" On the flip side, I?m really discouraged by the current state of multiplayer shooters. I think that, and I hate to mention names, because it sounds like ?I?m just jealous of their success,? but I?m really, I feel like Call of Duty has almost ruined a generation of FPS players. I know that?s a bold statement, but I won?t just throw stones without backing it up. When I was developing Action Mode [for RO2], I got a group of people that I know that are pretty hardcore Call of Duty players. And my goal was to create something that was accessible enough for them to enjoy the game?not turn it into Call of Duty, but try to make something that I thought was casual enough but with the Red Orchestra gameplay style that they would enjoy. And we iterated on it a lot. And just listening to all the niggling, pedantic things that they would complain about, that made them not want to play the game, I just thought, ?I give up. Call of Duty has ruined this whole generation of gamers.
It?s the gameplay mechanics that they become used to. The way that players instantly accelerate when they move, they don?t build up speed. ?The weapons really don?t have a lot of power? [in RO2]. They?re all very weak. The way they handle... They?re like: ?I hate Red Orchestra, I can?t play it.? Well, why? ?Because the guy doesn?t move like he does in Call of Duty. Call of Duty has great movement.? Why is it great? ?Because it just is, I just like the way it works.? So you don?t like the momentum system in Red Orchestra? ?Yeah, it sucks, it?s clunky, it?s terrible.? Well, why? ?It?s just because I?m used to this.?
I make it sound like there was a combative conversation, probably because I get a little emotional when I think about it. But it was really a calm discussion of, ?What don?t you like?? and ?It doesn?t feel like Call of Duty.? Almost every element boiled down to ?it doesn?t feel like Call of Duty.? And really, watching some of these guys play... one of the things that Call of Duty does, and it?s smart business, to a degree, is they compress the skill gap. And the way you compress the skill gap as a designer is you add a whole bunch of randomness. A whole bunch of weaponry that doesn?t require any skill to get kills. Random spawns, massive cone fire on your weapons. Lots of devices that can get kills with zero skill at all, and you know, it?s kind of smart to compress your skill gap to a degree. You don?t want the elite players to destroy the new players so bad that new players can never get into the game and enjoy it. I?m looking at you, Dota. [laughs] Sorry. "
(This is not discussing COD 4 - it's meant towards the newer CODs being released)
COD 4 was basically the last good COD released. COD 5 (World At War) could have been good - but it was released far too early and botched quite a bit with a lot of differences they tried ETC...
I own/play all the newer CODs (Besides Ghosts.. lolol) - but all I do is mess around and I never take skill or winning into account in those games. They are my ultimate 'fuck around' games.
Cheers COD 4
FH Shoutbox
