4) Call Of Duty: WWII
Call of Duty, at long last, will be ditching the human-enhancing exosuits and dizzying, gravity-defying first-person action of potential future warfare this November in favor of a return to a simpler time, one where terrain traversal required that soldiers obey the laws of gravity.
Indeed, not since Modern Warfare 3, itself having kickstarted the trend of incorporating fictional battlefield technology, have we had a, excuse the pun, more grounded affair that draws from human history, rather than science fiction, for its available armaments. But alas, the times, they Are a-Changin’, folks!
It’s funny, really, that consumer tastes have come full circle since Call of Duty‘s earliest years. The transition from World War II to present-day warfare that occurred with the launch of Infinity Ward’s initial Modern Warfare was heralded as a game-changer, a refreshing, innovative change from the unending deluge of World War shooters. A decade later, and preferences have done a total U-turn. Infinite Warfare, despite its undeniable quality and level of polish, ended up being one of the worst-performing entries in the franchise to date while at the same time, DICE’s Battlefield 1, set during the Great War, became an instant commercial and critical success.
Skeptics will criticize Activision for following the trend, rather than sticking to its guns and continuing with the series’ current trajectory, but given how long WWII has been in development, that’s simply not true. And even if it were, who really cares at this point?
We’re sure the future setting will be revisited again down the road, but for now, I, along with, I’m sure, many others, patiently await what’s not doubt going to be a terrific blast from the past later this year.