Call of Duty fans demand the character creator back

Call of Duty fans have called out the franchise's microtransaction-filled character customisation, begging for the old system of Ghosts and Advanced Warfare to return.

23rd Jan 2024 10:20

Images via Sledgehammer Games

advanced-warfare-character-customisation.jpg

There's a reason that Activision is laughing all the way to the bank with Call of Duty. As well as being one of the best-selling titles year after year, we've seen the core series spin off into the money-making Warzone, while the CoD Store is never lacking in choices for what we can splash our real-life money on.

Whether you're saving for the latest crossover with The Boys or a ludicrous rubber ducky, it's baffling to think how much money we spend on ridiculous skins. We imagine the early games are spinning in their grave, and while we could sit here all day and lament the franchise's business model, let's get misty-eyed about how it used to be. 

Bring back Advanced Warfare's character customisation

Advanced Warfare gingerbread skin

We can spend hours customising our characters, and for anyone who has played The Sims, you'll know its easy to get stuck creating your perfect lookalike. These days, we're shackled to dressing like Nicki Minaj or King Kong, leaving us nostalgic for the character customisation from Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and WWII.

Back then, it wasn't a case of collecting customisation pieces or shelling out for a specific skin, we had individual options to change everything from heads to knee pads. This originally came through the divisive supply drop system, but with so many interchangeable parts, the world was your oyster when it comes to customisation.

Reintroducing this kind of character customisation to the army of Operators we have these days would likely involve a lot of work, and let's be honest, the devs are hardly going to prioritise this over the money-making ease of churning out increasingly outlandish skins that have abandoned their Mil-Sim roots.

We need that Advanced Warfare zombies skin

The idea of bringing back the early character customisation system has soared up the Call of Duty Reddit, with plenty of support for a more varied approach. One supporter wrote, "Character customization >>> 20$ skins," while another added, "Remember the zombie skin? Best sh*t ever."

Flagging the same issues as we have, another added, "Activision could bring it back and still make money from selling clothing items and outfits, but they probably never will." A third concluded, "If they did, then they couldn't sell you the $50 Taylor Swift Operator skin." Damn, now we want to go and play Advanced Warfare.

Sadly, it all changed when Black Ops III locked us in as the likeness of the actors playing each Operator. We're likely too far gone from the Advanced Warfare days, and while Sledgehammer was reportedly working on Advanced Warfare 2 before pivoting to MW3, we doubt it would've included the glory days of Create-A-Soldier. 

Tom Chapman

About The Author

Tom Chapman

Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.

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