I don't like it.
Yes, it's good, because it kind of brought gaming into the mainstream, but the game itself, along with its community are downright horrible.
CoD4 was kind of interesting, but I didn't see it as a major leap in terms of SP or MP experience, especially because I've played the original CoD, CoD:UO, CoD2 and that was pretty much the same with less scripting and obviously, less details.
The setting was again, pretty "meh". While modern-time war games weren't exactly new as some CoD players may say (the game engine is older than half the kids who play it, so disregard anyone who claims MW was the first FPS war game in a modern setting - Battlefield 2 or Delta Force series, anyone?) they were still a bit of fresh air in a sea oversaturated with nearly-identical WW2 shooters.
Then of course came Modern Warfare 2. The hype was crazy and everyone and their grandmother was playing it. However, it's the CoD game that I dislike the most.
To start off, key gameplay mechanics like the killstreak rewards, were simply a rip-off of [PST] Joker's eXtreme X4 mod (Google is your friend) for CoD4:MW. The weapons were horribly balanced. The game turned everyone into a K/D whore; nobody cared about objectives anymore.
Not to mention just about everyone playing CoD had the idea that they knew a lot about weapons, when in fact a lot of the weapons are incorrectly portraied: they were modeled after airsoft guns, so obviously there were incorrect models, the lack of a fire selector confused people into thinking some weapons can ONLY fire burst, while some only full-auto, obviously people never got to understand that a "Barrett .50 cal" is not the name of a weapon, but rather a family of weapons made by Barrett that fire .50 rounds, most notably the M95 and M82/107 (which is the one in CoD BTW).
And then of course it skewed people's view of combat. A lot of people actually think wars are basically fought by 6 guys on each side showing up at a maze and quickscoping eachother...
On the technical side, we have graphics that didn't improve one bit. Lack of polygons is made up by use of excessive bump mapping. Lack of dedicated servers in MW2. A poorly built matchmaking system to go with it. For Christ's sake, the PC version was a straight port from Xbox 360, most obvious when it got 360-specific error messages. Sounds in each and every game are horrible, looped noises, not even marginally close to the real weapons. Voiceovers are plain and lifeless. A far cry from the magnificent HDR audio of the Frostbite game engine.
The lack of notable improvement, ever since CoD2 is so obvious, it's sad. Let's look at CoD2 (2005) and MW3 (2011), and then at BF2 (2005) and BF3 (2011). I think it's pretty damn obvious how much things HAVE changed in a game that keeps pushing the boundaries (random fact: the medals, rewards, ranks and persistent stats trackign as we know it today was introduced by BF2; well, only the awards were so hard to get soem still didn't get them after thousands of hours of play) and how much things COULD'VE changed on CoD's side. Not only looking at graphics, but sounds and gameplay as well.
Multiplayer, no longer appeals to me, as large-scale maps are a rarity. Now everything is a little 15 x 15 meter lab rat maze and the pace is ridiculously fast...too fast to be entertaining. Refer to Katt Williams' "Liberty City" show from GTA IV (http://youtu.be/tvkuHATOPhU?t=1m38s)
Well, I won't go that much into what I like about the multiplayer, as I'm a Battlefield and ArmA fan, so maximalist combined-arms gameplay is what I like.
So let's talk singleplayer? I'll just tell, you CoD4:MW had an awesome story, well executed, with some great twists, and in a way, chillingly plausible.
Modern Warfail 2's singleplayer, on the other hand, the needle of its Cartoonish and Predicable gauge is indicating maximum value. Characters are shallow- but that's not the problem. The problem is you don't actually get attached to anyone of them because they're falling like flies.
And what's all this fake mil-speak full of Oscar Mike Stay Frosty? And what's with America basically being represented by Burger Town? While I approve of the stereotype, isn't it taking it a bit too far? And come on, Russia suddenly invades the USA? A General that goes as far as sacrificing his own men (even though apparently he still feels attached to the 30000 men he lost in the blink of an eye) to orchestrate a terrorist attack, went intentionally southside and then again using his men to tie up loose ends and killing them too, only to become supreme commander of US Forces? Stop the music.
And then Black Ops? I was expecting covert ops, but instead I'm greeted by a game that has more explosions per second than a packet of Pop Rocks in my mouth.
The franchise is getting milked. It's painfully obvious. But the shee...people keep buying even when they notice they pay 105 dollars for a game (60 + 15 + 15 + 15). 60 dollars for a mediocre title, and 45 more dollars on DLC with so little content if it would be translated into food it would have the nutritious value of a sunflower seed.
There are just a few things of why I dislike Call of Duty.
EDIT: It's not my first post, I just CBA to log in with my username.