ITS NURTURE, NOT NATURE...
It is perhaps inevitable that fans be swept up in the legal machinations of some of their favourite developers, up in arms over the latest injustice heaped on David by a distinctly pissed off Goliath. So it was with the Activision/Infinity Ward dust up, which began when IW heads Jason West and Vince Zampella demanded more Call Of Duty revenue be directed there way. Actiblizzard of course didn't like this and promptly fired West and Zampella, who left and took a large chunk of IW staff with them. For me, as a gamer and long term CoD fan, this meant one thing- the management have been kicked out and the janitors are taking over the company. With the real brains behind the good CoD games out, the talentless manufacturers of the bad ones would be given free reign. From then on I vowed to never again touch a post-MW2 CoD game, a vow that I have managed to adhere to...until now.
Now, I cant begin to understand the details involved in a large scale court case between a juggernaut of publisher and two disgruntled developers, so any opinion I offer will seem petty, juvenile and uninformed. Luckily, understanding why Infinity Ward as we know it no longer exists and why Activision are such a bunch of corporate scumbags isn't my job, my job is to give the retailer my money and enjoy the games these people produce, after all, when all is said and done, it's the games that matter.
It's unfortunate that I find my apprehensions to be completely justified.
It's not that Black Ops is a bad game, like it's Treyarch produced forebears, it remains a soulless rehash of what has gone before, a greatest hits of the previous game in the series, devoid of the style, invention and confidence that is so evident in CoD games blessed with the Infinity Ward brand.
It's the (re)cyclical nature of these games that grate the most. Die hard supporters of ALL the CoD installments (read: weak minded fools) will attempt to drown out any criticisms with cries of 'homage' and 'improves on the original', but they are sorely mistaken. Why for example, did the brilliantly atmospheric sniper mission 'Ghillies in the Mist' from Modern Warfare, need to be 'homaged' with the awkward and cartoonish Stalingrad level in World at War? And why must a pointlessly loud and brash bike chase in Black Ops serve as a 'tribute' to the excellent snow mobile scramble in Modern Warfare II? Does Treyarch care that much about pleasing the fans that they dare not attempt anything approaching innovation? Or do they simply lack the skill to draw outside the lines.
In their defense, Treyarch seem to always try to make their mark on the franchise by implementing some radical new gameplay quirk or story contrivance. With World at War it was the mildly diverting Zombie mode, as well as a brutal and graphic single player experience. With Black Ops they offer another mildly diverting Zombie mode and a campaign notable for it's labyrinthine conspiracy plot that pieces together the memories of Alex Mason (voiced lazily by Sam Worthington).
Black Ops' campaign is a mess, and while many will cite the macho bullshit Hollywood wannabe nature of both Modern Warfare's I & II, at least those games knew exactly what they were and revelled in the stupidity of it all, while at the same time maintaining a certain cult appeal. Black ops is an almost unbearable succession of impossibly loud and linear pathways, littered with explosion and the profanity of whoever said yes to the big paycheck.
I didn't even bother with Black Ops multiplayer, although I am told it is just as robust and enjoyable as the last games online component. It saddens me that this is the only argument levelled at my complete abhorring of the direction of the series, after all, multiplayer has become the main reason these games fly of the shelves these days. Single player has been reduced to an endless showreel of destruction suitable for use in the promotional trailer and for those hungry for empty achievement. I love the multiplayer formula established by Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare, as a template it is surely the father of modern online fragging, but why not continue to build upon it instead of paying some poor substitute to slap a different skin on it, add some remote controlled cars and call it a new game?
I'm not naive, I understand that the industry thrives thanks to these endlessly re-cycled iterations, but I don't have to like it and I refuse to show any restraint when the slack jawed masses flood the retailer to grab the next soulless shell of a CoD game.
Modern Warfare III is currently in development under the supervision of what is left of the Infinity Ward team. Perhaps it wont produce the same magic as it's IW produced predecessors, but I'll be first in line to find out, mainly because I refuse to abandon this series entirely.
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