Call Of Duty WWII: 9 Reasons Why It Will Save The Franchise
A return to 'boots-on-the-ground' combat is just the beginning.
After ten years at the top spot, Call of Duty has finally started to enter a major decline. Not only has the general stagnation of the core gameplay resulted in a lot of players jumping ship to more innovative first-person shooters like Overwatch and Titanfall, but Activision's greedy business practices have soured what little goodwill the franchise was clinging onto.
Riddling their games with microtransactions, loot boxes, and even holding fan-favourite remasters to ransom as a way to manipulate players into buying a game they didn't want (Infinite Warfare), Activision have been trying its best to squeeze every last penny out of the franchise before it self-destructs for good.
To that end, Sledgehammer Games' upcoming entry could be the return to form fans have been clamouring for, because after failing to move into sci-fi territory, COD is being given a full reboot in November, returning to its World War 2 roots and embracing the simple, addictive gameplay that made the original games such huge successes.
Although it's easy to be pessimistic about the future after being burned so many times before, it looks as though Activision has learned from their mistakes, giving Sledgehammer everything they need to get Call of Duty back on top form.
9. Fewer Movement Options Means Better Designed Maps
Although the past few Call of Duty games have embraced a brand new set of mobility options that have allowed players to jetpack their way around multiplayer matches, the developers' approach to level design hasn't changed to accommodate the new movement style.
Approaching maps the same way as they did those in the original Modern Warfare, the playgrounds included in Infinite Warfare and Black Ops 3 still featured the same bottle-neck design that the series was known for, despite having brand new movement abilities that players were utilising.
What this resulted in was maps that neither accommodated wall-running or double jumps outside of a few key areas, nor the regular boots-on-the-ground gunplay.
Going forward though, Call of Duty no longer has to try and reconcile these two warring styles of play, and by returning to the regular infantry shooting that the franchise is known for, can once again embrace the simplicity and immediacy of its level design.