Post by mw0swedeking on Dec 10, 2014 15:13:15 GMT -5
The thing that most explains my own nostalgia effect (towards CoD4 and MW2) is that those are the first games I played. Novelty is hard to beat, and as a franchise each iteration doesn't actually have much new to offer. So wherever you jumped in probably will have that CoD is AMAZING moment, and everything afterwards can't quite compare.
I have fond memories towards both CoD4 and MW2. A strong distaste for everything since. I think this is in part due to the timing of my playing the games. I bought a 360 and started playing CoD4 during WaWs run actually, based on a friend's recommendation. I was immediately hooked. I think the real draw of Call of Duty has to be the immediately noticeable smooth controls and snappy response to player feedback. The core game just works, and IMO better than any other console shooter I've played.
Anyway, as a new player I was constantly learning. Constantly improving. I believe I started off playing mainly FFA and TDM and had a .6 kd. I remember working that up to a 1 and I think it ended up around 1.2. I remember learning the guns and the perks and tinkering with setups. Discovering tactical layout. Messing with sensitivity. Trying to decide whether or not to prestige. Whether to prestige again, and again. Learning maps. I discovered Den's charts and these message boards. I heard other's advice and ideas. I think that it is this learning and improving that we miss more than anything else. At a certain point we've hit our ceiling.
MW2 was still good for me because I was still fairly new, but also because MW2 probably added more than any other iteration since. Say what you will about MW2 (and there's plenty to be said, I know), but I think it probably has the most to tinker with. Plenty to learn. Different ways to play. For me, it's also where I started playing Dom and CTF (actually it's the only game I got into CTF). I raised my kd to 2. I started caring about w/l and worked on improving that. I made a group of friends to play with regularly. I actually even managed to enjoy some of the plagues of that game (sometimes). Taking down care package glitchers unearned killstreaks (as well as any that were legitimately earned) had a certain satisfaction. Hunting nuke boosters was something I treated as a secondary objective, and I'd check the scoreboard anytime a CG or AC130 came up.
Probably around the end of summer, start of fall is when I felt my interest fading. I think that it is because I had ceased to learn and ceased to improve. Each iteration had a brief period where I learned what I could, but I already knew most of what could be learned. It didn't help that Black Ops guns were clones, but I don't think better guns would have solved the problem. I trudged through Blops and purchased MW3 but gave up on it a few months in. I've barely looked back since.
I'd be lying if I said I thought Blops or MW3 were better than MW2 or CoD4. And to hold either CoD4 or MW2 up as some sort of Gold Standard doesn't feel right either. Despite their sizable imperfections, I miss the thrilling experience those games gave me and I don't think I'll ever get it back. I can understand if some people's first love was Blops or WaW or CoD1 or AW and they have similar feelings for that game. I even envy them a little.
I have fond memories towards both CoD4 and MW2. A strong distaste for everything since. I think this is in part due to the timing of my playing the games. I bought a 360 and started playing CoD4 during WaWs run actually, based on a friend's recommendation. I was immediately hooked. I think the real draw of Call of Duty has to be the immediately noticeable smooth controls and snappy response to player feedback. The core game just works, and IMO better than any other console shooter I've played.
Anyway, as a new player I was constantly learning. Constantly improving. I believe I started off playing mainly FFA and TDM and had a .6 kd. I remember working that up to a 1 and I think it ended up around 1.2. I remember learning the guns and the perks and tinkering with setups. Discovering tactical layout. Messing with sensitivity. Trying to decide whether or not to prestige. Whether to prestige again, and again. Learning maps. I discovered Den's charts and these message boards. I heard other's advice and ideas. I think that it is this learning and improving that we miss more than anything else. At a certain point we've hit our ceiling.
MW2 was still good for me because I was still fairly new, but also because MW2 probably added more than any other iteration since. Say what you will about MW2 (and there's plenty to be said, I know), but I think it probably has the most to tinker with. Plenty to learn. Different ways to play. For me, it's also where I started playing Dom and CTF (actually it's the only game I got into CTF). I raised my kd to 2. I started caring about w/l and worked on improving that. I made a group of friends to play with regularly. I actually even managed to enjoy some of the plagues of that game (sometimes). Taking down care package glitchers unearned killstreaks (as well as any that were legitimately earned) had a certain satisfaction. Hunting nuke boosters was something I treated as a secondary objective, and I'd check the scoreboard anytime a CG or AC130 came up.
Probably around the end of summer, start of fall is when I felt my interest fading. I think that it is because I had ceased to learn and ceased to improve. Each iteration had a brief period where I learned what I could, but I already knew most of what could be learned. It didn't help that Black Ops guns were clones, but I don't think better guns would have solved the problem. I trudged through Blops and purchased MW3 but gave up on it a few months in. I've barely looked back since.
I'd be lying if I said I thought Blops or MW3 were better than MW2 or CoD4. And to hold either CoD4 or MW2 up as some sort of Gold Standard doesn't feel right either. Despite their sizable imperfections, I miss the thrilling experience those games gave me and I don't think I'll ever get it back. I can understand if some people's first love was Blops or WaW or CoD1 or AW and they have similar feelings for that game. I even envy them a little.