Are you cool enough to realize that Call of Duty belongs with the gaming greats?

[CanUKlehead]

I don't give a fuck about you. And I don't give a fuck about any sort of "gamer pride (shudder)" that might artificially prevent me from saying this. I'm 30 years old fuck you eat shit. Call of Duty has not only created, but perfected a formula that simultaneously transcends the boundaries of the medium, but also instinctively relates to it. And I feel as though if you're any sort of real mother fucker this is pretty easy to understand.

Has the series been handled perfectly, or let's at least say, as well as something like Mario? Absolutely not. It's biggest factor against it is it's yearly releases that over-saturate the brilliance of it's design. And make for quite easy "video game corporation" fodder that I have no problem using myself.

But using that point as a driving force behind an argument on why Call of Duty is not good or doesn't "deserve" a place like this, is kind of like saying cheeseburgers suck because McDonald's exists. Cheeseburgers fucking rule. Yeah McDonald's has turned them into an almost subconscious thing that you can almost forget exists even while you're eating it. But cheeseburgers do exist. And they exist because they're fucking great, and people want more of them. And people would be extremely sad if cheeseburgers did not exist any longer. Whether through the convenience or something like McDonald's, or a delicious hearty deep-tasting burger in the heart of a small town.

Fact of the matter is, Call of Duty, (and let's be real when I say Call of Duty I mean 4 on), absolutely belongs with the likes of Mario, Zelda, Half-Life, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Street Fighter. It deserves to be there not only for it's massive outreach in gaming, but far more importantly, why it's outreach in gaming is so massive. It's because it is a gaming formula that is truly intoxicating and perfected.

If you disagree, I want to hear hard points. Why? Why do you think that CoD at it's core is not an irrefutably impressive design that can juggle (and redefine at the time) the "video game blockbuster" role, while also creating gameplay that is so sublime it's intrinsic with gaming itself?

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Your shitty, stereotypical gamer tone and attitude is the only reason why I wouldn't consider CoD an established series.

Haven't played one in a about five years, but no doubt it belongs up there.

 

[Mobu]

Dont care, still propaganda

 

[Karateka]

Call of duty 2 was the best campaign they became repetitious after that.

 

[Rotobit]

I know this might scare people but Fortnite and Minecraft will likely also be put up there too.

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Roblox too

But yeah, Call of Duty is undeniably important culturally and it's silly to suggest otherwise.

Though I'm not sure if they still pay money/give credit to real-world gun companies? From what I've heard the games are spotty on how much they glorify the military, too, but I don't wanna speak too declaratively having not really played any of them (FPS's ain't my thing). If either of those are still huge problems then they shouldn't really be put up there on principle.

 

[Zojirushi]

OP pretty much as hostile as I would expect from a CoD person.

 

[Common Knowledge]

I would agree with you if you weren't an asshole about it, OP.

 

[Kalentan]

Roblox too

But yeah, Call of Duty is undeniably important culturally and it's silly to suggest otherwise.

Though I'm not sure if they still pay money/give credit to real-world gun companies? From what I've heard the games are spotty on how much they glorify the military, too, but I don't wanna speak too declaratively having not really played any of them (FPS's ain't my thing). If either of those are still huge problems then they shouldn't really be put up there on principle.

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A lot of the guns these days have fake names with the exception of some classics like M4, AK and so on. I think those might be sort of public domain? Or something? I assume they aren't paying for fake names.

 

[ascagnel]

From an objective standpoint what are the classic COD games? Sometimes nostalgia and popularity can blur the lines.

I would only consider COD4:MW1 an all-time title. MW2 I rocked because everyone was playing it but it added too many ingredients to a classic meal. I slowly lost interest to other shooters from there.

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Given that it's impossible to go back and experience the multiplayer in each of the games as it was in their era, I'd say the "best" campaigns (it's impossible to say this objectively, these are my favorites) are:

- Call of Duty (+ United Operations, it's expansion)
- Call of Duty 2
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

The first two games leaned heavily on WWII movies (Band of Brothers and The Thin Red Line weigh pretty heavily). COD4 moved to a more recent conflict and added a healthy dose of "Black Hawk Down", but it was still largely the same game. After that, it became about constant action and shock value, much to its detriment.

One other interesting thing about those early games is that they're trying to walk a very, very fine line (and largely do so) -- they want to be fun war games but at the same time they recognize how problematic it is to glorify violence and the military (every player death was greeted with an anti-war quote -- I particularly liked how COD4 would trot out a Colin Powell line from Operation Desert Storm about avoiding a war when he was instrumental in starting the ongoing war in Iraq). I liked how the games would have you fighting alongside fellow soldiers, but those soldiers were all given names and ranks, so you'd try to feel some empathy for what were programmatically cannon fodder.

Post COD4, I liked:

- Black Ops & Black Ops 2 (the former for the use of numbers stations, which I find fascinating; the latter for its use of a branching narrative)
- Advanced Warfare (even if it did give us the awful "Press F to pay respects" meme, I liked how it applied Unreal Tournament-style player movement)

I didn't particularly like the campaign from MW2 (although it was neat, as an American that grew up in the suburbs, to fight through the American suburbs), stuff like World at War seemed like a lame re-hash of the earlier games (it's ending particularly soured me). After the X1/PS4 came out, I largely fell off the series (although I liked the multiplayer of MW2019, I *hated* the campaign).

 

[Lokoline]

Nope, Mario and FF are on another level to me. :)

 

[HonestAbe]

I do. But I hate what it brought to the forefront of popularity in gaming with progression based unlocks. Games really before that didn't have that. On Day 1 players had everything available to them. Someone starting 4 months later had the same equipment available as someone who has played 6000 hours. The only gap was skill and game knowledge. There was no playing to unlock guns, kits, etc. Now it seems like every game has to have this or people yell "but where's my progression!?"

Also, killstreaks...no thanks.

These two reasons are why I haven't played a COD game since Blops2. Just got sick of it.

 

[HockeyBird]

I think COD 2 and 4 definitely belong up there on quality alone.

 

[Rickenslacker]

I don't care about Call of Duty. Think it sucks, really. Made a big shift into turning the genre into being about Skinner box systems. Don't really care if it goes with the greats or whatever either, I'm not that precious about the toys I play. Enjoy your yearly gaming McDonald's.

 

[jett]

I'm cool enough to realize COD is jingoistic garbage.

 

[Virtua Sanus]

How many Call of Duty characters are in Smash Brothers? I rest my case.

 

[TheGhost]

It's also easy for me to call it game of the year the last two years for me as well simply because it's played year round instead of just a week or two like alot of other games that are more respected here.

 

[Deleted member 364]

CoD is gaming fast food and pretty much never a Goty contender, and it comes out every year. CoD4 is an all time great game though.

 

[Deleted member 2809]

Nah fuck that military propaganda

 

[zer0_X]

Enjoying cod means you are likely 16, not that you are cool

 

[Patitoloco]

While I agree with OP, the post is so close of being such a fantastic copypasta. Almost thereeeeee

 

[Shane M]

I like a few of the older WWII entries and they are very good and fun games on a technical level and all, but I'm also hesitant to be nice about a series that functions as blatant imperial war propaganda. Fuck Call of Duty.

 

[smurfx]

its not my cup of tea but how can you not consider a great franchise? its been a staple for a long ass time now and it being popular doesn't make it bad either.

 

[Bish_Bosch]

Yeah its just bland but competent right wing.propaganda.

 

[TheGhost]

Enjoying cod means you are likely 16, not that you are cool

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This type of response is just as embarrassing as the opening lines in the OP.

 

[Hybrid Rainbow]

Enjoying cod means you are likely 16, not that you are cool

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What kind of shit is this? I hope this is a joke.

 

[Kill3r7]

COD4 had a massive impact of FPS MP design and is a brilliant game in its right.

 

[Alek]

I think West, Zampella and the team deserve a tonne of respect for their design on the early Call of Duty games.

However, what Activision are producing today, feels like a mere imitation of the success of those early titles. The earlier years where Call of Duty was constantly innovating and evolving, from Call of Duty 1 to Black Ops 2, they were all fantastic games.

Call of Duty lost a lot of what interested me after West and Zampella left, and Titanfall 2's campaign is far better than any modern Call of Duty game. Most of the lead developers on Respawns team previously worked on Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2.

 

[LordBaztion]

Considering all the people over the world that daily enjoys it, absolutely.

 

[Altair]

The only CoD I will ever put up there with the gaming greats is CoD 4. That game was special. Everything afterwards was either meh at best or downright awful.

 

[GalvoAg]

Enjoying cod means you are likely 16, not that you are cool

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Is this real?

 

[AndrewDean84]

You don't have to like it to know that COD is up there in the gaming "Hall of Fame". COD 4 revolutionized the console FPS.

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Yup.

 

[RCSI]

Can't deny the franchise, but I can deny their respective entries as great.

 

[ramenline]

don't see how it being propaganda disqualifies CoD. it was the go-to game for millions of casual players until battle royale came onto the scene. definitely deserves some rep. CoD4 and Nuketown especially. Shit, even CoD1.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

It's a big franchise, but I ain't gonna call it a GOAT anymore than I would FIFA or something. It's an institution. I can... admire its constant output, I suppose.

Also it's a huge war propaganda platform so it's hard to truly respect it, but maybe that's a discussion for a different thread.

If I had to single anything out as being meaningful to me, I guess I'd pick the original modern warfare. That's about it.

 

[fourfourfun]

It shook both the real world and the video game world, trying to act like it hasn't isn't even a argument that could be made. It just hasn't shook -your- world.

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Is every game shaking the world? I say this, as mentioned, as an outsider who sees the game hitting yearly Fifa beats of "here is more, with a little difference".

I get its initial impact, it dislodged Halo on console but it is what it is now.

 

[Corncob]

Fuck no. It's like arguing that Marvel movies are up there with the greatest movies ever made. At best they're fun popcorn movies. CoD is fun and throwaway. Like a Big Mac.

 

[Canucked]

In a world of great TV shows, CoD is the equivalent of NCIS or something. Super basic, plays to an easy crowd. Never strays from safe.

 

[Velikost]

Like the same way McDonalds "belongs" to the culinary greats. It's drivel for people who want to feel like soldiers by aiming a pointer on a screen at "enemies". Miyamoto already dismissed the core mechanic in a recent interview:

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You can acknowledge that they're a juggernaut in the gaming landscape without needing to put it up with the gaming greats.

Frankly, there's a couple of reasons why I would never say it deserves a place in the hall of fame. First being that if you release the same damn game, year after year after year, with just a different coat of paint? Nah, you don't need to be there, especially when half the games that are released are broken on launch and stuffed with some of the worst MTX in the business.

Second of all is that as long as it keeps fucking idolizing the military industrial complex and has you killing POV en masse, then no, you rightfully don't deserve to be up there either.

They can languish with the Assassins Creed and the FIFA's of the world as being big sellers, but absolutely soulless, bottomless pits of game design that they are.

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Found the dweebs

 

[Good4Squat]

Shitty immature attitude and a vegeta avatar, checks out.
Never liked the modern Call of Duty games because of the jingoistic attitude.
The first one was great back in the day though.

 

[Y2Kev]

I think there are a couple really solid entries in the franchise that are really legitimately good shooter campaigns. I don't think MW1 is in that category. It's pretty poorly designed. MW2 I think is really good though. I also like Infinite Warfare.

 

[ffvorax]

No, but more important, I dont care at all. I dont like the series, I "enjoyed" just the first 2 games of the series on PC long time ago... I preferred Medal of Honour games at the time.

 

[kamineko]

Poll needs an "I read the op and I don't give a fuck about you either" option

 

[Durden]

Shitty immature attitude and a vegeta avatar, checks out.

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[antitrop]

Some of the best games in the series are some of the best games ever made, but there are also some real stinkers. I don't know how to judge the series overall, the phrase "Call of Duty" means like 100 different things to me.

 

[TheGhost]

Is every game shaking the world? I say this, as mentioned, as an outsider who sees the game hitting yearly Fifa beats of "here is more, with a little difference".

I get its initial impact, it dislodged Halo on console but it is what it is now.

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After having it's best year, dropping the bullshit with month long multiplayer map exclusivity (making maps free as well) and bringing crossplay and great BR experience

 

[jawzpause]

Yep completely agree, the latest mw was actually a brilliant game and it's my most played cod since cod4. Haven't bought the latest cod yet but I'm hearing it's not as good as mw

 

[Astral]

I have really good memories of CoD4. But they're all just boring to me now. So no I'm not cool enough.

 

[vastick]

No and it's not even close. Whenever one of those other franchises release a new game is an event. CoD is routine. Also multiplayer games will always be lesser than single player and the single player part of Cod is not particularly good. Samey campaigns with maybe one good mission each. The only good ones are the first two but are just as good as Medal of Honor which doesn't belong in that list either.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

It belonged to the top in times it really was great and offered something many other games and/or shooter haven't. But for today's standards it's nothing but a shooting gallery with little interaction, little deviation, with style over substance, gameplay and story-wise.

CoD4 revolutionised the MP for me but after that they went way too far in a direction that became more and more ridiculous.

However, the success proves them right of course and you can't deny it's Impact and influence independent from your personal opinion.

 

[ElCidTmax]

The massive impact to this game can't be denied. It may not be to everyone's liking, and also comes with some baggage in helping to make online griefing mainstream, but to many COD *is* videogames.

 

[Altair]

Shitty immature attitude and a vegeta avatar, checks out.

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