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Originally Posted by tore
I think it's mostly just a matter of people not digging the hype. Call of Duty : Modern Warfare was, in my opinion, a brilliant game and I honestly didn't think I would have that much fun playing a completely linear war-FPS when I started. No CoD has been as good since, maybe there's some coattail riding, but in no way could I agree that the series sucks. The engine is good, the graphics are fine, the gameplay is smooth, the pace is good and the action is great.
If you hate CoD and think the series stinks, to me that tells me you either haven't played them or you hate them because the hype they cause and the money they spend on marketing. Both translate somewhat to blind hater. I've been tempted to think of the last CoD games a bit like the movie Expendables. It gives you nothing new, but presents an old and tested formula which has been polished to a shine and has a big budget. Like Expendables isn't One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, CoD is not Fallout 3. It's a fun fix. However, the quality of a game like Modern Warfare in the gaming world far surpasses the quality of Expendables in the movie world. With any luck Black Ops does the same and either way, I look forward to it because I know I'll be entertained.
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Originally Posted by Tuna
I think Halo could be viewed the same way. In fact, I'd argue that Halo has changed far less in the 9 years it's been around then COD in the 7 I think it's been around. That's just my take on it, though.
Maybe I'm easy to please when it comes to video games (by your standards), but I definitely wouldn't call myself just casual.
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The COD games themselves are indeed good games, but there's a very important difference between Halo and COD...
I'm a forum addict, I'll admit that now. I've accumulated some 5,000 posts on the Infinity Ward forums over the last 3 years. Bungie doesn't tally your posts but I imagine I've got at least 2,000 there. I'm also a part of the Epic Games forums, the Dice forums, etc etc etc. My point is, I've spent a lot of time at the hub of developer-player interaction for a lot of game franchises. From my experience I can plainly state that Infinity Ward doesn't give a flying f**k about their games. (It's tough to distinguish if, and how much so, this is Activision's fault, but that's another story...) The geometry glitch on COD4's map "Overgrown" was never fixed! The M9 silencer in MW2 was never fixed! (Among a plethora of other things) No beta, extremely barebones post-release patching, uninspired and overpriced DLC (15 bucks for 3 maps and 2 remakes? Really?)... some of these things may seem trivial, but as a whole, they really spell out the difference between developers who actually care and those who don't.
I mean... just watch one of the 5 or so Bungie ViDocs that was released before Reach came out. They exhibit people who are clearly making games because they love making games. They're enthusiastic and sincere. To me, as someone who invests a fair amount of his free time on enjoying the games that these people develop, it makes all the difference.
Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty 4 are good games, but both were plagued by stringent development cycles and insufficient testing/patching on all fronts. In my eyes, they are games that are clearly milking the videogaming audience for all it's worth. It's an insult to us all, really, just as most people on this forum find Nickelback an insult to music.
But I just want to be clear that this is NOT a COD vs. Halo affair. On the spectrum of developers and franchises that I'm at least fairly familiar with, Infinity Ward/COD happens to be towards the very bottom and Bungie happens to be towards the very top.
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If you hate CoD and think the series stinks, to me that tells me you either haven't played them or you hate them because the hype they cause and the money they spend on marketing.
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I've got an embarrassing amount of days playtime logged on 4/6 combined, and I fail too see how hype is relevant in determining the quality of a game. Regardless of how much money is poured into advertising for a game, the game will
in fact play at quality-level X and have X number of issues and glitches. I think the COD formula is massive fun, but the games have so much damned wasted potential.
IDK, I'd like to think that my hate for COD is anything but blind. I'd like to think it's very carefully constructed and well supported.