Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) (PC) (Treyarch)
7At least in the United States, Call of Duty: Black Ops is the best-selling game of all time. Like, in the entire history of video games, ever. That's a pretty big deal, and despite my general reservations about "whack-a-mole shooters" I still can't say I'm particularly worked up about the fact that the CoD series is so popular. Unlike, say, a lot of bestselling Wii exclusives (the European obsession with Just Dance comes to mind) there's nothing inherently *bad* about Infinity Ward's and Treyarch's shooters. Indeed, the games are flashy, polished, chock-full of striking set pieces and offers exceptional longevity for all those players who (unlike me) consider multiplayer gaming to be a worthwile activity. The DLC is over-priced, yes, and the new subscription model seems questionable on some levels, but despite their yearly release schedule the recent Call of Duty games are far from the cynical cash-ins one might expect from a publisher who clearly knows that simply putting "CoD" in the title is a license to print money.
Also, my own gameplay-related issues with this very specific type of shooter are a little different from (or at least a very particular variation of) the standard criticisms you hear about CoD these days. As a fan of deliberately dumb arcade shooters I don't mind so much that the Call of Duties are linear, accessible and devoid of any need for real tactics since I've always wanted my shooters to be visceral, impulse-driven experiences with as little serious thought involved as possible. Rather, my problem is that the considerable efforts made by IW and Treyarch to streamline the experience and carefully guide the player through each level paradoxically ends up increasing the difficulty and general obtuseness of the gameplay. I have played shooters since Wolfenstein 3D, but few FPSs have been so challenging and downright frustrating for me to get through as the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare games, precisely because of their rail shooter-esque design. To take a few examples, even when I choose to play on comparatively low difficulty levels I invariably end up struggling both with the demands placed on my reflexes by the sudden onslaught of hostiles, and with the necessity to quickly figure out exactly where the level designer intends for me to take refuge from the incoming barrage of enemy bullets and begin my counterattack. This leads to a lot of frustrating, near-instant deaths and forces me to adapt a cautious, methodical and heavily trial-and-error-based playstyle which is completely at odds with the carefree blockbuster action movie vibe these games so clearly strive for. Thus, unlike the Battlefield crowd and other CoD detractors my issue is not with what the Activision developers try to do but instead with their failure to be consistent and creatively work around any potential contradictions in their overall design approach.
On a more philosophical level the dismal militarism, neo-conservative world view and creepy soldier masculinity being communicated in these games are all a bit unsettling to me, but that's a whole separate discussion for another day.