Call of Duty: A Modern World at War

So with all the recent game delays and the many popular games set for this year being pushed back into the next, it seems that only one franchise may deliver on its original release date: Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Title is subject to change). Seeing as how this is the sequel to one of the best games of all time, it's poised to be one of the best-selling games this year. However, it also has the capacity to fail in certain areas, namely the multiplayer. This is just some of my opinions in what both Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: World at War succeeded and failed to do in their games and therefore what should be in the next chapter in the COD franchise.

1.Ranking System First of all, I hope that Infinity Ward will keep the ranking system for the first Modern Warfare. It was revolutionary and addicting to gamers who wanted to level up quickly and feel good doing it. The system made it so that even if you didn't win a match, you could have easily made up for it by getting kills, assisting teamates, completing objectives, and accomplishing challenges. Overall, one of the best multiplayer systems to date. My only suggestions are a few tweeks to the system.

2.Prestige I would suggest that more rewards are given for going Prestige. In COD4, players could get golden weapons and a new insignia each time they went to the next level of Prestige. Treyarch expanded on this idea by allowing players to get additional custom class slots, but even then, its really not enough for someone who has given up all their weapons and started over again. Special perks and weapons only available through Prestige will really entice all players to try it out.

3.Create-a-class Another unique triumph of COD4, the create-a-class system kept players interested in bettering themselves by equipping new perks and weapons. I feel that IW should continue this trend, with a few boundaries. For one, if new perks are added (which Treyarch did in WaW) or old perks are tweeked, there should always be a perk that counteracts that perk in some way. A good example is one in WaW: Matyrdom (dropping a live grenade upon dying) is counteracted by Toss Back, which resets the fuse of a live grenade. Another suggestion is being able to change your class during a match, so players can more effectively strategize against others. Finally, players should be able to customize what they look like as well. Unlocking new gear and clothing is just as addicting as unlocking weapons.

4.Weapons Needless to say this has a category all its own. Not much to say here though, IW and Teyarch have done a solid job on putting weapons in, it's just the application that isn't great. Many times players have looked upon their killcams to see an entire clip shot at them and only one shot connecting. Even more frustrating is shooting a few precise shots at an enemy and not killing the target. This rewards luck, not skill and should be addressed. In addition, killstreak rewards could use some work. IW's rewards were solid and believable, but Treyarch simply failed. Artillery would shake the camera too much and dogs (which could be killed very easily in COD4) can kill you in two shots on regular fights (one shot on Hardcore). IW has promised more rewards this time, they should just be careful in how they apply them.

5.Vehicles No. Simply, no. When the trailer and demo of MW2 revealed using snowmobiles in single-player, many speculated that you could use vehicles in multiplayer. I'm not even sorry in saying that this is a stupid idea. In World at War, tanks were EXTREMELY overpowered. Even though there were many perks you could use to take them down, it would always take multiple people just to kill one person. Not to mention that one could never get close enough to kill them without being shot by a different player or nuked by one shot of the tank's barrel. Snowmobiles, while not at strong as a tank, are still too fast to be put in a game like COD. Overpowered vehicles didn't get players into Modern Warfare, using skill and strategy did. If vehicles are included in MW2, they must be able to be destroyed with relative ease.

I look with optimism on the release of this new game, as the multiplayer footage Infinity Ward has shown off shows a deep understanding of the frustrations that their community has in the game and what the developer has done to fix it. To see what I'm talking about click this link.