8 quick ways to improve Call of Duty

January 22, 1:11 PMGames ExaminerDaniel Nations

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Call of Duty: World at War dusted the competition as 2008 closed out. In December, it actually had three versions (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii) in the top 20 according to the NPD. And yet, Call of Duty: World at War was not perfect. There are many areas that could be improved from better optimized maps to more bug hunting to remove exploits.

Here are eight suggestions for improving the game, most of which should be relatively easy to implement.

1. Clustered Hosts. That might not be the best way of saying it, but having the host end the session or the connection time out has no business being such a regular part of multiplayer. No one likes to see a match abandoned, especially if they are ahead 220-40 in Headquarters or up 3-1 in Search and Destroy. There is no reason why the host can't be clustered among the best connections so that a host leaving the game or having their connection fail won't spoil the fun for others.
2. Smart Respawn Placement. Few people like to spawn right in front of another player and only have time for a step or two before dying. While this might be inevitable -- and even part of the charm -- on a map like Dome, there's no reason for larger maps to have you respawn right in front of the enemy.
3. Bonus for Living. Except for modes like Search and Destroy, the game really doesn't care whether or not you live or die just so long as you take out a bunch of the enemy. It would be nice to see a bonus added for completing matches with few deaths to give people an incentive for honing up on their survival skills. This bonus should be contingent on a minimum number of kills, have different levels based on the kill-death ratio and be significant enough that people will want it without knocking the run-and-gun pray-and-spray tactic completely off the table.

4. Remove Martyrdom. One of those perks many players love to hate, Martyrdom runs a little counter to the idea of skillful play and accurate aiming being paramount for victory. Certainly, an experienced player learns to expect Martydom, but the cheap kills it gives for dying seem inappropriate in a game about killing others. I know many might like to see Juggernaut on the removal list too, but I think Juggernaut, Stopping Power and Double Tap even themselves out and, if you can aim quickly and accurately, they become moot whereas Martyrdom can sometimes spell the death of even the best players.
5. The Puppies of War. Let's face it, if you can get a 7 kill streak on a regular basis, you really don't need a huge advantage over other players -- you've got skill. The helicopter in Modern Warfare was a fine bonus. It was usually worth a kill or three, and other players had an acceptable defense in running for cover. Calling down the dogs of war can easily garner 4-6 kills, tends to be a bit more annoying than the helicopter, and worst of all, cuts the match short by having the top players reach max score even quicker. Future sequels in the Call of Duty series should look to those helicopters as a fine example of an appropriate bonus.
6. We Don't Need No Stinking Tanks. Vehicles are a nice addition, but not everyone likes to deal with them. It'd be great to see an option for non-vehicle versions of Team Deathmatch, Headquarters, etc. so that players can choose whether or not they want them in their upcoming match.

More about Call of Duty:


CoD: World at War Tips
CoD: World at War vs Modern Warfare
CoD: World at War Level Advancement Chart

7. Big Maps = Boring Maps. Maps will always be an important part of the game, so continuing to provide cool maps with lots of variety is a no-brainer. While most of the maps in World at War do just that, there are a few that cause me to cringe when they come up in the rotation. These are mostly due to their size being such that I think I'll spend more time running around looking for the enemy than shooting at them. And who wants to do that?
8. Cool New Perks. The ability to level up, get new weapons and get new perks is great carrot for wanting to stick around for one more match before dinner or going to bed. In fact, I hold this responsible for quite a few blurry mornings when I didn't get enough sleep. But World at War seemed to hang on Modern Warfare's coattails a bit too much in this department with only a few new perks being added. While I'd like to see Martyrdom axed, I wouldn't mind seeing a few new cool perks. How about one that lets you use a scope and a silencer? If you had to choose between that and getting stopping power, it might create a difficult decision. Or perhaps an acute hearing perk that magnifies footstep sounds by other players and negates Dead Silence? Or maybe a perk that lets you salvage explosives?

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