So, there it is then. The new trailer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Except, it’s a franchise that’s now basically synonymous with creating its sequels using “ctrl + V” shortcuts, so how much of it is really new? It’s not a series in its death throes, by any stretch of the imagination, and even middle-of-the-road reviews for last year’s Ghosts couldn’t stop it from selling $1 billion worth of units in just 24 hours. But overall – compared with the previous Black Ops 2 numbers – sales were down.
However, even worse than the franchise’s dwindling value (an Activision employee’s head just exploded at this concept), it’s now seriously lacking something more – credibility. The game, no matter how many of people buy it, is now basically just a laughing stock. A forum punchline. A crappy meme.
Question is, what can be done about it? Well, the poor old developers (although there are about 30,000 of them or something) only get a year to turn out a brand new game, and after 13 straight titles it seems like they’ve truly run out of steam. Let’s not forget that one of Ghosts’ genuine, developer-discussed, new features was fish that swam away if you got too close to them during underwater sequences. You know, like they had in Super Mario in 1996. Oh, and there was a dog with a camera on his head for a few levels, too.
So, I think we’re all in agreement something needs to change. I mean really change. And if you’re all out of ideas, what’s the next best thing? Borrow from others, of course. Watch that trailer again before you proceed and let’s see if we can’t pick out a few “new” ideas from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare that seem a bit too familiar.