It’s still summer, and there’s still not a ton of gaming news going around right now. So, for the next couple weeks, I’ll be doing some double duty. I’ll still be covering all the gaming news as it is released, but to keep everyone entertained, I’m gonna start a weekly ranking series of my personal picks for games this year, games next year, games of future past, games on infinite earth, I got the games in the back, gamestock is attached…
So this week let’s talk about my top 5 most anticipated titles still to come in 2019, starting with:
Numbuh 5: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Ok, before everyone loses their shit and calls me out for just being another vanilla gaming blogger obsessed with Triple A titles and bland content…ok I don’t have an answer for that yet but I’ll cum bacc 2 it. I get it, everyone and their mother is sick of Call of Duty. Sure it had it’s time in the limelight between CoD 4 and MW3 where it wasn’t really frowned upon, but since then it’s been a giant clusterfuck of shooters. I mean I shit on Fortnite for being a copycat game, but CoD is the original copycat. Boosters, wall running, special abilities; all were stolen from other shooters (Titanfall, Overwatch, Halo, etc). On top of that, the game has a very low skill curve, which is a good and a bad thing. I’m not a firm believer that a game has to maintain a high skill curve to be good; I actually welcome games that are easy to pick up and play. But I for sure find it frustrating when I spend a whole game getting shot in the back by some 14 year old noob tween that I know I could rape one on one (IN THE GAME PEOPLE, IN THE GAME)…(how’s that for “vanilla gaming blogger”?). Still, every year it’s one of the highest selling games, even though it drops at the end of October. So why the fuck am I even excited about this game?
The easiest reason is it’s Modern Warfare again. Yes I understand that I’m playing directly into Activision’s money hungry hands, but I’m not sure I care right now. All the gameplay I’ve seen leads me to believe that this entry will return the series back to the glory days, and not just because it shares the same title. First, I trust Infinity Ward more than any of the other studios solely because of MW1-MW3. Yea Treyarch did well with the Black Ops series, but they also are the one who pushed the series to wall running and super soldiers, and haven’t really executed well in the last few titles. As TmarTn describes in the above video, we always expect a standard graphic and audio boost every year, but this one looks like a pretty significant jump. Immersion is priceless, and I want to see and hear every beautiful crunch as my .50 cal bullet enters the enemy’s skull. Also, I am a huge fan of the older map styles that were less concerned about “3 lanes” and more about creativity. I never really realized that change was what made maps annoying in the newer entries. We’re going back to the old weapons, old killstreaks, and old “boots on the ground” playstyle that I loved in high school, and while I’m sure there will be changes and updates to each of those features, the nostalgia is going to kick in real soon. Campaign wise, I’m interested to see how Infinity Ward changes the story up enough to feel fresh yet familiar, and I’m also curious to see what modes will be available outside of campaign and standard multiplayer. Does Infinity Ward want to continue with Blackout? Do they do another Zombies mode? What about older stuff like the Spec Ops mode from MW2?
Regardless of the above, with so few competitive multiplayer games coming out this fall, I think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is going to shine. The return of Captain Price and the old school mechanics are more than enough reason to give it a try, and to make it to number 5 on my most anticipated games still to come in 2019.