If you ask most fans of first person shooters their opinion on the best overall online experience available to a console, it's a fair bet to say most would answer simply "Call of Duty 4."

After three previous iterations, four if you count Big Red One, of the CoD franchise having been set during World War II, Infinity Ward took over the reigns of the franchise after Treyarch famously screwed over CoD3. Their triumphant return to the franchise they made famous yielded a game many consider to be among the best games of all time, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.

Players were burned out on WWII games, which most consider to have been done to death, hence the departure to more modern times. With all of the success, both critical and commercial, the most recent CoD has enjoyed, you would have thought the next title in the series would at the very least be a continuation of the formula that made CoD4 so great.

Also, you might have assumed that surely Infinity Ward, who is far and away the best developer for the series, would have made the next CoD. If you assumed either of these, you'd have been wrong on both counts.

CoD fans, prepare to return to World War II. Call of Duty 5: World At War, will not only return the series to the badly overplayed, done to death, Dear God not another one, setting of the second great world war, but it is being developed by...Treyarch.

Take a second to let that soak in. Treyarch. As in the same Treyarch who screwed the pooch with CoD3. The same Treyarch behind the dismal Spider Man 3 game.

That Treyarch.

I know what you must be thinking at this point. After the immense success of the Infinity Ward created CoD4, wouldn't handing the series back to Treyarch be like having your Ferrari worked on by Ed the local mechanic? Wouldn't it be like having a general doctor perform a triple bypass surgery?

Well, it seems as though the idea is that the series will ping pong back and forth between Treyarch and Infinity Ward with the idea of having Treyarch put out some shovelware under the CoD banner whilst Infinity Ward works on the next good one. It's all about the money.

This way, there's a CoD out on an almost yearly basis, thereby increasing the franchise's earnings overall. To me, it sounds like a good way to alienate the fan base.

Tags : Call of Duty : Call of Duty 5 : Treyarch : Ubisoft : World War II

Comments

By: Dragonfly On: 10:29 Jun 18th, 2008 Offline	To be honest, I get the impression this was already in production before CoD4 was released. I imagine the huge success of that title took even them by surprise, but by the time they realised it, CoD5 was already half ways through production. Still, it seems ways too soon for a new one, and I can't see it being half the success CoD4 was. Roll on Call of Duty 6.

By: Magus On: 04:32 Jun 20th, 2008 Offline	What's with all these WWII games? Haven't that war been outplayed yet? Yes, it was one of the most terrible wars in existence, but honestly, gamers are sick and tired of it. I haven't even played CoD, and I'm tired of all of it being based on WWII.

By: Evren On: 08:19 Jun 20th, 2008 Online	Bored of WW2. Give me mutated aliens to kill now. With 72 arms, each with mouths.. Or something.. Regardless, I am herby sick of WW2, and WW1, and freaking iraq games too.

By: Dragonsoul On: 08:25 Jun 20th, 2008 Online	This does sound like a good way to alienate fans. But whatever way you slice it I don't imagine I'd be buying it whether it's the aforementioned overused WWII theme, the apparent atrocious developer or the plain fact that war games have never really been my cup of tea anyways.

By: Black Templar On: 02:49 Jun 20th, 2008 Offline	Another WW2 game? And i thought we were gonna start gettin loads of games like COD4 in the modern times. To be honest im startin to hate having so many WW2 games. Yes racing through cities in the side-car of a motor bike with a huge machine gun is fun but in all of these WW2 games you kinda already know what sort of battles your going to be fighting and what weapons your stuck with.