Introducing "Above and Beyond" - A Call of Duty Campaign* Retrospective

 

 

 

Call of Duty is a game franchise that spans twenty-two mainline games, a few spin-offs, and a lot of Nintendo demakes. In a word, it's immense, each game a six to eight hour campaign that's multiplied in length by the near infinite multiplayer and co-op modes, whether that be Zombies or Extinction. Add on Warzone, the series's new cash cow, and the games hit a player with a barrage of content to chew through. How can anyone write about this?

I have a fascination with Call of Duty. It's half nostalgia, the campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies modes of Black Ops II filling a large part of afternoons in middle school- and it's half modern interest. I like to look at art about America, and in part that's what Call of Duty is- games about America, how it sees itself, and how it sees the rest of the world. Not always intentionally, but still important to look at. There's real art buried in these games at times, a level here that's well made, a great feeling gun there, and I think that contrast- between propaganda and technical wizardry, is really interesting.

 So, I'm gonna talk about it. Every one that I can, from the beginnings of the series to the newest entries. We got spin-offs on the original Xbox and PS2, we got the series of DS demakes, and we got whatever the fuck Nightmares mode is from Black Ops III. That's what the asterisk is there for as well, there's a lot of weird tangential side-modes and co-op stories that I think are important to talk about. 

This series is primarily inspired by the work of Noah Caldwell Gervais, as well as YouTube series such as Errant Signal's "Children of Doom"- and then the root of that series, Tom Breihan's "A History of Violence" over on AV Club. 

The main thing is that this series of articles won't be discussing the Multiplayer or Zombies, for two reasons. One is that for the older games, there's less of a player-base reflective of my skill level. I doubt that I'll be able to find playable Black Ops matches  even with the help of player-developed clients. The second is time- the multiplayer requires you to really play to get a feel for the quirks of each game, as well as to unlock all items and perks. Zombies requires multiple players and the time to learn maps and strategies. So, to keep it simple- campaigns* only. 

 As for schedule, this series will aim for once a month- but might be more or less depending on my real-life commitments and how I'm feeling. I'm a lot of things, but not a CoD saint. 

 With all that out of the way- next time on Above and Beyond, we start at the beginning with the Medal of Honor killer itself, 2003's Call of Duty. Catch y'all next time.