First things first, I may or may not assign numerical representations of value to my reviews of games. I have thought about it and it seems like an arbitrary number in place of a written opinion. Guess we shall see how it turns out.
Also, this is a rather long post, but such a franchise and opinion merits explanation. My problem with modern reviews is the lack of a review, they are just blind praise, so I hope to do differently.
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Well if you're going to do something, start out with a big one. What better to take on then the titan of behemoths Call of Duty.
Let's start a little ways back...
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
After however many years of making games about the wars of old, relatively old, the COD franchise gets a reboot. It is now the modern day, with modern weapons, and modern conflicts. While there were many COD games before this, this one really started the series down the wide and broad path that will hopefully lead to its' destruction.
It is a good game. A reboot as it should be done. New characters, new setting, new tools to tell the story. (Guns telling stories...ha ha...there's a funny one liner in there somewhere) While the characters aren't the most fleshed out, there is something to them. The plot isn't the deepest but it has enough turns, they aren't radical enough to call twists, to keep it interesting. A flashback to explain a little back story isn't original but it was an interesting level in the game.
On to multiplayer. The multiplayer in COD games is famous, or infamous, for many reasons. It was fun, had a lot of unlocks, great class customization for the time. If you have never played a match of COD multiplayer, you should, not to say that it's that good but it is a unique experience. The pacing is fast, almost too fast, you have to always keep your wits about you. The leveling and unlocks keeps it fresh, if only for so long. One infamous aspect would be the...."people" that play the game and talk trash while doing so. While playing a game you will most likely run into people that: Curse the entire game, have such high voices they must be under 10 years of age, taunt everyone even though they themselves are mediocre at best, and generally take the game way too seriously. This is why I tried to NEVER listen to or participate in game chat. I always either had my mic plugged in and not on so I wouldn't hear them over the speakers, or was in party or private chat with a friend. If I had been in game chat, I don't think I would have played multiplayer at all. This wasn't the fault of the game necessarily, but the community in the game.
The one glaring mistake (among others): Prestige Mode. For those of you that don't know, when you reached max level in multiplayer you get the opportunity to activate prestige mode. What does it do? Resets all your multiplayer progress. What does this accomplish? You get a "special" little picture next to your name. And you could do this 10 times if I remember correctly. This is the worst, most blatant, sorry excuse at trying to artificially lengthen the lifespan of a game EVER. (to my knowledge, I would be impressed to find one worse)
All in all, a solid game. One that every war game aficionado should try.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Now we get a little farther along that path...
When you have a good thing going, revamp it and keep it going right? Well that's the philosophy taken here.
The single player was similar to MW 1, although the story was worse, the characters were radical and unrealistic, and it really felt like they had to stretch the story beyond realism to have enough content another game. Interesting but not as fun as the original.
Multiplayer was the same as MW 1. New maps, weapons, and perks. That to me is DLC, not a full game. And still the useless prestige mode. And a little more fast paced.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
More of the same...
Single player campaign was ridiculous. The story was so far out there I can't believe it actually got put in the game. The characters were even more radical departures from realism than MW 2.This is the game where they should have gone back to their roots, but no. They had to stretch the story for more content and adapt the characters to it. This makes me think the developers just can't do anything original, or at very least different in a good way.
Multiplayer. Take a guess. Like MW 2 which is like MW 1. More maps, weapons, perks. Again, more DLC than game. Again, a little more fast paced.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I haven't played this one yet. And I don't plan to if I have to pay for it in any way. I am going to safely assume that it is a rehash of a rehash of a rehash of a good game.
Overall
Single player - Mediocre, increasingly stupid story, increasingly radical characters
Multiplayer - So fast paced as to be unapproachable by new players, good original idea, later games were more DLC than actual games, gets old really fast
My personal multiplayer experience can be summed up with this story:
I played MW 1, MW 2, and COD Black Ops multiplayer till i reached the max level and had most of the unlocks and it got boring. And of course I'm not going to do prestige mode because that's just the exact same content again. So I stop playing for a while. A couple months after i stopped playing Black Ops I think, "Hey, I haven't played this in a while. It used to be fun. Why did I stop playing?" So i play 2 games of multiplayer. The second game I have 30 kills and 3 deaths. That's awesome, I was in first by a mile in that game, and I don't usually do anywhere close to that well. But it was boring. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure how, but the game made doing really good, really boring. Maybe it's because I've played basically the same game 3 times. Hmmm...
In The End
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Good game, ok single player, good multiplayer if your into it
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Bad copy of a good game
Call of Duty: Black Ops - Bad copy of a bad copy of a game
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - (Assuming the trend continues) bad copy of a bad copy of a bad copy of a good game
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And yet even though the later games were copies of copies, and bad ones at that, it gets praised by all the game reviewers. Getting "perfect" scores from people. Are these people getting paid to write good reviews? Good reviews of mediocrity rehashed? I am very sorry that I actually spent my money on Black Ops. Fool me once with MW 2, shame on you. Fool me twice with Black Ops, shame on me. I don't intend to make the same mistake again.
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