That is until today. Today I am now an owner of a Call of Duty game. Start laughing now, it is Black Ops Wii Edition.

Shooting games are not really my thing. I actually don't like shooting games as I dislike the controller - camera, aim, shoot. I find it annoying, most likely as I am not good at it. By the time I am ready to shoot, I am either dead or the target is long gone. I am sure I could get better, but to be honest, I am not inspired to do so. First person makes me sick anyway - motion.

I have played Bioshock and enjoyed it because it is such a great game - the atmosphere is brilliant. I tried Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and literally, I have never been so bored in my life - 2 hours I persisted and I will never get that back. I even tried Gears of War and whilst I didn't think it was horrible, it wasn't really fun. However, co-op in GoW is a whole lot better, but only with a real life person next to me.

Then there is Call of Duty. I have never seen the attraction. Just how many wars can you play? How many people can you kill over and over again? To me, the outsider, they all just look the same and there is a new one every year, just like sport games. I can't get interested in one, let alone a new one every year. However, I don't doubt for a second that they are good. I am not here to criticise, I am here to learn -

What is it about Call of Duty that makes it fun?

Keep in mind that I have no desire to play online games - I have no intention of ever paying to play online (XBL). The single player campaign has to do it for me. A good local co-op is cream.

Now, for the game I got - why did I finally pick up a Call of Duty game and why the hell is it a cut down Wii one?

Easy. One it was just $9. At that price, I had nothing to lose. Two, the use of the Wiimote, especially in the Wii Zapper cradle is far more appealing to me. That is just personal taste. It will feel far more natural for me and therefore, more likely to increase the likelihood of enjoying it. The bigger, shinier experience on the 360/PS3 isn't anywhere close to drawing me in. However, if I actually enjoy the game, who knows.

So sell me. You are PR staff for Activision (Ubisoft?). Why do I want to become a Call of Duty fan?

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

Multiplayer is the big draw with Call of Duty so I don't really know what to tell you.

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

@PeasantAbuse said:

Multiplayer is the big draw with Call of Duty so I don't really know what to tell you.

So is it going to be that simple - online or don't bother? Is the single player campaign that redundant?

@AsperGamer: It's not redundant for me; it's a matter of taste. I actually enjoyed the story and campaign of the more recent CoD games, but they don't last very long. I stay for the multiplayer and unless you're one of the people interested to see what crazy stuff they do in CoD campaigns, then don't bother.

I don't know how old you are, but there was no beating Call of Duty 4 back in 2007. It's a shame that it's basically been the same game since then.

Call of Duty 4 is an important game in the history of video games.

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

@Jrinswand said:

I don't know how old you are, but there was no beating Call of Duty 4 back in 2007. It's a shame that it's basically been the same game since then.

Old enough to have been around for every CoD ever made. What made 4 great - other than it being the first true HD (3 was on Xbox and 360 right?) ?

@FluxWaveZ said:

@AsperGamer: It's not redundant for me; it's a matter of taste. I actually enjoyed the story and campaign of the more recent CoD games, but they don't last very long. I stay for the multiplayer and unless you're one of the people interested to see what crazy stuff they do in CoD campaigns, then don't bother.

Oh well, for $9, I am sure it wasn't a total bust. Plus, I heard lots of good things about the Wii game for online - I wonder if anyone still plays it online. I can't lose checking it out, if my terrible internet doesn't give me too much grief.

CoD campaigns are fun for the most part. Blops was fun, although it doesn't keep up w/MW2 and CoD2 imo. You'll probably still find some fun there, maybe even really like it. Move on from there and try the other campaigns if you're interested is my advice.

I only play the campaigns in CoD, for the most part. They're awesome for just being fun rides. I quite enjoy modern CoD stories.

I usually play the campaigns to CoD games months after I have bought them and played a bunch of multiplayer, when I have no games I currently want to play, and am looking for a weekend time waster. I couldn't tell you the story to a single CoD game, but I have a fun time playing them for 6 hours, but i would not buy one if all i cared about was single player.

@Spoonman671 said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

Shenanigans! Get Call of Duty 4, and enjoy an awesome campaign. Also, if you can't deal with a controller, then at least get it on PC and play with a mouse.

I run an i Mac, but even with Windows on it, i is about 5years old, a 2.3GHz Dual Core with a standard graphics card, so I doubt it will run all that well. Hopefully a new iMac soon may address that issue.

@Quarters said:

I only play the campaigns in CoD, for the most part. They're awesome for just being fun rides. I quite enjoy modern CoD stories.

So the verdict is sill undecided then - some people do actually enjoy the campaign. I might bust it out and try it for a little while, if I can drag myself from yet another playthrough of Fire Emblem!

@AsperGamer said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

@PeasantAbuse said:

Multiplayer is the big draw with Call of Duty so I don't really know what to tell you.

So is it going to be that simple - online or don't bother? Is the single player campaign that redundant?

For what it's worth, my favorite CoD games are the ones with the better single players. Actually, I really enjoy Call of Duty single players. I usually beat them at least twice.

But then, I eat shooters up like crazy. All of them. I can certainly tell a bad one from a good one but if it controls well and I'm shooting stuff then I'll probably enjoy it.

Also, play the fourth one if you get a chance. It's one of the best games ever. The rest aren't, but that one is.

Have many friends playing it? Play with them. Not wanting to play online makes it almost an automatic pass for anyone. I'm sure there are people not invested in the stories anymore for these games.

The single player usually is a pretty good ride but it's linear of fuck and short I mean I got through black ops in 4 hours if you are not going to play online the games just aren't worth the money . Buying a call of duty game for the single player alone would be like paying 60 bucks for a action movie. The draw for the majority of people is the competition.

@believer258 said:

@AsperGamer said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

@PeasantAbuse said:

Multiplayer is the big draw with Call of Duty so I don't really know what to tell you.

So is it going to be that simple - online or don't bother? Is the single player campaign that redundant?

For what it's worth, my favorite CoD games are the ones with the better single players. Actually, I really enjoy Call of Duty single players. I usually beat them at least twice.

But then, I eat shooters up like crazy. All of them. I can certainly tell a bad one from a good one but if it controls well and I'm shooting stuff then I'll probably enjoy it.

Also, play the fourth one if you get a chance. It's one of the best games ever. The rest aren't, but that one is.

I am not part of the shooter world, I am more the JRPG and especially SRPG troops - I eat them up. I do however like to keep an open mind and am willing, at a price, to try everything except a WWE or UFC game.

Oh, and goddammit, the disc turned to be damaged! It won't load - guess that is what can happen with used games. Back for a simple refund for me then. Now I am invested in the idea though - I have to get at least one of them to try now, more likely 360/PS3 though - 4 Modern Warfare seems to be the tip.

I love how bombastic and crazy they are. I loved BLOPS so I dunno what to tell ya.

The multiplayer is popular, I think, because the random elements, slow gameplay, and relatively forgiving shooting means the series has a very low bar for entry / low skill level to make you feel like you are accomplishing things, especially considering the way perks and unlocks are structured.

It is obviously a successful formula, even if it is one that quickly bored me and sent me back to more skill intensive games.

The campaigns are...there. I'd agree that Modern Warfare is definitely the high point of the series, although the original Call of Duty deserves a look as it was a great experience and redefined the genre after Medal of Honour had stagnated.

MW2 and MW3 campaigns were hot garbage. BLOPS was interesting if nothing else, but was also pretty stupid.

If you aren't going to play the Multiplayer, COD4 or Black Ops (I genuinely like BLOPS' Single Player, if only for how insane it gets and not in the dumb way that MW2's single player gets) are the ones to go for. You could probably get Call of Duty 4 for a song at this point, and there's no point trying the multiplayer because it's been hacked to high hell. If nothing else, COD4's campaign feels genuine whereas its sequels are guilty of attempting to one-up it and thus fall quickly into the realm of the over-the-top. But yeah. Know why people go back to the series year after year? I'll give you a hint: Not single player.

But really, if all this is just your attempt to figure out what all those damn kids are always hollering about and nothing else, it may not be worth it. You've already stated that you haven't really enjoyed what you've played of the genre thus far. You could just accept that people like things you aren't interested in and move on. I mean, I'm not going to tell people who like simulation racing games that they're idiots because they like driving games where the break is used for more than drifting.

@ArbitraryWater said:

If you aren't going to play the Multiplayer, COD4 or Black Ops (I genuinely like BLOPS' Single Player, if only for how insane it gets and not in the dumb way that MW2's single player gets) are the ones to go for. You could probably get Call of Duty 4 for a song at this point, and there's no point trying the multiplayer because it's been hacked to high hell. If nothing else, COD4's campaign feels genuine whereas its sequels are guilty of attempting to one-up it and thus fall quickly into the realm of the over-the-top. But yeah. Know why people go back to the series year after year? I'll give you a hint: Not single player.

But really, if all this is just your attempt to figure out what all those damn kids are always hollering about and nothing else, it may not be worth it. You've already stated that you haven't really enjoyed what you've played of the genre thus far. You could just accept that people like things you aren't interested in and move on. I mean, I'm not going to tell people who like simulation racing games that they're idiots because they like driving games where the break is used for more than drifting.

I figure you are entirely right, but yet I find myself wanting to try it anyway. If nothing else, I can pretend to be cool with the teenagers! If I never tried and persisted with some games, my tastes would still just be Mario platformers. Just one game in the series will be enough for me, so it seems CoD 4: MW is really where it is. One of my friends wants me to join his crew in BF3, but it is too expensive still for me to find I don't like it. I think I would be like black people in the US Army - cannon fodder (South Park), or a red shirt in Star Trek!

I don't use breaks in GT5 and Forza 4, I just use the back of cars to slow me down ........

Thanks for the feedback to everyone though. It was a genuine question and not a single insult came my way!

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

I couldn't disagree more, sure there not fantastic stories, but you can find Call of Duty 4 selling for about £10.

If you get your hands on the console xbox/ps3 version and try it online, it is very likely to hook you for a long time. Nothing out there really compares, and so whether not you love shooters or JRPGs is completely irrelevant. It will exhilarate you either way.

No reason really.

@Hizang said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

No desire to play online? Then you shouldn't.

I couldn't disagree more, sure there not fantastic stores, but you can find Call of Duty 4 selling for about £10.

I know I can pick it up for less than that in local currency.

@Grissefar said:

If you get your hands on the console xbox/ps3 version and try it online, it is very likely to hook you for a long time. Nothing out there really compares, and so whether not you love shooters or JRPGs is completely irrelevant. It will exhilarate you either way.

I think you are under-estimating my general ennui with shooters.

I agree, the multiplayer is what does it. I also liked the mods and custom maps on CoD2, that kept me playing a long time too. It just added some new features not present in the original game. But just the competition with others is what kept me enjoying CoD.

But for some reason when CoD4 came out and almost the whole world started playing CoD i started to dislike the game and it's true that every CoD is basicaly the same. I still miss the good old time on CoD2 lol :-) I also prefer WW2 over Modern War.

EDIT: oh by the way, about the mods and custom maps, that ofcourse is for the pc version. I don't like first person shooters on consoles.

MW1 for the SP because it's great, especially in Arcade Mode re-plays where you score points and multipliers in SP.
MW2 for the SP so you can see how "WTF" it went, while still keeping some good discipline and quality gameplay of the prequels SP.
Forget about MW3, just youtube the last mission of it.
 
I could go for a re-play of MW1 SP right now :/

I had zero interest in Modern Warfare 2 back in the days but I had some good friends playing and somehow they put a spell on me and we ended up having a pretty good time for a month or two. We were all conferencing on Skype and having a blast. I still hated playing it "alone" however and the single player campaign was boring as hell. So that's my experience, you might shun the multiplayer and swear you'll never touch it but suddenly find yourself enjoying it thanks to awesome friends! ..(and beer)

COD2,4,WAW,MW2 and Black Ops all had amazing campaigns. Some of the stages in MW2 are some of the most fun I have had with games. Snowmobile anyone, plus MW2 had the fantastic Spec-Ops if you got a buddy to do split screen with they are some of the most fun you will have co-op.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

COD2,4,WAW,MW2 and Black Ops all had amazing campaigns. Some of the stages in MW2 are some of the most fun I have had with games. Snowmobile anyone, plus MW2 had the fantastic Spec-Ops if you got a buddy to do split screen with they are some of the most fun you will have co-op.

Co-op is definitely where I think I could have some fun, just as I did in Gears of War (except my friend would leave me dead too long) - as long as it is local.

@AsperGamer said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

COD2,4,WAW,MW2 and Black Ops all had amazing campaigns. Some of the stages in MW2 are some of the most fun I have had with games. Snowmobile anyone, plus MW2 had the fantastic Spec-Ops if you got a buddy to do split screen with they are some of the most fun you will have co-op.

Co-op is definitely where I think I could have some fun, just as I did in Gears of War (except my friend would leave me dead too long) - as long as it is local.

Yep they are basicly little 5-20 minute missions depending on difficulty, stuff like racing snowmobiles, rescuing hostages, stealth missions where you plant bombs, one where one of you is on the ground trying to escape from a crashed chopper and the other one is controlling a AC-130 from above helping them out. There are 23 of them all up and is some of the best co-op I have ever played local splitscreen, but you can play online aswell, , you can get 1-3 stars each mission depending on difficulty or time. Plus the campaign to MW2 is the most crazy summer action movie campaign out there. You could probably pick it up for like 10 bucks now.

Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2 are really really good single-player experiences, even if you don't like the multiplayer. I haven't played Black Ops, but I hear that is also really good.

Unfortunately after Modern Warfare 2, the formula stopped evolving in any meaningful way. There were certainly additions, but much like from Halo 3 onwards (some would argue from Halo 2 onwards), the changes they made were just orbiting around already solid core concepts, and fairly needless.

You and me both man, I never will either, just don't like that sort of game.