What Makes a Great Call of Duty Campaign

Fans have always looked at certain campaigns in Call of Duty games with more admiration that others. Entertaining storylines and colorful characters are what made fans first fall in love with the game, before there was any emphasis on multiplayer gameplay. Yet, 2019 is certainly a different time where online gameplay seems to trump all other game modes in importance. This is where players will most likely spend most of their time, thus developers have placed a higher emphasis on creating a more enjoyable multiplayer experience over that of a single player, offline campaign. How can Call of Duty Modern Warfare, releasing in October of 2019, deliver on its campaign?

VISUALS

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When fans think of legendary campaigns, one of the first games that come to mind is Modern Warfare 2. The mix of active gameplay and visually stunning cut scenes helped to make this campaign stand out. These memorable moments help to not only bring entire campaigns together, but leave a lasting impression on the fan who has spent many hours trying to finish it. Some that come to mind are Sergeant Reznov planting the Soviet flag, signaling victory in Europe, at the end of Call of Duty: World at War, as well as when Soap uses a throwing knife to kill Shepherd at the end of Modern Warfare 2. These landmark moments usually come around only once in the game mode, but can determine whether or not a player feels satisfied with the campaign overall.

CHARACTERS

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Modern Warfare 2 again demonstrated how powerfully connected fans can feel to the campaign characters. This campaign not only felt real and lively, but introduced characters that developed on screen and fans cared for. These included Captain “Soap” MacTavish, Sergeant Gary “Roach” Sanderson and Captain Price. These were characters that after many hours, fans cared for and actually wanted to see what would happen to them. Aside from the gameplay, fans were interested in the plot and wanted to try to keep these characters alive. Although gameplay itself is important, characters that fans will care about is tantamount to a great campaign.

DISTINCT MISSIONS

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Missions can make or break a campaign. To no surprise, a campaign filled with pointless and boring missions will not sit well with fans. A great campaign will not only include the aforementioned memorable moments, but unique missions that stand. Missions that fans can look back on ten years later and distinctly remember. “No Russian” comes to mind when thinking of a unique, prominent and even controversial mission. This was a mission that certainly left a lasting impression on the gamer.

LOOKING FORWARD

While certain Call of Duty games have displayed what a great campaign can be, others have definitely come up short. Fans were extremely disappointed when Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was revealed to have no campaign. Thus, Activision has promised to deliver with a full scale, entertaining campaign in the new Modern Warfare game. Let’s hope developers will look back on what made past campaigns so enjoyable, and implement the same techniques going forward.

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