Well, the latest game from the Call of Duty franchise has made its widely anticipated arrival and with much success I may add. As with the previous games from the series it has gone on to become a blockbuster of the gamer world. One of the major reasons behind it’s success of the been its online experience. The online play has proven to be a hit with gamers and shows little sign of slowing down. They say all good things must come to an end, so one could reasonably assume that the Call of Duty series must be closely reaching its peak, or perhaps even winding down.

Writing from a PC perspective, here is why I think the Call of Duty franchise is losing its appeal to gamers.

1. Struggling to come up with new ideas

The game has gone from a world war 2 first person shooter to a modern day action packed thriller. We’ve had the chance to use old vintage firearms to today’s latest and greatest. The biggest change we’ve seen was when we introduced to the first Modern Warfare. It blew the original out of the water, along with the several other somewhat successful sequels. (Cod2, 3, etc…) In Modern Warfare we were introduced to not only a massive graphical overhaul, but a wide variety of new features such as weapon class, customization, kill streaks and so much more. Everything else that has followed since has basically been an add on to this game. The graphics haven’t changed much, game play has remained pretty much the same, and the same perks and add-ons keep making their rounds with the occasional new ones added here and there. How many times can the same game be recycled before gamers lose interest?

2. Is it MW3 or MW2?

With new titles being launched on a frequent basis, it has been getting harder and harder to distinguish between them all. I seriously don’t know what game I am playing sometimes. To me black ops, mw2 and mw3 all look and feel the same. And I guess they should, seeing as they have been using the same game engine over and over.

3. The game is being catered to the “noobs”

With removing various perks, to designing a completely ridiculous spawning system,(“To even the playing field“) game developers have been stripping away what serious gamers love and adding frustrating features and add-ons to compensate for the “noobs”.

4. Taking too many short cuts

I am not sure if its to save money or time, but I’m assuming it’s a combination of the two. But it seems as the game is built on a console platform, then ported over to PC with a few minor tweaks. The small maps, match making, lack of dedicated server support are chipping away at was once a great game. Sure there have been some cool new add-ons such as a more advanced prestige system, zombies mod, and even the Call of Duty Elite, but these hardly make up for the other short comings of the game.

5. Too many oversights

With hackers freely roaming the servers, various glitches running rampant in the server, and a match making disaster the game could drive anyone bonkers. Not to mention if I get interrupted one more time by a host disconnecting I might lose my mind. Separately these may all seem minor, and even if they were just occur randomly I’d be cool with it. But sadly this is not the case. If I am not sitting in the lobby for 10 minutes, I am in a server with a hacker, and if I am having a good game, odds are the connection will drop.

I am sure I could go on for awhile, but being a life time fan of the series its hard for me to keep a neutral unbiased stance on the issue. Clearly I am frustrated, but I keep buying the games. In the end it comes down to whether or not the game is playable and enjoyable. And as long as the mainstream gamers are content, and they will continue to buy the games that are put out, developers will continue to happily oblige. So is the game playable? Yes. Is it enjoyable? Too an extent. But until everyone else feels the same way we are going to be stuck with what we get.

What has been your thoughts on the latest CoD title? Is it living up to your expectations? Let me know in the comments!

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