RockStizzar's Blog

Mar

Analysis Update and my 2 cents.

So for this update I’m going to share some new insight on the old news, share some new guesses and show you what is still perplexing me. As if that was not enough I am also going to talk a little bit about over saturation in the industry as well as how this teaser was presented. Deep Breath…Ready…Go!

OK so since my last post I have been thinking about the perks shown near the beginning. After talking this over with some other individuals we have come up what could or could not be some of the perks. I’ll actually give two ideas for the perks shown.

Lets start with stopping power. While this still may change from CoD4 it may just be a way of IW showing fans that the loved/hated stopping power will return in the game, almost guaranteeing that it’s counterpart juggernaut will also make a joyous/reluctant return.

The second perk remains the same in my eyes but I have put new meaning to the 3^rd one shown. Many people have been looking at the way the knives are crossed to explain that it may grant the player the ability to parry another player’s knife. I think its more about the number of knives rather than their positioning. It’s my impression that this perk will grant the player the ability to take two knife stabs before their death. Giving them a few extra seconds to stand their ground.

The last perk has been rumored to be a perk that allows the player to plant/diffuse/capture points quicker then normal. While this seems a valid view I will disagree on one basic merit (until the next paragraph). I believe IW is showing us a perk from each of the 3 classes. Blue, Red and Green. With two knives taking the red slot and the winged foot taking the green spot that leaves the quick plant perk for the blue spot. This seems highly unbalanced and highly unlucky.

Now here comes the theory that throws a wrench in the gears. Maybe they showed us 4 perks for the sole reason that there are 4 perk slots available now. World at War utilized 4 slots with the 4^th being saved for vehicle based perks only. Maybe, since the general consensus around the game is that it will not include vehicles, IW has kept this slot for perks that will effect particular game modes. This would explain why they showed 4 perks, and why at present time they do not seem to fit into the pattern.

Alright, now for the new stuff. The first new bit I found came in the form of a storefront sign. It clearly says the words “Sports” in English. This leads me to believe that part of the game will take place in an English speaking urban environment. Another picture which has ties to this 100% confirms that Americans will play some part in this game. The image depicts two soldiers side-by-side, one with American flag patch worn by every U.S. Military branch.

The next part is old news for some but I left it out of the original post. The teaser clearly has both a scuba diver and a submarine in it. What perplexes me is what the scuba diver is looking at. No really, I have no clue on this one.

Now for the ships. Yup, there are clearly 3 ships on the horizon in a few of the frames. Now without going into any extreme history detail we can say that ships have played a large role in the U.S. involvement in wars/”conflicts”. The sinking of the Lusitania to enter WWI, the explosion of the USS Maine to enter the Spanish-American War and the attack on the USS Maddox to enter Vietnam are a few examples. I digress. The sinking of ships also may explain another image that shows what seems like a man laying down as water pours around him. Then again this may just be a fancy transition that goes well over my head. You decide.

The last picture is just a quick note. Right before the Brazilian village comes into the scene, which IGN so helpfully pointed out, there is a shot of an airbase or airport. I’m not a big airplane guy but they look more like military jets over commercial liners to me.

Now for the shit that seriously just confuses me now matter how long I look at it. While there is a lot of stuff like this I picked the ones that got the most face time or are obviously meant to be a prominent part of the teaser. I’ll run down them all fairly quick.

The first image shows some type of machine with what looks like “I 80 I” on the side. This could be a boat, airplane or helicopter and might explain why the scuba diver is down there. If you have any insight please comment.

Next up is the face of our villain-in-charge. Its hard to make out what he looks like, who he is or what country he’s from. One thing’s for sure though, his only photo opportunity makes a damn good wallpaper.

Now for the strange text above the security sign opposite the perks. I couldn’t begin to say what it says or even what language it is in. Like before, if you know, or have any thoughts, comment it.

I choose this one because It stays on screen for a fairly large chunk of the teaser. It may give away a certain location that we have glossed over. Looks to me like it might be inside of the submarine, although I have never been in one myself.

I call this one the Warthog drop because it closely resembles a Pelican ship from the Halo games dropping down a Warthog. Now I think it’s safe to say that is not the case here. But I’m interested at seeing how this is implemented into the game.

Alright, now we have finally got that out of the way lets talk some over saturation. What does this mean? Let me give an example. Tony Hawk 2 revolutionized the way action sports games felt, played, looked, sounded and the list goes on. It was fresh, it was new and it was exciting. Eight years and ten squeals later (Yes 10!!) we are at the point we are today. Where the Tony Hawk games spend a month or two at max on sales charts then find themselves buried in bargain bins, all but forgotten by the hardcore gamer.

So what does this mean for Call of Duty, except that both games are published by Activision. Simple. The Call of Duty series has always seem to have been slightly ahead of the cure with every iteration. Call of Duty 1 introduced cinematic gameplay in a pre-half life 2 world where corridors were still the norm. Call of Duty 2 showed that launch games can have just has much polish as any game coming out a year or even two years after the console releases.

After the success of Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward is ready to move on to Call of Duty 3…. Modern Warfare. But Wait, that’s not the Call of Duty 3 we know. Let’s back it up a little. Cut Dream world, Paste reality: After the success of Call of Duty 2, Activision is ready to move on to having a Call of Duty every year.

Before this point we did have two other games not by IW which were marketed as console versions of the PC franchise. But never did they give another studio the rights to number their game as a stand alone entry into the franchise.

Skip forward and we all know what happens. Where it stands since 2003 we have gotten 8 console or PC games, 3 hand held games and an expansion pack. And you thought Tony Hawk was bad.

Let me bring this full circle. People are saying that the lack of the words “Call of Duty” from the teaser is significant of something. I agree. It shows that someone close to the product knows that they have to differentiate this from the other 11 games. Modern Warfare can live on its own merits, it doesn’t need a name that, in my biased opinion, Activision is running into the ground. This is still Call of Duty, It will still play like Call of Duty, need not worry. I give the folks at IW two thumbs up.

Now for the people complaining about how the teaser was presented. Get over yourself. The information wasn’t spoon fed into your mouth, and it wasn’t a pre-rendered action movie cinematic. Seriously quite bitching. If you are waiting for super long gameplay sequences you may be out of luck for a long while.

Be sure to comment suckas.

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Mar

Modern Warfare 2 Analysis

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So last night’s GDC Awards were fairly overshadowed by the first look at Infinity Ward’s follow-up to the highly successful squeal to Call of Duty 4. Many people were let down with the seemingly low amount of information or gameplay in the trailer. While the later might be true the former is far from it. The trailer holds a lot of sneak peaks into what is in store for us coming this fall. Keep in mind that these are only my opinions and views on the info. They are not necessarily correct.

Lets start this off with the first thing we hear, the intercom voice. It quickly becomes apparent that we are in an airport so the alternate language at the beginning is not that big of a deal seeing as how airports relay messages in multiple languages. However, in English speaking airports they usually start the message off in English then translate it to Spanish/ other language. It is the opposite in this. Leading me to believe this is not in an American or English speaking airport.

When the guys in the suits leave the elevator you can clearly make out 4 perk symbols over the Security sign. You can look at the picture for a reference. The first seems to be the “Stopping Power” perk from the first game. While many of the perks will inevitably get some tweaks it seems as though IW is telling its fans that Stopping Power may be getting a much greater change.

The second is an image of a foot with a wing on it. It seems to be very representative of the god Hermes from Greek Mythology. In Ancient Greece the god Hermes wore winged sandals and was the god of Speed and Flight. Leading me to believe that this may of something to do with a higher jump or a faster sprint/movement speed.

The 3^rd perk is what seems to be two crossed knives. This may have some correlation to the Modern Warfare melee system. Maybe it will have something to do with deflecting knives or having multiple ones. Your guess is as good as mine.

Now the 4^th one goes right over my head. It almost looks like a wine glass or an arrow pointing down a hole. If I can figure out what this might even relate to I’ll be sure to update.

Now lets get to the setting. There are 3 big set pieces shown in the trailer including the Christ the Redeemer statue, an oil rig and lastly a castle. At first glance these seem to have no correlation. Here is my connection between the three.

Lets start with the obvious one, the Christ Statue. This is a famous statue located outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. How does this connect to the other two? Well last November the Brazilian President announced that they found new oil reserves off the coast of Brazil that would produce an annual growth of 7% putting Brazil in the top 10 oil producers in the world. Could a war have started over these reserves in the land of Call of Duty? Possibility. So where does this leave the castle? All of the castles in Brazil share no resemblance in the one shown in the trailer. The closest I have found is the Castle of São Jorge in Portugal. For the uncultured reading this, the national language of Brazil is Portuguese. It all comes full circle.