The one element that all of these games have in common is a strong single-player campaign that gets very little press. The bulk of the interest in all of these games (especially since CoD 4) is the multiplayer element. Everyone has an opinion, and the general concensus has been a smattering of hate intermingled in an absolute TON of playtime for each new installment in the Call of Duty series. And each new game seems to break sales records. Go figure. For every hater there is a hundred addicts who cannot stop playing.
Modern Warfare 3 is coming according to some sources in 2012. My hopes for the next installment is that they learn from the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessors. They should look at other games in the industry and also try to invent new game styles. I have some suggestions.
THINGS TO KEEP
First, let's talk about the things that have worked in the past. These items are parts of the game that should be ported to the new one.
From Call of Duty 4:
- A sense of freshness
- Frenetic fun
- Connection bliss
- Ability for the PC community to mod to their heart's content (for every exploit artist, there is the true game designer-in-waiting that just enjoys tweaking your game)
- Local hosting abilities (and settings for gameplay like Rainbow Six)--a player can choose public lobby (world-wide, developer-managed servers) or local hosted lobby (personal server) MAYBE THIS IS NEW, BUT THE SPIRIT OF THIS CAME FROM COD 4
- 10 Custom slots
- Prestige classes
- Emblems
- Dogs as a kill streak
- Zombies!
- Co-op storyline
- Customizeable Kill Streaks
- Bare Bones Mode (for those who find kill streaks distasteful or unfair)
- Online Co-op (If a game had this, multiplayer, a good single-player storyline AND Zombies?! Awesome!)
- Guns! Guns! Guns! The more options, the better. Get the selection, figure out reality-to-gameplay ratios and balance them the best you can. If weapon balance is the only complaint you get, the job well done, I say! No matter what you do, you will always have people ranting about certain weapons being over powered.
- Shotguns as a Secondary Weapon!
- Sniper rifles that weren't broken--only the users were.
- "Glitch" fun--jumps, wall hacks, secret spots, etc. were entertaining, if a little nerdy and annoying.
- Customizable tags--keep the Modern Warfare 2 tags and make them tie to acheivements. In other words, get an achievement and earn a new tag, instead of buying them with points. Makes acheivements seem more important
- Theater Mode
- Combat training with bots! Genius!
- Wager matches
- More Zombies
- Ability to carry equipment, tactical and lethal equipment at the same time
- The exclusion of certain perks (one man army, Stopping Power, Juggernaut, et al)
- Developer support after launch--sorry IW, fixing package glitches and 50 mph knifers wasn't support.
- Emblem designer--keep the designer but upgrade it to allow for downloadable images or purchase new images via MS points like avatar items
- Diving! So helpful
- Lean (I know it is difficult to code and that as it is, bullets go around corners and through things they shouldn't, but lean is "realistic")--From Rainbow Six, Mass Effect 2 and SOCOM
- Stealth--From Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Lighting--From Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Gun Sounds--From
- Tie Perks to leveling (like a RPG)--Dragon's Age/Neverwinter Nights/World of Warcraft, etc.
