There have probably been more articles on Call of Duty than there are stars in the sky. The amount of press that this franchise garners is right up there with celebrity weddings. With the latest round of sales the newest addition to the series Modern Warfare 3, the series has earned a brand new title, highest selling piece of media ever! But why? What’s the big freakin deal? After all, most critics aren’t even considering this game in their games of the year discussions. I’m one of those critics, by the way. So what’s the deal, how can 16,000,000 people be wrong? Well, it’s not quite that simple, and I’ll explain why.
The Call of Duty series began hot and heavy way back when the XBOX 360 first launched. That was Call of Duty 2 and it was not anything near what we see in the game today. Back then it was a World War 2 First Person Shooter and it was on both the XBOX 360 and the PC. Most PC players absolutely loved it. In fact, at the time my PC wasn’t even good even to run the game properly because the graphics were SO GOOD. In turn, the XBOX 360 wasn’t quite as powerful as a top of the line PC, but it was an incredibly good experience. It was by far the best launch title for the system and had everyone really psyched. But even with it being the only launch title worth it’s salt to pick up; it still didn’t do the kind of numbers we are used to seeing out of Call of Duty today.
The real power of the series launched with the first of it’s modern military FPS’s Call of Duty 4. Most critics point to this game as the start of the modern gamer’s obsession with the modern military FPS. Most of the current tropes were present. Things like perks and a level progression. There were kill streaks, no death streaks yet; but this was just the beginning. This game also made a heck of a lot of money. More than Call of Duty 2, but that was mainly due to that fact that the XBOX 360 install base still wasn’t anywhere near the size it is today. The first recognizable game to people who just got into the modern military shooter “game” recently wouldn’t come out until 2 years later. The game that changed everything, literally.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was that game. This game came out to universal praise and the founders of Call of Duty: Jason West (Infinity Ward president, game director, co-CCO, and CTO) and Vince Zampella (CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward) unfortunately due to a legal dispute left the company along with many of their top staff members. Which is, exactly where we begin to see a critical stir beginning to grow. Not in a good way, mind you. It wasn’t so much that people were angry with Activision. But that they saw the creative forces or at least the people behind the creative forces no longer being at Infinity Ward. While this may or may not have been the correct analysis of the situation it seemed correct at the time.
The following year, Treyarch put out Call of Duty Black Ops and this game also broke practically every record there was. The game had a cold war campaign and a multiplayer that while similar to Modern Warfare 2 was different enough to carve out a little place of it’s own. Tryarch, had been a red headed stepchild to fans while Infinity Ward was at full strength but now, the company seemingly crippled the Treyarch folks seemed like a kind of true force that could save the franchise. Unfortunately, they were the first to get hit by some critics saying that the game was not only too much like Modern Warfare 2 but that they had neglected to up their own game significantly from Call of Duty 3 World at War. But this was definitely the minority view. As time went on Black Ops became a true universal force and within just a few months it’s place at the top of both the sales and the online play charts was cemented. The game had found not only a huge install base waiting for the next big thing. But the group of people who had moved from Call of Duty World at War to Black Ops.
With the release of the latest game Modern Warfare 3. There was a mixed feeling of hope and trepidation. Few reviewers and critics held out much hope for the game. Especially going up against Battlefield 3. What most people considered to be a well loved brand. But most people considered it a well loved brand on the PC. Which Call of Duty mostly left behind way back with Call of Duty 4. The only experience most recent console owners had, had with Battlefield was that of Bad Company. Which all ways sold pretty well, but nothing compared to that of Modern Warfare or even Black Ops. Predictably that’s pretty much what happened. The PC sales for Battlefield 3 were great and the console sales were fine. But a month or so later when Modern Warfare 3 came out, the REAL sales numbers started rolling in and it wasn’t even going to be a contest.
That wasn’t the real story however. The real story was a game that had an excellent but safe multiplayer, much like that of Modern Warfare 2. With a single player campaign head and shoulders better than Battlefield 3 but not doing anything that amazing compared to it’s predecessors in the series. Fans, for the most part made few of these connections. More interested in playing more of the same Call of Duty multiplayer they loved and enjoying a solid single player with a story that wrapped up the storyline begun with the first Modern Warfare game. While technically speaking Battlefield 3 has a better multiplayer, better graphics, and in some cases better content. Fans by large didn’t want a reinvention of their beloved genre. They wanted what they had with Modern Warfare. Critics in most cases couldn’t get past the abysmal single player of Battlefield 3. Most giving the game the benefit of the doubt. But numbers tell the tale and while Metacritcs averages for both games was a scant .4 points different. Their sales were MUCH farther apart, with Modern Warfare 3 eclipsing Battlefield 3’s total sales of the past month within hours.
All of this doesn’t really explain much. As to most this was simply a case of people not breaking with the brand. But it was more than that, the Black Ops folks moved over to MW3 as did all the people who were still playing MW2. Infinity Ward and Activision had an event for the fans of Call of Duty a little earlier in the year and this event along with the hype surrounding the game solidified the player base and flexed the collective muscles of both the XBOX 360 and PS3 install bases. There are really no games with such an effect on PC or console. But with such a universal appeal and a universal acceptance why weren’t the critics kinder to the game. This game that made more money than an entertainment product in history has an 88/100 average critical score on Metacritic. Which is pretty good, but far from extraordinary.
The critics didn’t universally love it for the same reason that all the fans really DID love it. That being, at the core of the game it is pretty much exactly the same game as Modern Warfare 2. Which the developers will be quick to contest. But the changes to the game are based in the details not the broad strokes. And while many players have been at this for years now and notice the broad strokes. Few critics will see them or even try to notice them. To critics it will probably be an indefinable familiarity which makes them doubt that there was any innovation here. Also, with a short campaign, many developers are tired of giving a pass on the story aspect of Call of Duty games and want their cake and eat it too. Meaning a long engaging story and an extremely strong multiplayer. Which, to my knowledge, doesn’t really exist.
The reason it’s not among my games of the year is that there doesn’t seem to be anything substantially new in Modern Warfare 3. They continued their ridiculous story from MW2, which I also didn’t really like. I play Modern Warfare for the multiplayer and while they did add a bunch of new modes and some interesting things into Modern Warfare 3. They still haven’t added everything they could have from the series as a whole. Which means they are still holding back. I would have really liked to see a new graphics engine or at least a higher graphics standard from the old engine. While this might mean dropping from their 60 fps. It would have also shaken up what is getting to look a little old in the presence of games like Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3. So while Modern Warfare 3 is a good game, it seems like it was the only safe move they had after losing the number of people did from the time of Modern Warfare 2.
Modern Warfare 3 is a case study in building up a franchise to its blazing peak. How will things turn out when the next XBOX and Playstation arrive? How will things change? We will have to wait and see, but for this generation Activision and Call of Duty are the clear winners. Hopefully the future will be bright for all involved.
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