Poll: When did COD 'jump the shark'? - if ever (Spoilers within)

[Treblaine]

A phrase used often for TV shows with many seasons filmed back to back with such regular release, they quickly can lose their focus and desperate to outdo themselves they take it too far and everyone realises that it's downhill from here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

But at the same there will be some people (who knows how many) who probably thing COD is the best shit ever and still hasn't begun the inevitable downward slip in quality and relevance. In which case they can chose the "It hasn't" option.

But really, I'm interested in what people think, also at what point in each game?

 

[ChupathingyX]

You know to be honest out of all of the Call of Duty games I've played there has always been something about it I really liked.

Probably the lowest one would be Black Ops because the campaign just felt so sub-par compared to the others (yes, that bad) and the competitive multiplater just wasn't fun. However, it had zombies which I'm still playing and having fun with.

*CoD 3: The Canadians Polish were in it, and I found their missions to be the most enjoyable, with the British after them.
*CoD 4: The campaign was memorable and fun, likeable characters and a fun multiplayer that I sucked at.
*CoD WaW: I really enjoyed the campaigna and thought it was really fun and it introduced zombies (and the awesome zombie songs).
*CoD: MW2: The campaign was over the top Holloywood fun and the multiplayer was good fun with friends.
*CoD: BO: Reasons already stated.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

It jumped the shark the moment that Soap told me use a heartbeat sensor......

 

[Ickorus]

I'd say Modern Warfare 2, the first one was just a new and at the time good concept but since then the series has been rehash after rehash.

 

[Treblaine]

It jumped the shark the moment that Soap told me use a heartbeat sensor......

Yeah, that just about made sense in Aliens when they had master interplanetary travel with colonisation and terraforming of alien worlds... but not in the 2010's

It doesn't even serve a good purpose, and it couldn't have been done by something more relevant like - oh I don't know - a satellite thermal view of the base with a screen mounted on the rifle? So it would be a first person game but with a picture-in-picture of a third person top-down view.

Ah, but that would be original. Far easier to just rip off a Hollywood sci-fi movie. It even has the same blippy noise.

It was officially the point when COD went from "applied technological principals" like what Tom Clancy does to just making up shit that has zero technological basis. I don't know, maybe there are idiots out there who think a red-dot sight is just so freaking magical because they don't know how it works... "well then I guess I don't care if another thing appears that I have no idea how it works, it's all magic to me".

 

[vivalahelvig]

Remember that snow-mobile scene when you jump over that valley in MW2?
There was a prehistoric shark frozen down there.

 

[RheynbowDash]

As stated in previous posts, all the games have something great about them. For me, I enjoyed the hell out of MW2's single player campaign. It kept me on the edge of my seat every step of the way. (played on Veteran first playthough to get the full experience) COD never really "jumped the shark" for me. Then again, I'm a rabid COD fanboy.

 

[Treblaine]

Personally for me it was when Shepard suddenly executed me for no reason


Oh it's such fucking bullshit. It makes no sense... ever. And it's such melodramatic Schlock. And then Price whoring himself out misquoting Churchill he then goes on a rampage murdering his own allies to "kill shepard". And for what? By MW3 they are STILL fugitives.

Wait... wouldn't it be better to get Makarov instead? Wasn't it just an hour ago he was mowing down hundreds of innocent people with a belt-fed machine gun. Now suddenly Shepard is the bad guy? Sorry, but get things into perspective. You report shit like this to the President or the Prime Minister.

See anything up to this point you could have moved on from, but not this. It's down hill from here baby, way WAY down.

 

[Treblaine]

Why are you saying that a game-franchise that's doing incredibly well is "jumping the shark?"

You want a series that jumped the shark, try Sonic the Hedgehog! Sega is addicted to making Sonic jump the shark, as if it's an illegal drug or something!

Happy Days viewer figures went up post shark, though everyone agreed the quality went down.

Several reasons for COD's increasing financial success;
-gargantuan marketing budget
-intimidates other publishers to avoid the same November slot
-legacy of online gamers move en-mass to next game
-the mass movement and addictive nature (continue playing, won't trade in) soaks up pre-owned stock so higher proportion of new sales
-annual release cycle has held back much competition
-main emphasis on online multiplayer where it lives of "network effect" i.e you only have to sell to half of them, the other half will buy because "all my friends play it, I gotta get it"
-dumbing down for a wider audience

Also the fact that battlefield 3 is somehow the closest competitor to spite being a hugely different game. They both just happen to be war games set in relatively modern era.

A REAL competitor would be a 9v9 team-deathmatch type game with actually very little team mechanics. Something closer to Unreal Tournament than Battlefield.

BF3 would be more of a competitor to Halo if that game was relevant any more.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Sheapard randomly betraying you in MW2 was the dealbreaker for me (the fact that Black Ops campaign was fucking atrocious was the cherry on the "not buying MW3" cake), Infinity Ward get this straight, insanity does not equal all purpose plot insulation, when asked "what are Sheapard's motivations?" you cannot just say "he's one crazy mofo!"

/rant

 

[Captainguy42]

Modern Warfare, the first. The scene were you just go nuked and you're dragging around your radiation poisoned body, is the best scene Infinity Ward has ever made (as far as story and being actually compelling). EVERY big moment in a CoD game since then, has been trying to out do that one scene.

 

[MCDeltaT]

Black Ops, Level 3. I need not say more.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I think it's still great. And I hope MW3 is even more over the top than MW2 was.

 

[Eveonline100]

Black Ops, Level 3. I need not say more.

the one where you meet John F kennedy or the level where you blow up the rocket?

 

[lacktheknack]

Why are you saying that a game-franchise that's doing incredibly well is "jumping the shark?"

You want a series that jumped the shark, try Sonic the Hedgehog! Sega is addicted to making Sonic jump the shark, as if it's an illegal drug or something!

That's not what jumping the shark means. It's the EXACT moment that the game series began going downhill in quality.

In your Sonic example, it was the release of Sonic 3D Blast. The other bad ideas afterwards are irrelevant, as the shark was already jumped.

 

[MCDeltaT]

Black Ops, Level 3. I need not say more.

the one where you meet John F kennedy or the level where you blow up the rocket?

The Kennedy bit, mainly because it completely ruins what I assume was meant to be a huge plot twist.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

Where it jumped the shark... eh... hard to say...
I'm tempted to say CoD 4 because CoD 5 wasn't as good...
but then MW2 was nearly as good as CoD4...
Black Ops had a truly awful campaign...

then if I try to factor in Multiplayer aswell..

Single Player, CoD 4

Multiplayer, undecided between CoD 4 and MW2.
(CoD 4 had great maps, great weapons and wasn't overly complicated...
MW2 had some good maps, some shit maps, some good weapons, some awful weapons.
Had AC130s which were fun... Had AC130s which were bloody annoying to be against...
MW2 did not have an awesome Star Wars Mod. CoD 4 did. CoD 4 wins!)

Okay CoD 4 is the point where the series jumped the shark for me.

 

[Doclector]

I'd say it's definite low point was modern warfare 2, but It's a little more complicated than that.

As a credible franchise with a decent story and some actually thought provoking sequences, it ended at world at war. Modern warfare gave us that nuke scene, and a videogame ending that appeared to kill all it's heroes. World at war made sure to show the literal "horror" of war, one notable point being when the Russian troops start killing injured german troops in their vengeful rage who had either surrendered or were clearly unable to fight back.

From modern warfare 2 onwards, the series has been a fun but dumb Hollywood blockbuster with no real thought put into it.

As for the multiplayer, it was on it's way downhill at world at war. Modern warfare was damn near perfect, then the more annoying perks started to come in at world at war, then Modern warfare 2's multiplayer was thwarted by terrible balancing, but black ops bought everything not quite, but close, to cod 4's online brilliance, and of course, it had, in my opinion, the best iteration of zombies yet.

So basically, I didn't like modern warfare 2 much, but the rest of the series is nowhere near as bad as people keep saying.

 

[pspman45]

COD 2: great
COD 3: motion controls on PS3 were annoying, but was still a good FPS experience
COD 4: OMG WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN- I LOVE IT
COD WaW: World War 2 AGAIN? I thought they were finally taking the experience to a new generation
COD African American Ops: *shudders* they were shitting on my EYES!