I’ve played nearly every Call of Duty from last and current gen, and I recently realized something, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Earlier this year, I’d read an article on the upcoming Call of Duty: WWII. In it, Sledgehammer’s Bret Robbins (senior creative director) cited certain games as inspiration for this entry including Virginia, a game I adored. It piqued my interest right away, and Call of Duty: WWII shot up on my fall pre-order schedule.
However.
In reading more coverage of the game, I realized the aforementioned something: with the exception of the All Ghillied Up mission in Modern Warfare, I couldn’t tell you the plot of a single Call of Duty campaign or mission.
Oh, I remember bits and pieces. I remember parts of certain missions. I remember someone named Soap MacTavish. I remember a questionable mission in an airport.
Strangely, the Call of Duty I think I liked best was Ghosts. My fondness probably comes from the absurd factor alone. I remember a gunfight in space. IN SPACE. Someone please explain to me how that would even work.
I remember a whole sequence where I was swimming through sharks and maybe underwater mines? I actually recall that being fairly tense, but at a certain point the absurdity of the whole thing was just wonderful. When a game has me asking myself, out loud no less, “What am I even doing?!” I am probably enjoying that game. Maybe not for the “right” reasons, but then, who cares about that so long as enjoyment was had?
I think the attitude I go into each new Call of Duty with is one of an open mind. I’ve never loved one of the campaigns (and really disliked Black Ops III, incidentally), but I’ve still enjoyed playing them. Call of Duty: WWII has me hopeful, though. With an inspiration like Virginia, that leaves all kinds of doors open. I’d love to see a bit more investment into the characters involved. I mean, sure, Call of Duty campaigns are usually one mission after another where you run and gun, but that’s also why All Ghillied Up stands out to me; I felt tense and like something was at stake. The location of the mission certainly helped, as it was one that has long intrigued me: Pripyat. Several locations in the mission were ones I recognized from actual footage I’ve seen of the area. Also, I’m far from the best stealth player out there (run in and wreak havoc is my preferred playstyle if the game allows for it), but All Ghillied Up was set up in such a way that you felt bad*ss when you pulled off what you were supposed to.
When a game makes you feel empowered, it can only be a good thing. At least, from my perspective.
Have you played many Call of Duty entries? If so, do any particular campaigns stand out to you? Which Call of Duty has been your favorite? Will you be trying out Call of Duty: WWII?
Please do tell! I’d love to know how others see and approach the series.
P.S. The title of this piece doesn’t really make sense with the content (other than the obvious reference to the mission), but it was too amusing not to use. So there you have it. :)
Categories: games
Rebekah Lang 
I’ve never been HUUUGE into Call of Duty. I played a few of the early ones and thought they were ok, but they never really wowed me, you know?
I also haven’t played any of the Black Ops games aside from the first, and never played Ghosts or Infinite Warfare. I’ll probably try out WWII though, because we haven’t had a good WW2 game in a while, unless Wolfenstein counts, but that’s really it’s own beast.
However, I own all three Modern Warfare games, and I play through all of them about once a year, just for the sheer, dumb, ridiculous, summer blockbuster action movie feel of it. I unapologetically love how absurd it gets, and the final mission in MW3 is one of my favorite things (donning the juggernaut suit and storming Makarov’s hotel like a badass… talk about freaking empowerment!)
I never got into the multiplayer though… I’m never good enough to enjoy competitive multiplayer, so I tend to stick with that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I definitely know! :)
I think you might appreciate the absurdity of Ghosts. It really is something.
I think the Modern Warfare titles are the most solid, with 3 being the standout. And it’s funny you mention that mission; I don’t even remember it. It’s like I’m an Etch A Sketch when it comes to Call of Duty story lines.
I don’t think I’ve ever played a multiplayer match in any of the COD games I’ve played. That’s kind of funny!
LikeLike
I was never super into military fps, I played a bit of Modern Warfare online and played through two CoD campaigns: III and Black Ops. I remember nothing from III! Literally nothing…I think I didn’t know english by then, which didn’t help.
From Black Ops I remember the “THE NUMBERS, MASON” part but I can’t say exactly what that was all about. From the overall story I think there was a guy during the game that actually was only in Mason’s head all along? I really don’t remember much! I also remember two licensed songs in the game…Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil during a mission in a boat and Eminem’s Won’t Back Down during the credits.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t that strange? That nothing was enough to commit to memory? And your English is so good it’s hard to believe you didn’t know much back then! You communicate so well it’s hard to believe you haven’t always been fluent.
Oh yeah! I also remember a bit about that. And I think there was a guy who existed before but was dead and he wound up existing only in that guy’s head. But then, I could be wrong about that.
I also remember the Eminem song! The funny part is that until you mentioned any of those things, I absolutely did NOT remember them. Oh, Call of Duty…
:)
LikeLike
The last call of duty I played was advanced warfare,all ghilled up was an awesome mission though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad they are going to the past as opposed to all the future warfare.
LikeLike
I’ve played none of the Calls of Duty, but the Uncharted series is that way for me (full disclosure: didn’t play A Thief’s End).
LikeLiked by 1 person
All I remember are aliens. Or…supernatural things.
I’m right there with you. Clearly.
LikeLike
Call of Duty has often filled the “bombastic” game slot in my line-up. In the past couple of years, there’s been so many games to play that I haven’t even finished the latest Call of Duty titles. I even bought the GameStop exclusive edition last year thinking that I’d enjoy jumping into the new maps as they released over the year. Yet, I haven’t even popped the game in for months. Every year a detail in the hype convinced me to grab that year’s Call of Duty but it’s often more of the same and lately I haven’t even played it much. This year I’ll skip the new Call of Duty at least until a sale.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, it fits very well into that slot!
And that makes sense. I try to stay off the COD hype train if I can, but they just HAD to go and mention Virginia. :)
LikeLike
I’ve played most of the Call of Duty campaigns since Modern Warfare up until Advanced Warfare. Aside from the All Ghillied Up mission you’ve already talked about, there were a lot of surprising setpieces never really done before in a FPS like Shock and Awe. Modern Warfare’s was my favorite since it was so new at the time and I feel each game since then has been trying to rekindle that initial wow factor it brought. I might also be an outlier since most of the people playing CoD usually don’t even bother with the campaign. Modern Warfare was my favorite campaign but my favorite Call of Duty multiplayer was Black Ops 2.
I’ll probably try out Call of Duty WWII at some point, but I don’t know if I’ll buy it at launch. I haven’t been playing online multiplayer very much anymore and even if it’s a change of pace, I’m not sure the campaign justifies spending full price for it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m going to have to look up Shock and Awe to refresh my memory. It still surprises me that so many people skip the campaign. For me, I’ve never played the multiplayer and have ONLY played the campaigns.
I always try to stay off the hype train and then I wind up playing it anyway. I need to try harder.
LikeLike