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Activision On Iterating, Innovating Call Of Duty Series
Activision's Noah Heller sat down with Gamasutra to discuss the refinements made in Call of Duty: World at War to keep the popular FPS franchise moving forward. He points to cosmetic things, like realistic burning and the ability to set just about everything in the environment on fire, as well as bigger gameplay improvements, such as making the AI more difficult to beat without having it "cheat."
"... the main thing we tried to do is honestly make the placement just more brutal. You've always got an advantage on the enemy; you've been through the level before, you know where they're going to be, but in Veteran mode you're going to find that they're not going to cheat. You're really going to have to be going for headshots using the most effective weaponry. You're going to have to use that bolt-action rifle and aim for the head if you want to take an enemy out at a distance. It's a different sort of gameplay. We heard those concerns and we tried to address them."
Can someone tell me which cheat I need to turn on to get it? The game I played was just Medal of Honour Pacific Assault with better graphics and swearing.
Aaand one of the guys that make the good Call of Duty games calls him a dumb little shit who should stfu:
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/42853/Call-of-Duty-4-Community-Guy-Rants-At-Activision-Producer
http://www.fourzerotwo.com/2008/11/07/noah-heller-stop-doing-interviews/
Call of Duty 4 II: WWII. Keeping the FPS genre fresh. Don't mind Far Cry 2 or Left 4 Dead or anything, here's a innovative new mod for a modern combat game about WWII!
This game is going to be a colossal failure.
the "killing nazis" genre. beyond moral reproach.
THL phish sticks
Finally, a game where the difficulty levels don't just correlate to levels of AI hacks.
I lost any and all interest in Call of Duty 3½ as soon as Activision happily announced that the next iteration in the Call of Duty series would take place during World War II.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
For the warriors who had to use these weapons in combat. I fired a BAR, Thompson and M-1 carbine (not a Garand) at Knob Creek. They're not as accurate as I thought they'd be and except for the Thompson, a bit punishing to shoot.
...but when are the two sequels to Zork: Grand Inquisitor coming out?!
...but I liked CoD and CoD:UO. They were (and are) the best WWII shooters around, IMO. I don't much like the genre, and IMO you can toss out most of the rest (including CoD2), but those are keepers. Cinematic when they needed to be, action-packed at other times. Just good.
They've gone downhill since, but man, those first ones had some great moments and some intense gameplay. I didn't read anything about the games before getting them on a whim, and when one level in UO faded in and I realized they'd put me on a friggin' B-17... man, that was some good stuff! Battle of Stalingrad, also excellent. The shelling on that hill.... Jesus, no wonder people came back messed up from that kind of thing. Trench fighting on the eastern front--man, just good. The game offers experiences more than anything else, which is what I like about it, and what I think those sorts of games should do. I think it helps them communicate better, and makes them more than just a mindless shooter (if only for a few moments here and there).
The only weak parts, IMO, were the tank levels, and only because they were too small to get a feel for the machine. I kept trying to go in what I thought were reasonable directions for the levels, and running in to invisible walls :(
Try the free Half-Life 2 Insurgency mod where you get to play US Marines or Iraqi and Afghanistani insurgents. It's won awards and is one of the best mods out there.
:)
http://www.insmod.net/
It's now out on Valve's steam, and will work with any Valve Source engine game.
It's pretty badass plus the sound and graphics production value is amazing for a mod -- rivaling or better than commercial games like Counterstrike Source or Day of Defeat Source.
The "iron sights" aiming model where instead of GUI crosshairs you see your character aim with your gun barrel and sights also makes it a bit different and refreshing compared to most other FPSs.
Another refreshing aspect is the way the US Marine uniforms provide camouflage in Middle-Eastern terrain and urban environments, same with the insurgents' outfits. Friendly fire servers are pretty cool too for the extra realism aspect as douchebags on current servers are pretty rare.
Give it a go! You won't regret it
http://www.object404.com
So, you can set the environment on fire. Does the AI torch the game (or your OS) if its copy protected with SecuROM? Or is the AI not that smart and leaves it up to the user?
You've always got an advantage on the enemy; you've been through the level before, you know where they're going to be This is what puts me off most FPS games these days. They make it so incredibly hard such that the only way to get through is to play it over and over till you've memorized the level. It takes away most of the fun of the game and justs makes it a frustrating experience. If you want to negate the deja vu knowledge of the player, make the game change each time it's played again.
Releasing your game on 11/11/2008
90 years to the day after 11/11/1918
The day dedicated, each year, to the memory of the millions who lost their lives in that war.
The day dedicated, each year, to reflect on the terrible cost of war.
Launching your videogame on that day of all days.
How could anyone call that crass?
When are we getting a game where you kill Americans instead?
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
How about Call of Duty 3 3/4, World War I?
The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.
I'm with you. I've had an assfull of WWII games. It's been done to death. If you add up the gameplay time of all the WWII games that have been released it's probably longer than the war itself. I'm sick of hitting the beach at Normandy, I'm sick of paratrooping into France, I'm sick of the same damn guns I've used in 4 other games and I'm sick sick SICK of killing nazis. How about an original frickin idea for once?
If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
without infinity ward, COD series would have died. Treyarch, while not necessarily bad, just didn't find that winning combination.
COD4 is one of the defining experiences in games, PC or console. The single player campaign is lacking very few things if any. It really connected with a majority of the demographic.
I have played hundreds of PC games in the past 20 years. Very few of the experiences remain with me. Very few had that impact.
leisure suit larry, space quest 6, wing commander 4, prince of persia, duke 3d, star wars x-wing vs tie fighter, jedi knight 2, dark sun wake of the ravager, system shock 2, warcraft 2, starcraft, wing commander prophecy, blade runner, half-life 2, need4speed underground, rainbow 6, portal, star trek elite force, tomb raider 2, soldier of fortune, max payne, operation flashpoint, COD1, KOTOR, Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, hitman, sid meier's railroads, Vampire Bloodlines, omikron: the nomad soul, gta san andreas, oblivion, COD4, mass effect, fallout 3, assassin's creed. crysis:warhead.
Those games had a serious impact on me. I remember them vividly. They all have that special sauce. I haven't included multi-player only games. But CS and BF1942 are high on that list.
They may not have been the most successful games, but out of probably 260-280 games I've played, these I remember.
They're using their grammar skills there.
If someone has an original idea, perhaps they'll do an original franchise? And if you want an original idea, perhaps the place to look for it is not in existing franchises?
When I play "[Game] N+1", I expect to be playing "[Game] N" with improved graphics and gameplay, not a whole new game. Which was why I avoided CoD4 for so long.
IW made good WWII games, and I hope they continue to do so, and modern ones too since it turns out they do that well too. I would not like to see the series chop and change its basis in a doomed attempt to keep the interest of those who aren't particularly interested in it in the first place.
Actually I know allot of people like myself who were really disappointed that they moved away from WWII with Call of Duty 4. Number 4 was fun and all but it lacked the epic framework of World War II for a backdrop. Fighting terrorists is so overblown in modern media today I just can't get very excited about it.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Most importantly, why snub the megashitload of other interesting conflicts? Why not a game that involves going after Pancho Villa? What's wrong with the Cowboys vs. Indians war (whatever it's called)? The Civil War? Something that involves pirates? Being a Zulu warrior and repelling the British?
I mean fuck, you won't tell me that conflicts in the whole history of mankind wouldn't make good video games except for WWI, WWII, American's Vietnam war and the 2003 Iraq war? I believe it's just ignorance from game studios, who were themselves overly influenced by war movies rather than anything else, and even then it doesn't excuse the lack of pre-WWI cowboy war games.
You just got troll'd!
Don't give it a go; you will regret it.
Hats off to the hard work and devotion that obviously went into the visual elements of this mod but the game play simply isn't there.
Almost any shot is a one-shot kill and even though you're theoretically supposed to use the iron sights pretty much just firing your weapon in the general direction of the bad (good) guys guarantees a frag.
Players familiar with the map can often camp out of visual range and simply hose down the exits from the spawn points with great effect.
The map objectives are lame and overdone (we've seen it all before) and most servers are setup to spawn endlessly making the whole exercise pointless.
There appears to be no material difference between the player classes. You could save everyone a bunch of time by simply putting all the players together in an empty room and letting them frag away. It's essentially DoD:S but with modern weapons.
This in no way compares to the polish or great (and generally well balanced) game play of CS:S, TF2, or RTCW:ET.
Summary: visually good, but boring, boring, boring.
What's wrong with the Cowboys vs. Indians war (whatever it's called)?
There was never a "cowboys vs indians" war. In the United States there were a number of what are called Indian Wars or Campaigns. For example, the one I study, the Northern Great Plains Indian Wars from 1860-1891 had a number of phases and campaigns. Dakota War of 1862, Red Cloud's War (1866â"1868) - which the Indians won, Colorado War (1864â"1865), Black Hills War, or Little Big Horn Campaign (1876â"1877), Cheyenne War (1878â"1879), and Pine Ridge Campaign (November 1890 â" January 1891).
I started playing CoD:World at War the other day and I must say I was rather impressed. Apart from the realistic environment and having multiple soldiers rushing at you from all sides, the part of the game that stood out the most to me was the screams of the dying Japanese soldiers. Perhaps it's only because I'm half Japanese that I felt this way, but it was mildly disturbing (and sickly amusing) to hear these soldiers screaming bloody murder in Japanese as I torched them in groups. I think what hit me the hardest was that I was able to understand exactly what they were saying.