Call of Duty is perhaps one of the biggest gaming franchises ever. CoD is a first person shooter created by game studio called Infinity Ward, even though some of the titles were created by other developers too. Call of Duty franchise is known for receiving criticism from consumers and press because they are releasing new games every year. This has led players to believe CoD is becoming more stale. But, regardless of those opinions every game that goes out is still breaking various gaming records as well as attracting millions of gamers around the world. First Call of Duty game was released back in 2003 and immediately won more then 80 awards for being the game of the year. Only 2 years later, second addition of Cal of Duty was released, first for Xbox 360 which sold more than million copies of the game and at that time won the title as best seling video game of the year. The story follows 2 British, one American and one Russian soldiers through the Northern Africa, Eastern Front, Over the river of Rhine and Normandy.
Third Call of Duty was released just a year later. The idea is based of the breakout in Normandy when British, American and Canadian soldiers along with the French resistance defended Falaise Gap when German soldiers tried to cross over. Fourth installment of CoD franchise landed in 2007, even though it received much criticism, the game was commercially successfully being the best selling game of 2007, selling more then 10 million units by 2008. The producers decided to change the settings of having battles in Second World War and moved more into modern ambient and setting. Like in many other games you can choose from being USA marine or British SAS. Modern Warfare is based on fictional war between United Kingdom, Russia and United States. I think this specific game was turning point for CoD series. I remember spending hours and hours playing multiplayer matches online. There was also second part of Modern Warfare game released in 2009, earning over $310 million dollars only in America making it game with highest gross earning first day on its market beating even GTA 4 that was holding that place.
Today this record holds GTA 5 game which generated profit of $800 million dollars in just 24 hours! One year before Modern Warfare 2, actually in 2008 there was also release of World At War title. It had 2 campaigns across European theaters and Pacific. First campaign is following young Marine which is going through Pacific while the second campaign you are experiencing battle atmosphere at the front of European Easter seen through the eyes of Soviet Army soldiers. In 2010, Call of Duty Black Ops was released. It was in the same universe as the World At War but, the only real difference is that it was set in 60’s. You are playing story in a way of re-living the Alex Mason’s flashbacks while in reality he is interrogated for giving out valuable information. This game also brought the Nazi Zombies which were featured back in World At War as special mode.
In 2011, we got the third part of Modern Warfare that was developed by 3 different studios. Raven software, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games. The players are joining Captain price and Soap MacTavish as they are fighting for stopping Vladimir Makarov who is terrorizing entire Europe.
Last 2 years we also got Call of Duty Ghosts and Black Ops second part which were estimated for surpassing the record of earning $300 million dollars but never succeeded. Black Ops 2 is the first game in COD franchise that is set in future, not so distant because the story is happening in 2025. You are playing ans David Mason which is son from the guy in first Black Ops game, Alex Mason, and trying to stop attack on America. Call Of Duty series has been parodied and referred in many TV shows including NCIS, Chuck, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and even Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Breaking Bad. I think the large number of players don’t like to see new Call of Duty each year, I would rather have old COD which is going back to its roots, First or Second World War. They have gone too far with technology and it looks nothing like the old Call Of Duty games as it’s too futuristic. Call of Duty sure evolved through the years starting as first person shooter with World War theme, now incorporating many other conflicts and time periods that you can find on practically every modern gaming platform and console.
