollar franchise so successful that is impacted practically every corner of the gaming industry video games everywhere have tried to borrow components of call duties popular gameplay design with some benefiting greatly from it while others have practically lost their identity as a result but all the while the Call of Duty series has continued to grow and innovate year after year with a consistently high quality campaign experience game-changing multiplayer tweaks tons of new weapon designs killstreaks and environments and consistently entertaining additional bonus survival modes the series undoubtedly fell into a rut over the last generation of hardware with its 3-year development cycle backfiring as each team tried to innovate but ended up creating very similar experiences but the series has still managed to maintain his position for several years now as the best-selling video game on the market and with Modern Warfare's upcoming release it'll be interest to see if the series will continue to evolve and be enjoyed by a new generation of fans and whether it will continue to dominate the sales charts figures to come but what do you guys think do you like how the series is progressing or do you still prefer one of the older titles let me know in the comments section if you want to see more documentaries like this one please consider becoming a member of my patreon your support helps to make these videos possible well so be sure to stay tuned to this channel for more documentaries comparisons and full reviews and please don't forget to Like and subscribe for more content posted every week [Music]

Channel: Nick930

Views: 3,812,252

Rating: 4.8460169 out of 5

Keywords: Call of Duty, COD, Modern Warfare, Captain Price, Review, Comparison, Documentary, History, Analysis, Retrospective, Story, Gameplay, Features, Impression, Summary, Full, Fan, Favorite, Best, Professional, High Quality, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Infinite, Advanced, Black Ops, Ghosts, Medal of Honor, Multiplayer, Future, Jet Pack, WWII, Classic, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, Treyarch, Action, FPS, Shooter, CODMOD, History of COD, Call of Duty Retrospective, COD Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Id: _I9l261A_fY

Length: 107min 54sec (6474 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 22 2019