Despite what many gamers and game journalists have said, Treyarch makes good games. Anytime that Call of Duty 3, or the upcoming Call of Duty 5 are mentioned the negative comments begin to pour in. There is very little basis for these comments, here is why the naysayers are all wrong.
Treyarch’s last COD game didn’t live up to Infinity Ward’s, but it wasn’t a bad game. In fact, it was pretty good. Don’t believe me? Just look at COD3’s metacritic score of 82. That’s only seven points lower than COD2, yet gamers act like Treyarch peed in their cornflakes and made fun of their mom whenever COD3, or COD: World at War are mentioned.
I didn’t love the single player in COD3, but the multiplayer was easily the most enjoyable WWII experience I have had online. That includes COD1 and COD2. The introduction of vehicles, including tanks, vehicles with machine gun attachments and motorcycles, added another dynamic to the game that allowed for players of all skill levels to play on an equal battlefield. You know how you can call in air strikes in COD4? Guess where that feature was first used? Yep, COD3. And, in terms of graphics, COD3 was a few notches above COD2.
People are still playing COD3 online. More and more gamers are joining the fight thanks to the fact that COD3 is now a Platinum Hits title. Currently the game can be found (as of June 24) on Amazon.com for $11.02. You will be hard pressed to find a better game for less than $12 on Amazon.com.
If you still are not convinced that Treyarch makes quality games, just review some of their previous titles. Here is a quick list for you.
- Call of Duty 3 (360, PS3)
- Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (PS2, XBOX)
- Ultimate Spider-Man (GCN, PS2, XBOX)
- Spider-Man 2 (GCN, PS2, XBOX)
- NHL 2K3 (GCN, PS2, XBOX)
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2x (XBOX)
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (Dreamcast)
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater (Dreamcast)
Not a bad list. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 received 9.8 and 9.9, respectively, from IGN, the two highest scores given to Dreamcast games by IGN. Although they are ports, they were fantastic ports. Spider-Man 2 also received very positive reviews (9.0 from IGN) from the media and gamers because it was the first game to really make you feel like Spider-Man.
There are some bad games in their portfolio, like Minority Report, and some Triple Play ports, but nothing to warrant a perceived legacy for making bad games from the gaming media and gamers themselves. In the case of Minority Report, Treyarch had to do without Tom Cruise’s likeness or voice acting and was too ambitious with the game. For the development time that was allotted, Treyarch did not have the time to polish a fighting system, a unique story, and interesting environments. In Hilary Goldstein’s review from IGN he stated that,
Perhaps the first mistake was trying to find a balance between the movie and doing something new. Treyarch should probably have decided to either do a near-direct translation of the movie or done a wholly different story, one that borrowed the context of the world but not many of the plot elements of the movie. Instead, they did a bit of this and that and the result is a weak story and overall mediocre level design.
It is very possible that Treyarch was pressured by Activision to finish the game to coincide with the DVD release of the feature film. Even great movie makers like Stephen Spielberg have had a flop or two (A.I., The Lost World) especially when being over ambitious.
All of these gamers on forums, and even the game journalists who haven’t played COD: World at War, are already expecting the worst. Many took shots and made sarcastic comments simply at the announcement that Treyarch was making another COD game. The drag on COD3’s development was that Treyarch only had one year of development, while Infinity Ward had two for COD4.
This time around Tryearch will have those two years of development for COD: World at War. What’s even more encouraging is that the COD:WaW team has had two years to refine the Modern Combat engine that was used in COD4. Gametrailers.com had the exclusive for the first trailer of the game. Take a look for yourself and make up you own mind.
Treyarch recently announced that COD: World at War will feature up to 4-player co-op through the campaign (up to 2 on one system). This is the first time in the COD franchise that co-op will be featured. Also the return of vehicles to multiplayer is a welcomed announcement.
Many gamers will not be hyped up for Treyarch’s latest tour of duty, they will be pleasantly surprised. When COD: World at War is released this fall, gamers and gaming media will have to check themselves before they make comments about Treyarch’s games in the future.
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One Comment
Regardless of Treyarch’s talent in making/porting games, they are going to have a tough time beating or coming close to IW’s COD 4. Maybe gamers and journalists give COD 3 such a hard time not necessarily because of its arguable failures as a single player or multiplayer experience; but perhaps because of the mammoth task of making players forget how great of a game COD 2 was. Actually, I don’t even think that COD 2 was all that great of a game, but it did focus the COD series in a good direction. Since COD 2 was received so well it made it that much harder to swallow that COD 3 wasn’t as good (overall). I fear that will be the same case with COD WaW. Not only was COD 4 the most successful COD ever, it brought the franchise into the forefront of FPS war games because of its tremendous transition into modern warfare. Reverting back to WWII seems like a backtrack in almost every way, especially after gamers have had their nearly insatiable desires satisfied, with the taste of modern warfare fresh on their tongues. These reasons are why gamers and journalists are going to be hard to please with the release of WaW. (sorry to ramble)