Call Of Duty's 17-Year Anniversary: A Look At The Best Moments Yet
Call of Duty is celebrating its 17th birthday, after releasing the first-ever instalment on October 29, 2003. Over the years, Activision have treated us to some timeless classics, and as we cast an eye towards Black Ops Cold War, we dive into the archives and choose our top five most monumental moments in the history of Call of Duty.
#5 - The Birth of Call of Duty
October 29, 2003
Call of Duty was born 17 years ago, and without the launch of this game being somewhat successful, we would not be where we are now. By all means, the original Call of Duty was far from a polished spectacle, but it was enough to spark interest for the next instalment, which has been the selling point for Treyarch year upon year.
The game focused on simplicity and, at that time, groundbreaking movement mechanics. By having an engaging shooter which pits players against each other with easy to understand controls, Call of Duty was easily digestible and started the ball rolling in the right direction.
#4 - OpTic Gaming
2006
OpTic Gaming's rise to fame was pivotal to the success of Call of Duty. First founded in 2006 by Ryan "J" Musselman ("OpTic KR3W"), with aspirations of becoming a sniping team, OpTic began to conquer YouTube and showcase their high-end talent. Their skills left players wanting to join the team, leading to Call of Duty being circulated around social media and YouTube, which was influential on the popularity of the game.
Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez took over OpTic in 2007, and within two years, OpTic was the face of Call of Duty and began to create a competitive esports team. With their incredible surge in popularity and skills beyond belief, OpTic pioneered Call of Duty into the mainframe of esports and was a huge contributing factor into the rapid rise of the early Call of Duty games.
The Green Wall is still prominent today; although it's unclear whether they'll be sporting OpTic or Chicago Huntsmen gear in the following year, but without OpTic and the fanbase they grew, a large portion of die-hard COD fans would never have been formed.
Click to enlarge#3 - The Second Instalments of Modern Warfare and Black Ops
Two instalments of Call of Duty will be long etched into the folklore of this game. Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 2 are outright the two best Call of Duty's ever made. Closely followed by Modern Warfare 3 and the original Black Ops, the second installations of each storyline has been the definitive moments of Call of Duty.
Modern Warfare 2 was seen as the most popular COD ever, which captured the imaginations of millions on stunning maps such as Highrise. This was the first time Call of Duty had been seen as a leading shooter game throughout the industry and has been voted as the best Call of Duty ever.
Black Ops 2 was also the first time Activision ever plunged warfare into the future, and what a way to do it. With near-on perfect map designs and a range of great weapons with the meta forever changing, Black Ops 2 was pivotal for capturing the competitive players' minds with the introduction of League Play.
Without the success of these two games, the franchise surely would have fizzled out, but with a resounding thumbs-up, investors and sponsors queued en masse to begin to collaborate with the most popular gaming franchise ever.
#2 Axing Sledgehammer
Brutally, Sledgehammer's two instalments of Call of Duty were seen as some of the worst games ever made. The stand-alone games had no consecutive storylines, and their multiplayer experience was sub-par. Advanced Warfare was one of the better games in the Jet-pack era, although that is not much to boast about seeing as though Activision saw a huge decline in sales with players flying around the map. World War 2 was a welcome return to boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty, but the gameplay, again, was nothing to be joyous over.
The decision to axe sledgehammer as a lead designer was one of the best decisions Activision could have made, especially following the success of both the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series.
Click to enlarge#1 - Warzone
In the present day, Call of Duty has been catapulted beyond expectations with the introduction of Warzone. Jumping on the battle royale bandwagon was a stroke of genius by Infinity Ward, which could have been ignored as a result of the disappointing Blackout. Modern Warfare was a mixed bag in terms of its multiplayer experience. Boasting the smoothing movement and mechanics that have ever been introduced, it was juxtaposed with poor map designs and a horrible squad-spawn system.
However, Warzone was able to reignite Modern Warfare and has captured countless esports personalities from all corners of gaming. With swapping Kings Canyon and the Battle Bus for Verdansk, Call of Duty: Warzone has put the franchise in the best position it has ever been in.
The ball's in your court now Activision, and come its 18th birthday, let's hope we're celebrating a well-rounded year of elite Call of Duty.
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