Retro|Spective 121: Call of Duty

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
2003 - Call of Duty
2004 - Call of Duty: Finest Hour
2005 - Call of Duty 2
2005 - Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
2006 - Call of Duty 3
2007 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2007 - Call of Duty: Roads to Victory
2008 - Call of Duty: World at War
2008 - Call of Duty: World at War - Final Fronts
2009 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Mobilized
2009 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Force Recon
2010 - Call of Duty: Black Ops
2010 - Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified
2011 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2012 - Call of Duty: Black Ops II
2013 - Call of Duty: Ghosts
2013 - Call of Duty: Strike Team
2013 - Call of Duty: Online
2014 - Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
2014 - Call of Duty: Heroes
2015 - Call of Duty: Black Ops III
2016 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
2016 - Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
2017 - Call of Duty: WWII
2018 - Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
2019 - Call of Duty: Mobile
2019 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare


Overview:
War. War never changes. Neither does Call of Duty much but despite that the series continues to be a dominant force in the annual sales chart. Though it has endured highs and lows it is currently seeing a critical resurgence thanks to the pared back recent reboot of the MW arm of the series which has been well received. Advanced Warfare, Ghosts, WWII and Infinite Warfare were all mixed titles that have their fans but the enduring sub-series remain the Modern Warfare and Black Ops runs rather than the original WWII set titles.









Share your thoughts and memories of the Call of Duty franchise

[Neon Ignition]

So many entries have killed the opportunity for franchise nostalgia

Clue for 122 - Isao Sato

[QualityChimp]

I was listening to the Lost Spark podcast and they were really excited when the last CoD came out - possibly the MW remake?
I realised I've been a bit sniffy about CoD, because it's a game for the masses, like FIFA, but the ones I've played (2, MW, MW2) I've really enjoyed in single player.

Sadly, none of them are in Games Pass, so I guess I won't be playing them any time soon, but a few of them are about a tenner at CEX.

Dunno why I've cut my nose to spite my face as I've had some amazing gaming with the CoD series, but only played three of them.

These 360 games are playable on the One:
Call of Duty® 2
Call of Duty® 3
Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare®
Call of Duty®: Black Ops
Call of Duty®: Black Ops II
Call of Duty®: Ghosts
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2
Call of Duty®: World at War

Might try one of those, but I kinda want to try some of the shiny new ones.
To me, when everyone plays a game, including all those common children who stand around street corners with their hands down their tracksuit trousers, and CEX has 50 copies, it should be about 50p!

Such a snob!

[vanpeebles]

The best one was the one with Zork as a hidden easter egg.

[QualityChimp]

Call of Duty 2 was amazing.
It was a 360 launch title (I think) and really showed off the new console's power.
The bit where the tank zooms over your head when you're in the trenches was a real thrill.
Finished it on Veteran and didn't feel like a chore.

It's also one of those games where loads of my mates got a 360, so several of us would have our own Vs. matches.
We ended up making our own game variants including hide and seek (someone managed to get under the floorboards in the bank - genius!) and "Take the Tower", which consisted of somebody trying to stay in the water tower on the farm level for as long as possible. Tears of laughter playing that.

Modern Warfare was pretty forgettable. I only really remember the airport (I think I skipped it), the Pripyat level and being chased by some dogs in a snowy forest. Didn't it have a shocking ending where a main team member dies?
Last achievement still stands - "Mile-High Club" on Veteran difficulty. Bastard.

I couldn't tell you a thing about MW2. Maybe a burned out building?!

Which one was the one where there were co-op missions and you could fight in a plane graveyard with loads of those armoured tanky guys?

[wakka]

I really enjoyed the first game on PC, that was a lot of fun and felt like quite a step forward at the time. My memories of it are very hazy now though.

The others I have played are Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, Black Ops 3, and Modern Warfare 2019. Quite a few entries, actually!

A quick view on each:

Modern Warfare - this felt incredible at the time! That level when you were the chopper gunner was awesome. I mostly played this at a friend's so never played much multiplayer, but a truly 'next gen' game at the time.

Modern Warfare 2 - I actually remember finding the campaign for this one kinda boring. A lot of bombed cities and war of attrition type levels, where you were taking cover a lot and advancing slowly. Don't remember much variety. Multiplayer though - a TON of fun. Played loads with my housemates and prestiged many times, until our Xbox eventually got banned. We still used to play four player splitscreen after that though.

Black Ops - this one had a pretty cool campaign. I liked the 60s setting, and the boat level was particularly memorable with its Sympathy For The Devil soundtrack. Deffo fun to run through in splitscreen. Again, multiplayer was a lot of fun. Played a LOT of four player Gun Game on Nuketown in splitscreen in our house at the time.

Black Ops 3 - this campaign was kinda fun in splitscreen coop...kinda. The story was lame and the 'near future' technology and gadgets felt pretty silly though. I played a bit of multiplayer but kept getting slew as the game had been out for quite a while by the time I picked it up. The wall running was dumb. Not good.

Modern Warfare 2019 - a fun, varied campaign that doesn't outstay its welcome. It's around 5 hours long and there are some pretty cool levels - the one set in a house in London using nightvision, routing out terrorists, is particularly memorable. Multiplayer is a blast with complete content overload. SO much to do, so many challenges, and the map selection is generally strong. It just plays really well too. Honestly one of the best, if not the best, from the games I've played in the series. Bringing the series back to the present day was a good move, too.

[Neon Ignition]

It's very much a franchise as well that varies on quality depending on whether you are in it for the single player or the multiplayer.

For Multi-Player my no order top 5 are probably:

-Modern Warfare/Remastered
-Modern Warfare 2
-Black Ops
-World at War
-Modern Warfare 2019

But for Single Player:

-Modern Warfare 3
-Infinite Warfare
-Black Ops
-Ghosts
-Modern Warfare 2019

Despite the drumming it got I liked the campaign in CoD3 as well, it stirred up the feels well.

[wakka]

Is Infinite Warfare the one with the space bits like in the GIF in your OP [MENTION=345]Neon Ignition[/MENTION]? I always kinda wanted to play that one, those sequences look really cool.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, the multiplayer was utter bobbins - like a soulless rip-off of Black Ops 3's - but that meant the SP ended up overlooked. The space sequences are simple but mix things up nicely.

[wakka]

OK, good to know. It’s only £6 in CeX, maybe I’ll give the campaign a try at some point. Although to be honest I should probably play something OTHER than CoD soon, rather than another one. MW 2019 multiplayer is stupidly addictive.

[QualityChimp]

Ha, [MENTION=5490]wakka[/MENTION], that's what I was thinking. "What's the space one in the gif", "is it any good?" and "It's only £6 in CEX!"

[Leon Retro]

I remember liking the first CoD on PC. Then #4 on the Xbox really impressed me -- and I played it a bit. But I really went off this sort of FPS ages ago. Although, that space-themed version looks interesting, so I'll watch some videos of it in action.