Seven Fixes, Issues and Suggestions for the Future of Call of Duty

ByPaul Posted on Updated on

So I just prestiged again in Black Ops, and I’m already getting tired of the new map pack that debuted a week ago. As I sit, silently snuffing out noobs with my Galil, I have to wonder where this series goes from here.

Not to say I’m not enjoying myself. I’ve sunk a large amount of time into this latest installment, and plan to continue to do so, but that doesn’t mean I can ignore the fact that the series hasn’t exactly evolved a terribly large amount recently, and could use some major overhauls.

I know, who am I to criticize a brand that sells literally billions worldwide, but I’m just a fan who sees some pretty obvious areas where the series can improve and evolve in the future. See if you agree with me.

1. Collision Physics

This is something I noticed in practically every single final killcam in this game. The collision physics, and really physics in generally in this game are just horrendous. Every time a person gets shot in slow motion, it never seems like the bullets line up with their body, and the way they react to being shot is often completely random.

Often it looks like players are just skating around the ground on an ice rink in these clips, and an improvement in collision physics would greatly serve to quell cries of “how is he not f***ing dead?”

Explosions are another big pile of terribleness in this game, as they look extremely last generation when viewed from these killcams. Also a  problem are things like napalm strikes which repeatedly kill you with completely invisible fire.

2. Destructible Environments

For as much as I applaud Treyarch for putting in three collapsible ice shelves in one of their newest maps, we’re still incredibly far away from actual destructible environments where anything is fair game . Many other titles have employed such an ability to great success, and the practice goes all the way back to Red Faction on PS2, and probably even before that.

How more destructible environments haven’t made their way into more shooters, I do not know. Rather than everyone playing a level the exact same way every time, matches would now be dynamic as cover spots could be blown away, and new ones could be formed. Though the downside I suppose is that this could lead to a heavy increase in noob tubing…

3. Better Level Design

This is more geared toward Treyarch, as Infinity Ward had it right. But since that company barely exists anymore, it’s up to Treyarch to carry on the torch, and so far they’ve shown they just don’t know how to design levels.

Yes, I’ve gotten used to them, but they’re still a far cry from good. They rely heavily on just being a maze, which involves a lot less strategy, and a lot more twitch shooting as soon as someone pops out of a window or around  a corner.

Modern Warfare‘s maps were just better. They seemed like real places you just happened to be having a shootout to the death in, but levels Launch or Radiation just feel like overly designed video game arenas instead.

4. Vehicles

Yes, it’s time. Halo has them, Battlefield has them, it’s time to get with the program. Obviously it would change gameplay dramatically in most levels, and certain buffs and nerfs would have to be put into place so they would work, but on bigger maps (they’d have to be levels that don’t even exist yet as none would be big enough) they could be a lot of fun.

There could be a whole different set of vehicle killstreaks, along with more anti vehicle weapons and such. It would just really liven up a franchise that’s essentially running around and shooting each other with the same three guns over and over again.

5. Better Reward System to Encourage Diversity in Play

Perhaps my biggest problem with Black Ops is that there is absolutely no reason to ever alter your play with different classes or perks. 95% of people will pick two or three guns and perks and stick with them for the entire duration of the game. There’s never any reason to get outside your comfort zone and try a different playing style other than pure boredom.

Modern Warfare had a good system, but I think it could be further improved upon. They rewarded players with badges and callsigns for branching out and using different weapons, equipment and perks, and even if you couldn’t see all of them, they were at least kind of collectibles and something to shoot for. But in Black Ops, the only reward for these same challenges is just XP. Everything feeds into the same pool, so why would I ever bother using any piece of equipment besides the claymore, or getting 500 kills with the MP5? With prestige at 50 now instead of 70, XP makes you graduate even faster, and you could do it using just the guns you’re most comfortable with.

6. Prestiging

I understand that it’s tough to think of a way to make players keep playing, but I’ve never, ever like prestiging in ANY of these games. It’s the same boring system every time. You play until you unlock everything, then get rid of it all and start again. This has gotten easier as COD points now unlock a lot of perks and equipment, which used to be obtained by leveling, but it’s still a system that contributes nothing to the game except a few extra camos and class slots. Woo hoo?

Also prestiging negates any sort of useful ranking system in this game. Halo 3‘s up/down system was flawed, but at least it was something to compete with. Prestiging usually just indicates a person has sunk an inordinate amount of the time into the game relative to everyone else. Usually this will make them better, but it’s not in itself and indicator of skill. A more prominent ladder system would be appreciated with a lobby to match.

7. Servers, Lag and Respawns

I’m going to group all three of these together for my last bullet point here as I’d classify them all as “general gameplay issues” which are most likely the most important of the bunch. The issues are pretty obvious.

Severs – When you have the most popular game in the world, chances are you’re going to need a lot of power to run it. Don’t underestimate and cause the service for your game to be horribly shitty. On Xbox I’ve experienced so many bootings and drops, I’ve lost count, and the game can’t even do a simple host migration 90% of the time without closing the entire lobby. I’ve heard it’s even worse on the PS3 and PC. Get your shit together.

Lag – This is on the server side as well where the host has a distinct advantage over his opponents. This in addition to those collision physics mentioned earlier is why you can empty a clip into someone and watch them walk away unscathed. Watch this video to see just how much it can factor into the game. Think you’re on a shitty streak and you’ve suddenly lost all your skill? It might just be lag.

Respawns – This isn’t quite as bad as it used to be. But there should be some sort of minimum distance rule in place that is clearly being violated all the time. But not only for distance, but in big maps like discovery I’m finding the entire enemy team being spawned behind me on a very consistent basis. Annoying.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now, feel free to shout out your own suggestions.

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

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30 Comments

  1. OFF TOPIC:
    Hope this isn’t a cardinal sin on the site .

    Are you guys going to do a review of the SYFY show Being Human? It’s an extremely well put together show and warrants some attention. Also, are you working on an iPhone app version of this site. It’s a pain viewing on my phone.

  2. I didn’t even bother with this installment, I saw the trailer and instantly turned the other way.

    The reason I loved MW1 was because it was much slower paced and dare I say a little more tactical and the maps were a lot bigger too.

    Then It all started to go wrong in Modern Warfare 2. Small maps, fast running, fast reloading, fast scoping, fast everything. It was like a damn Quake match in fast forward.

    Though I was still good at it’s fast paced retardedness, I grew tired of it’s repetitive prone-quick-scope-UMP-spam.

    Don’t even get me started on the perks, hey I got a few kills, now I have a ****ing aircraft carrier at my disposal.

    Now it’s all basically run around a small maze and be first to prone while holding fire down with basically zero recoil.

    This may please all the 12 year olds holding a PS3 controller, so hey…if they’re selling copies who cares right?

  3. The obvious priority would be to fix the god awful matchmaking/hosting/lag issues
    I would love to see destructible environments; this would stop those god damn campers; you get me once, i level the entire building with a tank when i respawn. COD feels so limited compared to battlefield, and it will be even worse when Battlefield 3 comes out with the Frostbite 2 engine if COD is stuck in their present system.
    I’d also like more emphasis on teamwork, as in bad company, and less focus on the kill death ratio so people stop camping and start participating in getting objectives.
    Increasing player health would also make it less twitch-shooting based.
    Essentially, just be more like bad company 2, I’ve gone back to it after black ops and modern warfare 2 and it still holds up 160 hours in.

  4. Re: 5. Better Reward System to Encourage Diversity in Play, I disagree. The most fun I’ve had is playing to complete Contracts, which force me to use weapons outside of the big 3. However, I’d like to see more diversity with the contracts, and possibly a system that allows you to unlock higher level contracts after completing lower ones.
    Try running around with the Stakeout, looking for a 2:1 ratio on your kdr, while also trying to get kills using the Flashbang and tactical mask. That shit is fun.

  5. The respawning points combined with the level design pissed me off the most, no matter where I go, I always seem to be shot in the back, or from the 4th window in a series of 17 windoes/alleys/doorways you have to look through to make sure the path is clear. I would definately keep playing MW2 if it wasn’t so hacked

  6. 1 shell only for noob tubes and make them much harder to unlock, make the noobs work.
    Get rid of one hit kill knifes. Make it so a body hit does 50% damage, limbs 25% and then back and head 100%.

  7. Black Ops as a whole made great strides with conceptual game play, but the left alot to be desired with both the visual and audio components to the game. That is my biggest issue and why i do not play it anymore.

    In reality, MW2 was great, but had some flaws. I think, a map pack DLC for MW2 that did the following would have been worth $30 and save black ops for this novemeber, giving it another full year to develop the game play.

    DLC for MW2 would:
    remove Danger close and One Man Army, and replace them with something new and fun
    Decrease Marathon to black ops level, so no unlimited sprint, just extended.
    Fix the intervention quick zoom glitch
    Release all maps from MW1 Pipeline, crossfire, backlot, countdown, etc.
    Add 2 new killstreaks

    All in all, black ops completely failed IMO. Betweent he lack of clarity with visual and audio, the lost “feel” of the game, the server issues, the unimaginative killstreaks, the lack of vehicles and all….just lost me

  8. Disconnects…

    The XBox version constantly disconnects.

    I was having the game of my life (22 kills:0 deaths) and was waxing the other team with the gunship, racking up more kills.

    Then the disconnect icon starts flashing.

    Then we are all booted.

    None of that awesome game applied to me. No XP, no CoD Points, no stats.

    Just pissed me off.

  9. I like the run and gun. No teamwork BS. it’s a game, you are going to die. Now shoot someone before you do!

    I don’t see why every map and gun FROM EVERY COD is not available at this point. Since they made it all about $ (or whatever that symbol is), then just add all of the guns from before. and then add the maps as well. make it all DLC.

    It’s basically the same game to me with just a different theme. Yeah some were slightly better, but all in all its just a FPS.

  10. The more I play this game, the more it irritates me.

    The hit detection is terrible. I watched a replay of me hitting a guy with 8 bullets (I counted) and he turns around and kills me with 2. Even if every bullet was worth 15 damage, he should have still died. Also, when I knock someone down into Second Chance, and I’m still scoped in on the bulk of his body, that first bullet should take him out, not the 5th.

    While I’m talking about it, THEY NEED TO FUCKING REMOVE SECOND CHANCE! It is the worst, most overpowered, cheapest piece of shit perk I’ve ever seen. It’s even worse when paired with the shitty accuracy/hit detection of every gun and it takes a whole clip to knock someone down. Also, since when is a knife more powerful than a shotgun at close range? A shotgun blast should kill you, not knock you into SC.

    Because it takes so long to get pro perks, I stopped prestiging after the 3rd one. It’s way too annoying for no useful reward.

    The respawning is the worst. Way worse than MW2. If you’re playing Nuketown, you can be all by yourself in a backyard and BAM! the whole team spawns behind you. Getting shot in the back is terrible.

    One more thing, this might pertain to lag. But when I’m looking through a window or something while I’m behind a car and I can only see the guy’s head…I should get a headshot…AND he shouldn’t be able to see my whole fucking body! Perspective in this game is terrible.

  11. I know I’m not terrific at Black Ops, but I also know my connection blows, and I attribute a goodly portion of my failure to lag. This is especially apparent in games when I’m 0-9 halfway through a game- I know I’m mediocre, but I’m not nearly that bad. What is really frustrating is that I’m deadly with claymores, always hiding them is sneaky spots, but when I die due to lag my claymores vanish, and I get nothing. I loathe it when I’m respawned under a gunship barrage, even though ghosted, and die before I take a step, or when I get blown up by a grenade 30 ft away but when I throw a grenade in that goddamn tower on the firing range and don’t kill the guy sniping from up there. I really hate being sniped from a mile away, but due to lag sniping for me is a fruitless labor.

    I’ve never played those other games but maybe I should.

  12. Here’s what I think is a very reasonable request for the next game: custom button remapping. Check out this link for a custom button remapping petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/cu5t0m/petition.html
    I found the link after watching a video by the disabled gamer who started the campaign:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwIdxHaYQEI

    Otherwise, I’d like to see some more creative perks. I feel like the perks have been the same since the first game.

  13. i am a big fan of the cod series but honestly black ops is just mehh. MW2 is realy good. then i played battlefield and had my mind blown. but if they can mix COD combat with battlefield tactics and building destruction ….. right there best fps ever. that why im getting medal of honor to see how it is. oh and better graphics and maybe awesome assassination cutscenes like from halo would be awesome 2

  14. On the topic of prestiging:

    I’ve thought for a while that it would be awesome to be able to unlock weird, different weapons as you prestiged more and more. Something like a new weapon in each class, a new grenade or equipment of each class every three prestige levels, and maybe a new perk or two tossed in, all to give a reason to prestige. As someone who suckled of the teet of TF2 for a year or two, I of course think that anything new shouldn’t be game-breaking, but there are a lot of things that I’d love to have that aren’t in multiplayer. I would LOVE to get access to some of the World at War weapons, to be able to go at someone with a Molotov, to gun someone down with a MP40, to let loose with a scoped Kar 98k. I just think that there is no point to have prestige if it isn’t incentivized with tangible rewards.

    Also, agreed to all points, especially spawn and level design. BlOps has some of the worst, least intuitive multiplayer level design I’ve grappled with. Sure, it looks pretty, but it doesn’t feel real. It feels like a paintball arena, set up very specifically to be a mess so you are always freaking out. Also, I would LOVE to see destroyable environments. Even as a bit of a camper, the idea that you could be in a building and have it falling down around you seems epic (But I think it would be worthwhile to say that only C4 could destroy a building, both for fairness, and to make a reason for C4 existing in the first place).

  17. honestly i’m firmly into battlefield Bad Company 2.

    while I feel COD’s single player is better than BF2. the online multiplayer is WORLDS better.

    vehicles: check,

    HUGE maps: check

    while there is some class customization the game definently requires teamwork as only engineers can repair vehicles, medics can heal injured teammates or revive fallen ones, recon is your sniper/stealth mix (has snipers rifles and also motion sensors similar to a localized UAV), and assault (basic assault rifle class).

    but you have less health than in COD thereby requiring more caution and teamwork, and since the levels are so massive there’s none of the ‘run and gun’ solo play you see so often in ‘Team’ death match on COD.

  18. just like the new battlefield is borrowing a few things from call of duty, looks like you are suggesting they do the same back.

    while i was the biggest cod fan for cod 1, 2 and modern warfare 2 i just cant get into the series now. sales aside (impressive? yes but console ports are always a slap in the face) the game is as you suggested stale.

  19. So right about the MW1 maps. I really think that they should add more and less powerful perks and killstreaks, slow the game down to MW1 and make the maps more tactical. I hate that in MW2 all rooms and places have 2 or easy access. That makes sniping pointless. And talking about camping. A SNIPERS ROLE IS TO CAMP NOT TO RUN AROUND QUICKSCOPING! I think that MW2 did just that.

  20. I completely disagree with the vehicles part. I play Call of Duty because at its core, it’s a hardcore, straight up shooter. Not that I don’t like vehicles in my games (I actually like the Battlefield series more than the CoD series) but I play CoD for different reasons. Besides, Treyarch put vehicles in World at War. One time on this incredibly boring square map that had four tanks spawn at every corner (see: 3. Better Level Design), I felt like being a dick so I hopped in a tank at the beginning and spent literally the entire game just going from corner to corner blowing people away until one tank was almost destroyed, hopping out, getting in the next and repeating it. My final score was something like 40-0. Not saying that vehicles can’t be balanced, I just want there to be at least one good, hardcore ground pound shooter out there and I know there are others like me. Other than that, I agree with pretty much every point of this article.

  21. Get back to WWII. Or Korea, or some historical conflict at least. If I want fictional environments and fictional enemies and fictional weaponry I will get Crysis or BioShock or Quake or Avatar.

    CoD was best when it stuck to real scenarios.

  24. I agree with every point and would like to also see more matchmaking games added such as 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and so on. Halo added 2v2 and it was great. This helps with people who want to play with a friend or two and not with several morons on their team who kill their own team and/or just suck. It will also lead to more strategizing if you know your team and are willing to listen to your team (it may also just lead to a lot more camping).

    I also think 6v6 is just too many people in some of the levels.

  27. oh and also interactive maps are nice more would be better however. such as zip lines, the rocket launch in launch the movable doors in radiation all nice. Best one i think is the rocket in launch though. Having things move in the map allows for breaks in concentration and more to worry about shaking of the map etc. Just seems like it adds to the plain jane maps where you run around and the only thing moving is the other players

  28. Black Ops is a really great game.. my point here is that its a game.. respect its boundaries and play it by the rules that Treyarch has set. The COD series will continually grow and it’ll definitely expand in quality and material.. however.. if complaining is what justifies your “bad games” then please work on getting better. Its simple, find what your good at and perfect it… if your a rusher, continue rush, but don’t complain when you start a map 6-0 and someone in last stand shoots you while your rushing to get across the map field… the point of the game is to be challenged..just play the game and stop complaining is all I’m trying to say..

  30. Everything this article asks for, Battlefield BC2 has. DICE not only provides dedicated servers, but they also give map packs for FREE.

    Before you buy any more Call of Duty games, I would wait and get Battlefield 3 when it comes out.

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