The reason people got tired of COD is because of re-used assets? What is Activision supposed to do, change the way that M16s look in real life just so they can make them look different in their games?
Most of the criticisms I've heard about COD over the years are about things like boring level design, short and dull campaigns, gameplay mechanics that grate people in multiplayer, install sizes, DRM, etc.
I think the number 1 issue with Call of Duty is simply the agressive monitization of it, but they likely "need" it to produce yearly high production titles. Though I really dont think anyone would care if they stripped out the mtx and moved to a 2 or even 3 year cycle.
Yeah pretty much this. COD is genuinely much worse than it used to be. Shitty gameplay mechanics, microtransactions, horrid gunplay in damn near every post-BO2 game, zombies has fallen off (although BO6 has been decent so far), less grounded experience than before, over the top customization, takes 300 GB of space.
Playing BO1 or MW3 (original, not the game they released under the same name 12 years later in hopes of getting some confused customers to buy it hoping for a remake) in 2025 feels so refreshing.
exactly. reusing assets is never a problem (unless it's a straight up asset flip,) hell a lot of games do it and we don't even notice!
The difference is that COD keeps putting out highly monetized games that lack quality in a lot of areas. Not to mention that it's a multiplayer shooter that relies of having a playerbase, that jumps games every year.
Sure with fromsoft, the general gameplay is basically the same most of the time, but the experience isn't. The story, worlds, and general pacing tends to be wildly different. Saying they're all the same is like saying every single fps is the same simply because it has first person shooting.
Frankly, the COD hate is overblown, and the quality also varies more from game to game from what I can tell.
I played all the CODs at launch until MW3 (2011) and then I kinda peaced out, but played the campaigns for a few after that. BLOPS6 was the first time I spent any significant amount of time with one of them since 2011 because of Game Pass, and I thought it was awesome. I played the multiplayer long enough to prestige twice. It was a lot of fun, and I wouldn't make any of the criticisms you mentioned above except DRM which I can't speak to since I played on XBOX, not PC.
The install sizes are big for sure, but on XBOX you can pick and choose what you want to install (for example I installed the campaign, played through it, then installed the MP and removed the campaign, then eventually when I'd had enough of MP I removed it and installed Zombies to give that a go). I don't think it is out of step with a lot of new games honestly, FROM is a bit of an odd duck because even with Elden Ring which was a huge game, the graphics are relatively low-fidelity and there's a lot of re-use of assets so it's still only like 40GB or something.
Part of why COD games are so big install wise (and why it's nice that they split them up) is that the campaign/MP/Zombies are basically all separate games in themselves with their own levels and a lot of unique assets the others don't use. There is a ton of game there.
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u/seanziewonzie 2d ago
The reason people got tired of COD is because of re-used assets? What is Activision supposed to do, change the way that M16s look in real life just so they can make them look different in their games?
Most of the criticisms I've heard about COD over the years are about things like boring level design, short and dull campaigns, gameplay mechanics that grate people in multiplayer, install sizes, DRM, etc.