Call of Duty Revolutionised the FPS Genre By Making the Single-Player Campaigns a Team-Based Success

Two is always better than one, and Activision took that seriously when it released the first Call of Duty game in 2003. Before that, we had video games like Doom and Project IGI where users were on their own. Yes, the characters with guns gave them an adrenaline rush, but it wasn’t enough.

In reality, Medal of Honor tried this approach with Allied Assault and became an instant hit. It was that time Infinity Ward began hiring and managed to bring a large piece of the game’s development team onboard. Today, EA’s game is nowhere to be found in the news, but Activision’s remains.

Yes There Were Allies But it Still Felt Moving Like a Lone Wolf

It is true, humans are social animal. And it’s not just true for the world we live in, but for the other worlds too. We gamers often enter from one world to another.

In one moment we are making our way into those dark alleyways to complete the Office of Strategic Services missions in Medal of Honor, and in the next, we may find ourselves on the moons of Mars in Doom.

But something was missing in them. Allies, to be more precise. Users were on their own in those video games, unlike the first-person shooters of today. Though they found company while playing cooperative games, enemy NPCs were all there was in single-player campaigns.

Medal of Honor changed that when Electronic Arts published Allied Assault in 2002. It was often compared to the critically acclaimed movie Saving Private Ryan. That was kind of obvious as both were produced by Steven Speilberg.

Sure comrades were there by the users’ side. Many of the missions still feel empty and give that sense of being a lone wolf until they are in a setting like Omaha Beach.

Later on, developers of the military shooters might’ve realized it isn’t really ‘military’ with such an approach. That is why, later on, we got company. And Call of Duty revolutionized the genre.

Call of Duty Gave us a True Band of Brothers From the Very First Game

Since the very beginning of the first game, and not just in the training when Captain Foley is laying out the instructions, we were surrounded by soldiers. Even if there were some moments when a user was moving alone, it never really felt alone.

There was an energy that could be felt as the soldiers advanced to their objective. If artificial intelligence enthusiasts want to witness its impeccable use, this was one of them.

New technologies came, series advanced, and then it wasn’t simply allies who got more intelligent; Activision did some great job there with the enemy AI. To this date; Black Ops probably had the best enemy AI featured in shooter games.

Battlefield isn’t very behind in it, though both popular military shooters have been suffering a similar fate now. It surely was Medal of Honor vs. Call of Duty for some time, but it soon changed to Battlefield vs. Call of Duty.

Indeed, Battlefield was there to give a warzone-like feeling with users playing alongside others in a multiplayer setting. However, it wasn’t until the release of Bad Company that the series tried its hands on a single-player campaign. A remarkable modern warfare setting without a shadow of a doubt.

But then again, Call of Duty had entered the ‘Modern Warfare‘ a year before it. It was another of those revolutionary moves as players got to experience the modern combat. New weapons, holographic sights, night vision, and more. It was a delight.

It was then the game that sowed the seeds for stories and characters that became a part of us. From British special forces operator Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley to America’s Monster Russell Adler, everyone wants to learn their backstory today.

Now it’s time we wait for the upcoming Activision game, Black Ops 6, where every character is literally flying in the middle of the battles. Thanks to the innovative omnimovement.

Single-player campaigns like those in the games like Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Hitman, and more are no doubt some of the best. But there’s some different satisfaction when we are playing military shooters when we know someone is there to cover us while we reload a gun.

What do you prefer in shooter games more? Being a lone wolf or being with allies? We would like to know about it in the comments section below.