Saturday, September 11, 2010

Reasons Why I Don't Want Call of Duty: Black Ops

For the most part, I would consider myself a COD-type of FPS player. While I'm not amazing, it's usually pretty easy for me to rack up the kills on multiplayer matches and have fun. In fact, Call of Duty 2 was the first game that really brought me into the world of multiplayer. It was in those days where matches weren't always about who won, rather how much fun you had playing. It didn't matter that nobody had a microphone; you didn't need one. The team dynamic was instilled through the gameplay itself. And since it was on the PC, it meant that you could play with up to 64 players. While others may disagree about its awesomeness, I found it extremely addictive; you just can't match how hectic and exciting games are with that many players. That's obviously not the only reason why I loved it. Looking back, I find even more reasons that explain my love for the game, especially its simplicity. I also find more reasons for why I'm starting to hate every new release in the series:


Killstreaks
No matter what developers do to them, killstreaks will always get in the way of all the possible fun you could have playing Call of Duty. For the first couple hours these little bonuses may be exciting, but after a while, hiding in a building from a persistent harrier gets really annoying. And while refreshing for the player using it, the predator drone only creates more frustration for other players. Sure, I guess you could argue that that's what the barebones pro mode is for, but barebones pro doesn't offer all the game types. And as I previously said, I'm not that bad at this game; the reason these things tick me off isn't because they're always killing me, it's just that they're so cheap to use. Why reward a player doing good with things that could help him do even better? Shouldn't the actual gameplay be exciting enough so that all these uncontrolled free-kill shenanigans become unnecessary? I mean, quite recently Treyarch just recently revealed that you only need a 3 killstreak to get an RC bomb car. Even the addition of the SAM can't make up for this annoying way of getting kills. And another thing, isn't it already obvious that killstreaks are just another thing that promote camping?



Consolation
It would be great if I could rest reassured, or even be told that everything is alright, but I still won't believe it. With every new release from the Call of Duty franchise comes a stark realization of where the game is heading. With maps getting smaller and option features getting less prominent, it seems as though Call of Duty is aiming its way to pushing out the good old PC gamer. While I'm sure there's a reason for this, there are better things to worry about, like why Activision insists on trying to ruin great games. It's evident that they have a serious bone to pick with the PC community. If you've heard about any of the Robert Bowling stuff dealing with MW2, then you'll most likely be able to understand the situation here. While players were promised dedicated servers, Activision went ahead and made a deal with one sole provider; one to rule them all: gameservers. While this affects normal players personally, its even worse for many of the server hosts that now have to abandon their current providers since the public server files can only be retrieved from gameservers. While many are happy with the service, they are skeptical that gameservers will be able to handle the mammoth load of players on launch day.


This isn't all I have to say, but I realize I'll just trail off into a rant about some of the less desirable members of the community or something else. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I might be, but its only because I hold the series on such a high pedestal based on my past experiences. Most of what I point out is negative, but only because I want these things to be addressed to make Black Ops better than previous iterations. Be sure to leave a comment below telling us why you agree or disagree, or be sure to state your own opinion.

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