It's that time of year again. Not November, when ("coincidentally" during my finals week), seemingly ALL of the good games come out, but May, when developers begin teasing us about the juicy rewards they have for us gamers coming in Autumn. Normally, this warms my heart as I develop a craving for trailers and leaks like a rabid fanatic, but aside from my hype for the PS4, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Infamous: Second Son, etc., the one persistent ritual every year is my eventual purchase of the latest Call of Duty title - my clan members and I consistently complain about flaws and quirks in every title, yet every fall we're drunkenly online, pub-stomping the unfortunate casual players who have the misfortune to be in our lobby. Now, as a Call of Duty player, I believe I can speak for a significant amount of our numbers when we say that when it comes to game improvements, Treyarch far oustrips Infinity Ward every year. True, Modern Warfare is the more consistent title, but...that's just it: the differences from World at War, to Black Ops, to Black Ops II are changes by leaps and bounds - although I enjoy the Modern Warfare games more (except for Zombies, which owns EVERYTHING), they often seem like the same, redundant experience. However, that isn't the only element within the games that has gone somewhat stale - however that may be remedied by the fact that Call of Duty: Ghosts is NOT Modern Warfare 4; Activision is making an entirely new franchise. You may feel free to add your own observations, gripes, slander, and inquiries into my own sanity in the comment section, however here's 10 elements I believe can be improved - the first five are personal gripes, the last five are things we can all agree on.
10. Would A LITTLE Diversity Hurt?
Ghost was a bad dude. So was Roach. John Price is one nasty mofo and "Soap" MacTavish as far as I'm concerned is the baddest motherf****r of all time. I happen to like these protagonists and were it not for the fact that 3 of the 4 I've just mentioned are dead, well...I would have liked to have seen them in what I incorrectly expected to be Modern Warfare 4. That being said, the only "people of ethnic descent" in the Modern Warfare series are the Marine Sergeant Griggs (killed with Gaz at the end of Call of Duty 4), and Sergeant Foley (voiced by Keith David, who survives the events of Modern Warfare 2). Now, I haven't had a character in MW I've disliked yet (I think), but the prevailing majority in FPS titles (Crysis exception noted) is playing as gruff, hardened white guys who complete the mission with merciless precision. Not that I mind that,
but about 1 in 6 soldiers are female, and 1 in 4 are black, Asian, or Hispanic. Being in the Army myself, I am aware that ethic soldiers and women are a minority, but would putting a few in the game hurt? Due to diversity in America, you can't say what an "average" American looks like, because so many racial backgrounds are here. Would it be so far-fetched to mix it up a little in the game? I'm not saying Activision needs to suddenly introduce a squad so diverse it makes you think the Captain Planet cast grew up, but would a slight mix-up hurt? And this also goes for the antagonists as well - mowing down waves after waves of Russians (who have been the only country involved in EVERY GAME) and Middle Eastern insurgents has run its course, in my opinion. New targets, please!