The Call of Duty franchise has often been criticized for its campaigns lacking innovation, but 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 proves there’s still plenty of gas left in the tank. While most missions in MW2’s single-player story follow a fairly linear structure, two missions stand out for their freedom of choice. These missions offer a change of pace and paint a picture of what an open world Call of Duty game could look like. Now, the picture becomes even more clear thanks to the recently leaked images from a canceled open world version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3's campaign.
With many video game franchises moving to open worlds such as The Legend of Zelda, Ghost Recon, and Metal Gear Solid, gamers have speculated whether Call of Duty would ever follow the trend as well. Considering the record-breaking franchise has seen 18 mainline games with campaigns at this point, it's surprising that it has retained the linear structure for this long. However, MW2's campaign takes step towards an open world, and the leaked Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 images give players a glimpse at what an open world structure for a Call of Duty game could accomplish.
The Potential of an Open World Call of Duty
In December 2022, dozens of leaked early development images of Black Ops 3 surfaced that gave fans a taste of what the game may have looked like if it went with an open world format. The images show a very early build of the game, as much of the world is merely blocks without any textures. Still, they give an idea of what the open world would have looked like and the layout of the different environments. The leaker even highlights potential scrapped features like a day/night cycle, scalable buildings, various mission objectives, and a currency system for building defenses.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was released in 2015 and its single-player campaign took a lot of risks for the franchise and added plenty of interesting new features at the time. One of these was a hub area where Call of Duty players could customize their guns, partake in a virtual reality simulator to practice scenarios against hostiles, and upgrade different abilities and equipment. Missions were also started from the hub and could be completed in whatever order chosen by the player. It's now plain to see how these features are a shadow of what could have been a larger open world game.
If the series were to take another shot at this open world concept from Black Ops 3, future Call of Duty games could massively benefit for a few key reasons. Firstly, the developers already have recent experience in creating missions for an open world thanks to Warzone, DMZ, and Spec Ops in MW2. Secondly, if Microsoft ends up acquiring Activision Blizzard King, Activision could potentially use assistance from developers like Bethesda Game Studios and Obsidian Entertainment to craft their open world and make it as engaging as possible.
Lastly, some of the best MW2 missions take place in large-scale environments that offer multiple ways to tackle objectives. "Alone" and "Recon by Fire" demonstrate the previously untapped potential of the franchise by letting players loose within a mission area and giving them more choices than ever before. Considering these contain some of the best and most memorable moments in the game, fans will likely want more missions like them in future Call of Duty games.
MW2's Best Missions Offer Players Choice
In MW2, “Alone” takes place after a pivotal moment in the game’s story, leaving the player without their usual loadout of weapons and equipment. Movement is also restricted at this time, leading to one of the tensest missions in Call of Duty history. The gameplay during this mission is immediately reminiscent of The Last of Us, where the player’s resources are precious. They must plan their movements carefully and scavenge for supplies to craft weapons and equipment. Players must also take advantage of their surroundings to remain undetected, as the mission area is large and filled with alternate pathways to maneuver around enemies.
Though "Alone" may be a jarring mission for Call of Duty veterans, many feel it's an unexpected yet welcome change of pace for the series. Call of Duty campaigns will typically incorporate different gameplay styles to add variety, and the methodical gameplay in "Alone" is unlike anything the series has tried before. For a franchise that typically recycles gameplay styles, as seen in its recurring gunship and sniper missions, it's nice to see something truly new. This is also one of the most difficult missions in the campaign, punishing carelessness and impatience while rewarding creativity, exploration, and thoughtful planning.
"Recon by Fire" is MW2's take on the series' tried-and-true sniper missions similar to "All Ghillied Up" and incorporates its own unique elements to help it stand apart and even rise above in some ways. Rather than following a linear path, players are given the freedom to tackle objectives using different methods and equipment to infiltrate enemy buildings and take them down. Players can choose to breach doors using C4, toss tear gas into the ventilation to force enemies out of cover, or simply snipe enemies from the skylights.
One key design choice in this section that stands out is the fact that these choices aren't laid before the player from the start with giant objective markers. If players traditionally like to go in guns blazing, they might instinctively run up to the doors to breach without even realizing they had other options. Alternatively, those who prefer to play slower and are more careful with their movements may notice the routes up to the roof and use tear gas to draw out enemies, then quickly find cover to pick them off one by one. These are the types of decisions that make MW2's campaign more unique to each player.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
