Call of Duty: Through the eyes of someone who's played it for all 8 years.

For starters: This is no microwaveable story... I really want to get my point across... these are all my opinions.


First released in October 29th, 2003; I was merely 13 at the time, and just finished Elementary school. My computer could never handle the awesome demand of Call of Duty. I first heard about it on G4TV... I used to rush home everyday, turn on the TV just to try and see footage from 2003's biggest World War II first person shooter since Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It wasn't till Summer of 2004 I got my hands on a copy, and it wasn't until August I would officially play and beat Call of Duty on Veteran. The game was not only challenging, but beautiful... There was something about the training level that I loved. I had played the game through every difficulty and by the time I reached Veteran I could complete the training level with the dialogue trailing. Sgt. Moody would be telling me about the Springfield Sniper rifle and I had already made my way to the grenade throwing range. Shortly after the training, I was deployed into Normandy, briefly watching my rough landing, and smacking a German, my first kill of the game.



I fell in love instantly with 3 things in Call of Duty:
1. The weapon authenticity. When an M1 Thompson runs out of ammo in a magazine, the slide locks forward, symbolizing it's empty, what you then do is remove the empty magazine, insert the new full magazine, and pull the slide back... ALL the way until it locks and inserts a new shell into the chamber... you don't have this occur every time you reload, and the slide only positions itself forward if the magazine is empty. Medal of Honor didn't have this kind of detail, Call of Duty did. All the weapons sounded like weapons too. None of them sounded distant, none of them were quiet, the explosions sounded like explosions, not like distant explosions, they weren't muffled, I had cheap $40 Logitech headphones later on, and when an explosion went off and the headphones were at their max volume, I heard it.
2. The intensity. Some people think games are intense because they have difficult gameplay, a lot of noise, and shake the screen a lot. Call of Duty wasn't like that. It didn't need cut scenes, it didn't need screaming, explosions. My most memorable memory of first experiencing intensity in Call of Duty, was when I started the 2nd part of Ste. Mere Eglise, I was moving low and slow; C-47's flying overhead. Then all of the sudden, a whine become present, an anonymous soldier yelled, "Get your head down!" and a loud explosion went off, knocking a soldier backwards as dirt flew in the air, I collected his weapon and pushed on through a field full of dead cows. An MG-42 opened up on the squad, I took cover behind a cow and turned around and saw a C-47 engine on fire, tilted ever so slightly and heading straight for the center of the town, it missed the MG nest, and shortly after it's disappearance, a loud explosion went off. As I pushed on the squad trailed behind, and I noticed while taking cover by a shed, a soldier dragging another one who was disabled. However an animation, I'd never seen anything like this in a game before. It was exactly like watching Saving Private Ryan, or Band of Brothers.
3. Accomplishment. Usually when I play Call of Duty's, I make it my own personal goal to beat it on Veteran. I've done it with all 4 Infinity Ward Call of Duty's, and if I can't do it.. it's bullshit! There was nothing like playing the game on Regular, beating it and seeing the end credits and seeing the silly joke at the end. However, beating it on Veteran, it was something different. Because the end credits displayed everything I had done already as an American soldier, through the push into Normandy, then at the end the screen fades out, the credits finish, and the joke again appears... "No cows were harmed in the making of this game." As a child I loved it. And I'll never forget it.



Later, in September, I was reading a PC Gamer magazine, and they had an article on Call of Duty: United Offensive, I was excited, I couldn't believe they were already finished with another Call of Duty, no it was merely an expansion. I was surprised with everything Call of Duty was adding. They had Flamethrowers, tanks, deploy-able machine guns, and even mortar strikes (it would later become Kill streaks). I was hyped... I was expecting an experience like Battlefield meeting Call of Duty... instead I got a game that I thought was... alright. I was disappointed in the Singleplayer. I was no longer Martin, I was completing interesting tasks. I was just ordered to go kill Germans, destroy this, and then go reinforce these guys. It was an awesome opening level, you start as a patrol through Bastonge, then while moving a German tank column rolls up right in front of you, as you flee back to the jeep, you lose your comrades and just Sgt. Moody, and some Pvt. Enders, just like the amazing car chase in the previous title, but I was mounting a .50 Cal this time... Upon arriving at a barn, I was issued off the jeep, and into a trench where I defended a trench line from countless Germans and their armor... I used whatever I could get my hands on, a .30 Caliber machine gun, to a bazooka, down to my M1 Garand and M1911 .45 pistol. Then I was ordered to push down the hill, throw smoke markers, for a P-51 to bombard the Germans. The experience wasn't as memorable as the original, but it wasn't long until...



2005, Call of Duty 2. I was eager to hear how the game did. I was too hooked at the time with Half-Life 2 to care as much as I do now. Call of Duty 2 was like Call of Duty, only better looking. And as bad as that may sound, it wasn't. Because if Call of Duty lacked anything, Call of Duty 2 had it. Fog of war, more weapons, better environments. This is hands down, the best World War II game I've every played, or I would recommend to anyone. Reason being, I enjoyed Call of Duty more, but if I had to recommend a World War II game to someone of todays generation of gaming, Call of Duty 2 would be the better choice, because it's just Call of Duty... after it has worked out and got extremely ripped... yeah, no steroids either, this shit is all natural. There was something this game had, that again, United Offensive didn't... a training level, to help ease me into the game. However it was short lived and after I completed my training... or finished throwing potatoes at a busted building, a fellow Russian soldier come by to tell me they captured a German, and so began our assault on a German stronghold. Even after that, there was much to learn, and the next mission would be a demolition demonstration... so the whole first portion of the game was an introduction to itself, and this is probably the longest campaign a Call of Duty has ever had. But when it was through, I felt I had won the war.

From climbing the cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc, or fighting my way through El Almein, I felt I was a soldier in WWII, fighting with not just other soldiers, but my brothers. And what made the experience even more grueling, I wanted to see how the war was going to end. It was historical, I knew we won the war, but I wanted to experience how. So despite being stuck on Hill 300 for a day, I was determined to finish the game on Veteran and no easier. I finally pushed up the hill, took it, and defended it form the Germans till the last bullet. By the time I reached the Rhine I knew things were going to get no easier... then I encountered street combat like I've never experienced in a game. In most FPS's by that day and age, we'd played games where you were running and gunning through streets or just running and dieing, but with the health regeneration system of this game, I had to kill off the Germans at my own pace, but by taking my time, I appreciated the game more, my characters life. I relied more on the bots, and our cooperation, with Artificial Intelligence, made a great experience. Finally, German SS infantry, and 2 Tiger I tanks. This was going to be tough... I mounted an 8.8CM Cannon, and fired away, striking the Tiger and destroying it but the 2nd shot my cannon, and putting me in shell shock, in fear for my life and not wanting to have to take out the first Tiger again, I crawled, with everything the game let me have. This was no longer a game, it was a fight for survival... this was war.

When I finally crawled away, destroyed the Tiger, and beat the game. After watching the beautiful credits, at the end, AGAIN, Infinity Ward treated me to more of their crude humor... "No cows were harmed in the making of this game."



I'll conclude this later...

Aww, it's nice to hear a nostalgic love story. I'm not much for WW2 games, but I have to agree, CoD2 was damn good indeed. I never played CoD1 because I got CoD2 as a present. I still am not sure if I prefer CoD2 or MoH: Frontlines on PS2. Both are great. I might do one of these nostalgia trips, too. Shame mine wont be as interesting, though. None of my franchises have crashed annd burned under a tyrannical leader. Just sayin

You just know a good game when you see one, JOOORG.

Yeah, very dramatic love story... it gets better... just gotta find time to write it.

Part 2
My father was only interested in Call of Duty 3, just because there was a King Tiger tank in the background, and American firing an M1 Thompson... he said it looked fun and he wanted to fire it. Well, as good of an idea that seemed, it wasn't. Considering he could have saved up to $30 if he just bought COD2 on the 360, he had to square off with a Nazi with his Thompson.


For a Treyarch Call of Duty, this one was different... it actually had a training level, which quickly turned into one of the most dramatic opening levels to a Call of Duty to date. The truck we were in started getting mortared, and a soldier trying to get in was shelled, as the truck sped up, it ran into a mortar hole and totaled. After awakening from blacking out, I was dragged further down a trench. The game, like Big Red One, had already tried a failed attempt for me to form a relationship with this fictional squad and it was hard. I remember Huxley in particular because he is one of the biggest dorks in gaming history. Then there was the asshole, who was in it for himself but that's beside the point...

After the 1st level, the game starts to plummet. After a while it just felt like I was being told to do stuff and it was as though the developers spent 90% of their time in the first level... oh then there was the other 10% which was wasted on the final level. And for some silly reason I always felt like the soldiers were wet. All the character models looked like everyone just finished taking a bath, fully clothed. Whether it was sweat or not, it only looked alright on the 2nd mission...

One day in May I was browsing FPSBanana.com, and I realized there was a post for Call of Duty 4... and there would be a trailer premiering after some NBA semi finals... I didn't hesitate to go tune into the basketball game... oh wait no I didn't tune into it, I was too busy playing Day of Defeat, but shortly after the game was finished I searched for the trailer on Youtube, eventually finding it, it pointed me to CharlieOscarDelta.com. In my opinion, the best website of all time. It was the #1 stop for Call of Duty 4. In fact, I felt so close to the developers when I was discussing on those forums, I always say (whenever websites play close attention to what their community wants, IE Treyarch) I call it a, "WharlieWoscarWeltaWannabe". It's a mouthful but it's my way of boasting your stealin' for my boys. I not only participated in the COD4 beta, but also won some cool swag like a COD4 water bottle, poster, and some stickers!



But that wasn't what made the game... it was the experience, that lovey dovey feeling I had from Call of Duty was revived, but with intensity like no other. I don't know what was more awesome, going to an SAS training base and firing a G36C then running through a CQB test with an MP5 trying to compete with IW's time. Or running through the remains of Chernobyl in a Ghillie suit then completing an Assassination attempt on a terrorist who would 15 years later try to nuke the United States Eastern coast).



Either way, I've clocked more hours on Call of Duty 4, for the XBox 360 than any other game, and these are my results for the PC too...
http://www.xfire.com/profile/rktshaffur/
If you don't wanna visit that link, I've clocked 213 hours of Day of Defeat 1.3. That's the most of a PC game I've played... I've clocked 12 days 22 hrs and 04 minutes of COD4 on the 360... which is 310 HOURS of Call of Duty 4... and I'm still going. The Multiplayer is solid, not entirely balanced, but solid... not to mention fun and it actually takes a little bit of something I like to call, Skill. That was absent in W@W for me. What I noticed was snipe, or use an MP40, and your good. I won't lie, I've seen people run around with an MP5 in COD4 and dominate, but I've out done blokes with a Skorpion, ironically. It's all about how you use it, and how you play. Among other things, the lack of Authenticity in World at War's multiplayer severely turned me off... But one thing that turned me on...



Let's face it, it's the best thing to happen to Call of Duty, since MW...

But then I played it about 50 times and got bored of it... Now I'm waiting on innovation. Treyarch, I presume thought that by having little easter eggs litter their latest map pack for World at War was going to make it better... it's just the same shit, different level...

Enough about that, when MW2 was coming out, I was hyped, I couldn't wait for CharlieOscarDelta to be revived in the form of Charlieoscardelta.com/mikewhiskey2. That never came, neither did a beta, or the experience, but I was hyped to resume the story of MW, and continue my quest for online dominance. After played it till the first Map pack was released, I realized 1 of 2 things about MW2... It wasn't the Call of Duty I loved. The detail glamour and everything was present, and it was the most well directed Call of Duty I'd played yet (despite the writing being complete shit!). But by the looks of the way the game coming out, Hans Zimmler was on the sound track, they had a writer from CSI: Miami working on the story, the study was at it's peak in employee numbers, what could go wrong?



Nothing from the sounds of it, but the fact that the game is so unbalanced and was so broken, lead me to believe that MW2 was sabotaged so Treyarch could no longer work on the id Tech 3 engine IW had modified for their COD games. Which would explain why Treyarch said they are using "World at War's" engine.

If you don't understand gaming engines:
It's quite simple. A game runs on an Engine. Very much like a car, a game needs this to survive, the engine in a game tells the game to do what it's doing basically, it operates everything. Example an engine is consisted of the Physics engine, the graphics, sound, EVERYTHING the engine is the game. Well, id Tech 3 is an Engine that Call of Duty originally ran on, which was programmed not only by id Software but the legendary Doom programmer "John Carmack". Well IW modified this engine so it would be later known as the Call of Duty engine, now that's all we know it as for some stupid reason... So that basically makes Call of Duty's engine a Modification right? Well, if Black Ops runs on World at Wars engine, which WAW is already technically a Mod, that makes Black Ops a Mod, of a Mod, of a Mod, of a Mod, of the engine... damn that's a fuckin' mouthful...

Well... that's it...
Call of Duty was born, and now it's turning into Activision's favorite thing to happen to it since Bobby Kotick... who will in 3 years be our lord in the Gaming industry.


He's playing the part a little to well...

I guess I'll close this out with pictures of the few remaining fellows who can stop this monster!


Gordon Freeman as Luke Skywalker


Lara Croft as Princess Laya


Captain John Price as Chewbacca


Nate Drake as Hans Solo


Master Chief as C3PO


And the BRINK cast as Ewoks!


Guest Appearance from Sniper Jesus!