2019 felt like the year Call of Duty brought in another revolution with the Modern Warfare. We never knew Activision was pulling the reverse gear.
Activision didn’t know either that Call of Duty‘s wagon that once was climbing up, is now going down. How could they? They were too busy paying attention to the realism. The first game sure gave us that adrenaline rush, but that was it.
They should have given more emphasis to the story so Activision’s could’ve remained a success story. Or they could’ve simply kept Jesse Stern to overlook the story. Since he left, campaigns have taken a backseat; that’s one thing I have noticed.
We Don’t Need Complexity but Simplicity Like in Those Previous Call of Duty Titles
The way I see it, when you keep putting efforts into perfecting something that’s already ‘perfect’, it loses its charm. As it happened with the rebooted Modern Warfare franchise, where the only thing worthwhile was the first game. And the legendary Captain Price in it.
Yes, other characters like Alex Keller, Farah Karim, Gaz, and more were there. Soap and Ghost? They never made it to the reboot for me. I wasn’t ready to see the former die an unnecessary death. It’s ‘Ridick-ulous’.
Worst would be that they decide to bring him back by doing Bibidi’s Paparapapa magic. The (boring) Zombies arc is already doing that magical stuff and I have reached a state where only surprise would come from something good coming out of that now-content-churning machine.
And the new Modern Warfare is missing some key characters. Simply mentioning their name isn’t enough. Ironically, bringing them back won’t be enough either. Maybe that’ll at least give some closure that ‘MacMillan was here‘.
The ebb and flow of the franchise kind of began with the final game in the original story. Still, it was at least better than what we have now. The first game in the story seriously had me going. So much hope was there until 2022 happened. And then, sadly, 2023.
I was sad that Hadir died; no wait, he didn’t die. He was alive and died later on during Raids. Alright. So, Philip Graves died in Modern Warfare 2; no? He was alive in the sequel, or should I call it a DLC?
I still don’t understand making the story that complex. I mean; there’s already enough complexity; at least keep the story straight. That will retain the fun lost in those complications.
It’s Time Activision Stop Producing More Modern Warfare Games
Modern Warfare 3 was heavily criticized due to its introduction of open combat missions. Credits: Activision
‘We are leaving‘, that literal cliffhanger, the feeling when the help arrives while covering the injured MacMillan, and more. Those were the moments that will go with me to the end. But it wasn’t simply the stellar gameplay moments that made the original Modern Warfare the best.
The storyline had emotions; we felt the deaths of those characters. None of them felt like it happened in vain. Emotions are missing in the soft reboot. That doesn’t feel like a man’s world, because men do have emotions.
The original Makarov wasn’t really a talker; he was more of a doer. The one that came after was talkative. If I they are to stand beside each other, I would say that he is a spoiled child of the other. That is also what I mean when I use the phrase a boy vs a man.
And what happened to General Shepherd? The new general didn’t really have any guts to do anything. I cannot imagine this one in the final showdown of 2009’s Modern Warfare 2. Crux of the matter is that he never really felt that villainous. His death felt like killing one of those NPCs during a cutscene, which actually happened in a cutscene unlike the 2009 game.
Activision should take a break from modern setting, or, to be precise, from worsening the series. Maybe they should return to a World War II setting, but then I am afraid they’ll pull another Vanguard into it. Only if I could quote Vito Corleone from The Godfather, I would say, “Look how they massacred my boy.”
What do you think about the current state of Modern Warfare? We would like to know about it in the comments section below.
