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Call of Duty: Black-Ops 2 |
This is the third post in my Games You Should Know About series. Checkout my posts on Minecraft and Starcraft 2.
What is Call of Duty?
Call of Duty is a military FPS franchise published by Activision. The early games were set in World War 2. Subsequent games have been set in periods ranging from the cold war to the near future.
Call of Duty is the rated R action blockbuster of video games. The single player campaign plays very much like an action movie. It is extremely story driven, with the player given little, if any, choice in what to do or where to go.
Here is a video of The Rad Brad playing through the beginning of Call of Duty: Ghosts (beware – strong language ahead from both The Rad Brad and the game).
Call of Duty also has a major multiplayer component. The player starts out with a limited number of guns and accessories. They earn experience points through killing opponents and completing objectives or challenges. These points unlock levels, which gives them access to more weapons, equipment, and perks.
Call of Duty is an extremely lucrative franchise, having sold over 100 million copies. Activision setup a rotation with the developers to allow it to release a new game in the franchise each year. The developers it uses are Infinity Ward (the original developers), Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games.
Should you be concerned about anything?
As I mentioned, Call of Duty is equivalent to an R rated action movie. Anything you would expect to see in those movies you will see in Call of Duty, baring nudity or sexual content. For example, here are the rating descriptors for the latest game in the series, Ghosts:
- Blood
- Drug Reference
- Intense Violence
- Strong Language
If you want to keep your gamer away from violent games or would not allow him/her to see a rated R movie, you will want to stay away from Call of Duty.
The other thing to keep in mind is that online multiplayer is a big component of Call of Duty. You never know what kind of people your gamer will meet playing online. For the most part, this will not be a problem but some people can be real jerks in game. You will want to keep the dialog open with your gamer about their experience if you allow them to play online.
How do you connect through Call of Duty?
Call of Duty is one of those games that can be very intimidating to play. The people playing online have a LOT of experience and are extremely skilled. Not only that, but the controls can take a while to get the hang of if you are not used to playing FPSs.
Here are 2 suggestions to help you overcome this.
- Start out with a slower paced game to learn the controls. A great game for this is Portal 2. The controls are the same but the action is much slower. Plus, you can play with your gamer while you are learning.
- Play through or watch your gamer play through the single player campaign. You can go at your own pace without worrying about what other people are doing. You can also talk to your gamer about the story. It is not be anything earth-shattering but it can be entertaining.
Similar Games
One thing I want to do with this series is give you a list of games that are similar to the one featured. This will include games your gamer might enjoy if they enjoy the featured game as well as any good alternatives with lower ratings.
Here is a list of similar games to Call of Duty:
- The Battlefield franchise – This is the main competitor to Call of Duty published by EA.
- Counter-Strike – Multi-player only FPS. This was originally a mod to Half-Life but is still extremely popular.
- Team Fortress 2 – Team-based, free-to-play FPS.
- Medal of Honor Warfighter – Another military FPS
- Arma 3 – A hardcore military FPS that takes realism to the extreme.
Here are some FPSs your gamer might enjoy that are not military style (meaning they tend to be less realistic in the guns and/or setting)
It is a little hard to find FPSs without an M rating. They tend to feature violence and blood since shooting is the main mechanic. Portal 2 is the best recommendation I have.