Vladimir Rakhmanin
Deputy Online Editor
Even if you’re not a gamer, you will no doubt have heard of Call of Duty. Regardless of age or gender, CoD is one of the few game series that enjoys massive mainstream success. However, despite massive profits (the back of every box will tell you that Call of Duty is the best-selling franchise this generation), and even decent critical success, the game series is widely hated by many people. Why is it, then, that the mainstream public has such a love/hate relationship with the franchise? I will be attempting to answer that question, as well as determining whether or not this is fair.
We’ll start with the haters – more specifically, the gaming public. And if you want to gauge the popularity of a game with the mainstream public, you will have to go to the ‘User Reviews’ section of Metacritic, a review score aggregate site not unlike RottenTomatoes. For the purpose of this article, I’ll use the most recent Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 3. As of today, 28th of June 2012, the score the critics gave this instalment is 88 out of 100. The score the users gave it is 3.2 out of 10. Quite the contrast, isn’t it?
Let’s delve into some of the reasons for why people have been thrashing the game. While the majority of the users are engaging in that wonderful internet phenomenon known as ‘trolling’, the most widespread legitimate reason is the lack of innovation. Ever since Activision had decided that a futuristic setting was the right direction for the series, they made it into a yearly franchise, with two teams developing a new game every two years. Of course, it is very difficult to create something truly unique in the space of two years, and so, as a result, each new game ends up feeling like it’s a cookie cutter sequel – especially if you’re only playing the multiplayer.
Another concern that people have with the game is the length of the campaign. Indeed, the average Call of Duty campaign lasts around 4-5 hours. When compared to other games on the market, such as Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or most recently Elder Scrolls Online, which boasts over 100 hours of gameplay and allows players to become an eso templar tank build, a dragon knight, necromancer, and a range of other classes, these single player experiences seem very weak indeed. Linearity is also an issue, with many people wishing for more freedom of action within the game.
A lot of people are also turned off by the rude and uninviting online community. You don’t have to play for a long time to hear some twelve-year-old yell about having sexual relations with your relatives. Sometimes I enjoy watching my brother play just to hear how idiotic people can be – you start to understand where all those brain-damaged YouTube commenters come from. It’s quite astonishing.
On a higher level, it’s very troubling seeing a generation of children growing up with entertainment that glorifies war in such a way. Yes, I know that the campaign features some very anti-war statements (and I’ll discuss this next), but the majority of the narrative is a very pro-war, Michael Bay-style explosion-fest. It also has some extremely racist depictions of Middle Eastern citizens. Also, this is a minor gripe, but being Russian, I can tell you that the Russian troops in these games do not speak anything remotely close to the Russian language. Surely Activision could hire a few proper translators?
So why, then, do so many people buy the series that they claim to hate? For a start, there is a social aspect to all this. The advent of online multiplayer means that people can play videogames with each other without going to each other’s houses. This means that for a lot of people playing a couple of hours of Call of Duty with friends is equivalent to spending a couple of hours on Facebook.
Also, and I’ll have to take other people’s words for it, as I’m not really into first person shooters, the gameplay is fundamentally sound. Even if it is the same game over and over again, it’s still fun, and for a lot of people, that’s all that matters.
Finally, and this is probably the main reason for why I enjoy the franchise, is that both developers have used some extremely interesting narrative techniques throughout the franchise’s history. The sniper level in the original Modern Warfare is one of the greatest videogame levels ever created, for example, and the No Russian level in the sequel sends a great anti-war message. The scale of the action is also second-to-none, rivalled, in my opinion, only by the Uncharted series.
The internet has allowed people to criticise anything and everything – Call of Duty is an easier target than other games because it is extremely popular. Nevertheless, whether you’re a fan or not, Call of Duty has undeniably left a mark on the videogame industry – whether this is for better or for worse is up to each person to decide for themselves.
