Into the Abyss or A New Start?
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| Projected Release Date November 5th, 2013 |
So we've all heard of Infinity Ward getting the next shot at the Call of Duty franchise by now, the question is will it be worth your hard earned wampum?
The press releases haven't looked promising thus far, but there might be a glimmer of hope say the experts.
That's What She Said?
So we are pretty limited on information so far being that this is COD: Ghosts very first teaser announcement, but what can we glean from all the hype? Under scrutiny the press release makes Infinity Wards intentions very clear."The game features a new engine and new technology, although the series' use of 60fps will still persist." - Martin Gaston of GameSpot
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| Lot's of cinematics, no gameplay footage |
Even though this is not concrete evidence that this will be an Xbox port, it's very likely that it will be looking at the track record of Activision's last 5 Call of Duty games. Symbology you say? I'll be taking a bagel with my coffee.
It's a Dream within a dream, within a dream...
Looking to Lead Designer Zach Volker as published from the Official PlayStation Magazine - "When we're talking about a new engine we're talking about upgrading significant systems within in that engine. We're not talking about throwing it all away and saying we're starting from the ground up".
So it's a new-ish 81 Honda? So it's safe to assume this is the Modern Warfare 3 engine, which was another 60 FPS Xbox port... I've heard arguments on both sides whether this actually effects gameplay, but here's the facts. PC players left this game in droves due to real or perceived issues. What does that mean for your clan? Less competition.
The Definition of Insanity
Let's rewind the clock. Back in the day there was this game called Call of Duty 4. It was actually designed for the PC and patched regularly. The results? Over 600 5v5 S&D teams on TWL at the climax of gameplay.Then came Mackey McCandlish and Ryan Lastimosa from Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare 2. The game's creators capped the player limit to 18, removed the console from the game, and said they had no intention of appeasing the PC community. PC community.
This essentially ended the long romance computer gamers had with Call of Duty. There response to the outcry of criticism?
"We would like you to play the game the way we designed and balanced it."
And que the bugler to play Taps...
What Do The Experts Say?
TOK3R a Lead Administrator for the Call of Duty Competition Staff for TWL had this to say.
- "I expect garbage (since that's what we've been given way too often) However I hope with the new engine they are able to give us all the things we need so that we can compete and have more than 20 teams wanting to play for more than one season."
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Jeremy Conrad of FuriousFanboys railed Call of Duty: Ghosts predecessor Modern Warfare 3 reporting.
- "Since ranked games only take place in the game’s Peer to Peer matching mode; they’re plagued with hackers. Minutes after the game unlocking on Steam (it’s a Steamworks game), there were full Prestige level 80 players running around maps with perfect aim thanks to their hacks. Since you cannot rank up on a dedicated server, you’re stuck playing against cheaters. Nearly every single multiplayer game I’ve logged into has had at least one hacker, if not more."
STRE3TZ the Call of Duty Competition Manager for TWL showed his support for the game, though not without reservations.
- "Lean is a great start, I am pumped for a fix for the auto climb bs... also there will be a new slide feature. Another thing for multiplayer is a fully customizable character, the head, the body, helmet, etc...Oh and they are implementing "Dynamic Maps," earthquakes, floods, traps, explosives, etc... for multi-player.
I'm not sure what "We are still using 60 frames a second, low latency," means... I hope that does not mean we are capped at 60fps..."
What's The Prognosis?
What does that mean to you and me as competitive PC gamer's? Well unless you're willing to pay $60 to play a game for a season or two of game play, then avoid this game like the plague. With a P2P multiplayer matching system and no mod support it looks like this game might be an albatross.
But...
There might be a glimmer of hope with the added features and new server configuration. My suggestion, let the die-hard's buy it, and wait to see how it holds up after launch.
Written By: -[x]-SmokeBreak, 5/28/2013
