Call of Duty Developer Speaks About Innovation and Constantly Raising the Bar

Gaming enthusiasts (otherwise known as jaded hardcore gamers) often criticize the Call of Duty series for annual releases that don’t feature many improvements or the sort of changes that you’d expect from a new entry of a franchise. - PSLS

[dazzrazz]

I bought this piece of shit and I dont see any innovation or bar raising ! For me its even worse than any previous titles

[aPerson]

And I guarantee you'll buy the next one too.

[doctorstrange]

Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in.

[Griffin4871]

I won't. In fact, I never bought any of them.

[Blastoise]

No way is this game worse than MW3

[Griffin4871]

There all the same. It really doesn't matter.

[FunkMacNasty]

dude, stop trolling. This may not be an "innovative" entry into the franchise or the FPS genre, but Treyarch at least tried some things to set it apart and make it different from the other 17 CoD games that came before it. You'd know that if you actually played the game.

[ritsuka666]

Call of Duty Developer Speaks About Innovation and Constantly Raising the Bar"

Lmao this is a joke right? Anyway,run and gun with small choke points on linear maps... yeah that's innovation at its finest. lol

[MariaHelFutura]

*facepalm*

[insertcoin]

It's to Treyarch's benefit if they innovate in ways that still count as innovation but are as minimal as possible. Of course, the players don't benefit this, but what do they care, as long as they can call it "innovation"?

[burn1n9m4n]

To be fair, there are a lot of things that Treyarch improved and added in the multiplayer end of Call of Duty. The campaign also features branching paths and different endings based on actions taken. It's not much I'll admit, but it is a start.

[vortis]

Speaking as a hardcore gamer...

I don't care anymore.

The thing is, the majority of the game just isn't fun. None of it is. It's trite and repetitive and boring.

They can talk all the innovation they want but the core of the game itself has been worn out to death.

It's like bringing out a year old pie and putting a new sugary topping on it with a fresh new cherry. Those new things are nice but it's still that same old pie underneath and it isn't good.

I'm that jaded core gamer the opening paragraph talks about and I've already moved on to other games. I'm having fun (a lot of it) with lesser known titles, indie games and stuff that actually pushes boundaries.

Casuals can have Call of Duty and its Hollywood set pieces. They got boring a long time ago.

[burn1n9m4n]

I'm not saying that I like it. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I haven't played a Call of Duty game since MW2 exactly for the reasons you've outlined.

But old habits die hard, and it's hard to scrap a core design philosophy and start completely from scratch. At this point that would take new console hardware in order to offer up the opportunity to publishers and developers to reinvent themselves. Plus the two points that allow CoD to continue down this path of minimal (if any) innovation are the following: (1) Persistence in multiplayer is a fantastic development idea that has yet to be beaten or innovated upon itself. Which is why the multiplayer has remained largely unchanged. and (2) People will buy CoD regardless of its quality at this point due to preferences, esports...etc. Point being, why would Activision push Treyarch to innovate the single player or multiplayer for no real reason? They wouldn't which is why it's the same as it was years ago when they started at CoD4.

[Dynasty]

Lol what a joke. What bar have they (or infinity ward) raised? They constantly put out sub-par and mediocre games and lie and call them "upgrades".

[Reborn]

They did improve some aspects. Can't say they didn't really.

But the key issues - server, lag, hosting etc. Need attention. I stopped enjoying COD after COD4.

[XboxInnovation]

Black ops 2 doesn't have any innovation, even the strike force stuff is pretty weak. The game has cool features but very little to no innovation. The first black ops was far more innovating because it surprised us with wager modes, cod points, gun emblems, theater mode etc..Black ops just took that stuff and refined it, it didn't really add anything new that makes you say wow.

Cod4, mw2 and black ops were the only wow games this gen. The rest have been rehashes

[Jinkies]

lol innovation....raising the bar

Ooooo yeah differnt endings is innovation, lets make it a big feature in the game /s

Seriously though Uncharted to Uncharted 2 is rasing the bar and innovation is something like what we had with Portal/Portal 2.

Honestly they think because they get good sales that they have the best game in the world. People only buy it because they are sheep, it's like when you were at school and the latest thing was Pokemon Cards/Crazy Bones you had to get them aswell for social gimmick like reasons...you didn't want to be left out. COD is basicaly the mordern craze, the only problem is it's so mordern that theres nothing next which can get one over it.

After Christmas we'll hear how Black Ops 2 wasn't as good as people made it out to be, how they were sucked into hype and how it's not as good as Mordern Warfare, blah blah blah and then in May when the next one is revealed they will start the COD cycle all over again

[Chuk5]

I think Treyarch's talent is being wasted on COD. Black Ops had a lot of great ideas, and even BO2 shows a level of ambition, that has been seen at activison for a while. But COD is creatively bankrupt. Treyarch has earned the shot at new IP imo. Also, how about spiderman 2? What a great game treyarch.

[KingOptimusAscend111]

All Lies

[cr33ping_death]

I like the COD games but innovation? it has been lacking since 4

[ftwrthtx]

Hate to see crap games, regardless of the platform.

[yodawins]

wrong again, just like the one that said blops2 has the best maps of any fps....pffftt

[GammaSix]

BO2 changed alot for the better and people hate it even more...LMAO

[FunkMacNasty]

This headline was just meant as flamebait for haters innit?

Black Ops 2 has changed my recently jaded and cynnical view of CoD. You can look at my comment history, and note all the times I said Black ops 2 was gonna be crap, and the CoD series is old and washed up..

then again, I hated MW3 and my online shooter of choice for the past year has been Battlefield 3, so maybe I just needed a break from the series... but Treyarch brought the fun back with this one, i think.. better maps in MP, better balance, a waaaaay more interesting camapiagn with an interesting story..

[isyourhouseonfire]

Hats off to Treyarch... Black Ops 2 turned out to be an absolute game changer. Our shooters are definately in good hands.

Thank you Treyarch and Activision!!!

[strigoi814]

Hahahahahaha really??? Innovation and raising the bar?? Where?? I could have hit you with a steel bar to wake your senses

[Psycho_Mantis]

Ya uhh....id just liek to say Treyarch you did a very good job making thoes maps into corridor like mindless shooter for CoD and just what CoD needed....ya, its like we dont miss thoes nice big open maps like Crossfire, strike, etc..... >_>

[knifefight]

These guys should have helped with Declassified.

[BuffMordecai]

I actually love Black Ops 2 on 360, MW3 on the other hand was a massive pile of shit.

[TheDivine]

Cod innovates. Spec ops, survival mode, zombies, wager matches, perks, killstreaks, and all the other things with hey brought to the series. Even in the new one the zombies has abbig open map with a bus and hidden stuff. They trid different paths and allckinds of stuff. Not revolutionary but small things. Dont forget kill cams, and theater mode also. Some were around negotiate Cd but they perfected these things. Cod rocks imo. Fun and it has amazing production values.