Do you not understand why people hate CoD? In my eyes, here's CoD's ONE plus: it has the tightest, best control scheme of any console shooter, ever. It's one of my favorite online multiplayer games on console. Other than that, there is nothing about the CoD games that is particularly extraordinary.

Here's why CoD sucks: they have created a control scheme and online play so perfect that they find no reason to change it save for small tweaks. That's great, right? Mario, Zelda, and Halo all have franchises that have found formulaic success too. Here's the difference though: 'canon' Mario, Zelda, or Halo games get released what, every 2-4 years? A new CoD game comes out every year, without fail. The kicker is, none of them are any different from the previous installments. Each new game is essentially another boring campaign, either zombies or missions, and online play that has a handful of new maps and a slightly altered system for getting weapons, etc. CoD games have become a glorified map pack/expansion. They're easy to make because THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED ANYTHING. Yet every year without fail people will flock to the newest release, but why? They do it because of the multiplayer, because they don't want to be left with the late-comers, the budget gamers, the people who only play that one installment of the series.

You could buy any one of the CoD games and you'd never have to buy another one again worrying if you're missing out or not, because you're not. The developers have caught their fans in a perfect trap: they love the games too much to realize they're being milked like cows for their money. You could belittle other franchise fanboys of the same thing, but CoD is worst of all. And the game fans love so much is fun, but it is far from ground-breaking or extraordinary from a gameplay standpoint. Can you think of one gameplay innovation the CoD games have brought in the last 4 years? None. They've been content with standardizing their controls and online play mechanics, but haven't taken any other leap. The only extraordinary thing about CoD is how much it racks up in sales every year.