Call of Duty
The Assassin’s Creed series returned to our consoles and PCs last week after having taken 2016 off. Ubisoft opted to take some time out to “take advantage of new technologies” and “give the brand a new dimension.” Now that the series has returned with the rather excellent Origins, we decided to take a look at five other series that could benefit from taking five.
Call of Duty is one of the industry’s biggest juggernauts. Each and every year, without fail, we get another eight to 10-hour campaign, a substantial multiplayer mode, and sometimes, a co-op Zombies mode to sweeten the deal. Sure, it’s fun, but as the series that essentially shaped the landscape of modern day FPS titles, we can’t help but feel it could be pushing the boundaries even further.
Rather than the minor changes to the loadout system we’ve seen in the recent entries’ multiplayer modes, let’s see an overhaul of the whole system. New and interesting game modes, a thorough overhaul of the physics and graphics engines to bring even more immersive gunfights to your living room, and well-designed maps that echo the sheer brilliance of those found in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
While it’s often overshadowed by the multiplayer mode, campaigns are just as in need of a breath of fresh air. Be it more engaging and interesting characters and relationships, bombastic set-pieces, or perhaps even a choices system to help personalize the experience to a player. The rest of the market is finding novel ways to make their shooters stand out from the crowd, and Call of Duty needs to do the same.
It remains to be seen whether or not Call of Duty: WWII may be the breath of fresh air that the series needs as it takes it back to its roots and tries to shake up the typical campaign and multiplayer experiences.