Developer from Original Infinity Ward expresses viewpoint that Call of Duty resembles The Simpsons due to periods of idea exhaustion.
Ain't No Porn in Warzones
Let's face it, there comes a point when even the most gruesome war crimes lose their thrill in porn. The adrenaline pumping action, the dizzying highs, and even the Red Cross stops giving a damn when you've executed your thousandth prone foe.
This isn't quite what former Call of Duty animator Chance Glasco was talking about when he chatted with Tulsa's News 9 network, but who am I to ruin a good story? Glasco, one of the original MOH gurus who helped found Infinity Ward back in the days of dinosaurs in 2002, recently spilled his thoughts on CoD'sjourney over the past decade or so.
"It's like watching The Simpsons," Glasco mused. "Been around so long it seems like they're out of ideas sometimes. It kinda veers off course." You're probably thinking 'guy's clearly never played a CoD game with new Skooby-Doo skins,' but you'd be wrong. Glasco still cranks up the tunes and plays Warzone regularly, just not much else.
"I still get my kicks playing Warzone," Glasco confessed, but added that he doesn't spend too much time with the regular multiplayer. Maybe today's CoD hasn't changed enough since his days at the helm, or maybe he's partial to pelting rocks in the Gulag.
Can't blame the man for being unimpressed. The number of CoDs released since Modern Warfare first dropped the bombshell that we could shoot people in places other than WW2 is pretty damn long. Sometimes, I struggle to tell them apart. I'm no CoD expert, but the series' most significant shifts have been Warzone (which was basically Activision jumping on the already-moving PUBG and Fortnite train) and DMZ (RIP). Apart from that, CoD remains CoD, just with a bit of fiddling around the edges. At least now you can be Snoop Dogg.
On some level, it's understandable that people don't want to mess with a winning formula. As Glasco attests, "Multiplayer seriously hooked people, and as time went by, it became colossal. I wouldn't say it reached its peak at Modern Warfare 2, but that was probably our finest hour." I wouldn't meddle with that magic if I was running the show, but I wouldn't remake the same game under a different name, either.
The series continues to dominate the gaming world, so they must be doing something right. And let's face it, even if we were still stuck in the endless loop of WW2 games, they'd probably still be better than the awkwardly fictionalized recreations of real-life events like the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. Glasco hasn't much love for those days: "I spent more time making WW2 games than America was actually in WW2, so moving to modern settings felt invigorating."
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Josh 'Gamebrain' WolensFrom his first memory of playing Quake 2 on the family computer at an age he shouldn't have, Wolens has been an unrepentant gaming junkie. His work has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times, covering everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. No game is safe from his keen scrutiny, and his deepest passions lie in CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outweighs its budget. He thinks you're all way too hard on Deus Ex: Invisible War.
- In a discussion about the gaming industry, it's worth considering the enduring appeal of games such as Call of Duty (CoD), especially during entertainment's pop-culture season.
- Sometimes, bets are placed on upcoming games, and the anticipation of new releases can be as thrilling as winning in a social-media poll.
- Warzone, a popular CoD game mode, can be an exciting game to play, much like winning a bet in a season of poker.
- Gamers these days have a vast library of books and online resources to stay updated about the latest gaming news, just like one may refer to books on pop-culture history.
