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Activision On Iterating, Innovating Call Of Duty Series

Posted by Soulskill on from the check-out-our-flamethrower-it's-kickin-rad dept.

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."

4 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. ah yes, the PC low hanging fruit. by gandhi_2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    the "killing nazis" genre. beyond moral reproach.

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:ah yes, the PC low hanging fruit. by Ant+P. · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When are we getting a game where you kill Americans instead?

  2. Total respect... by vudufixit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  3. I may be in the minority here... by Fallingcow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...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 :(