Last week Activision and Infinity Ward revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and despite them reusing a subtitle from a past entry in the series, this year's game is shaping up to be one of the franchise's most ambitious releases ever. The title will serve as a soft reboot for the series and the game's campaign is said to focus on providing a more mature and realistic portrayal of the events it is drawing inspiration from.
With the Call of Duty franchise seeming to adopt a new gritter tone, we decided to put together a list of the 10 historical periods the franchise should explore next.
10 10. The Vietnam War
While Call of Duty games in the past have had parts of their campaigns set during the Vietnam War, there has never been a game solely dedicated to portraying the conflict. Having taken place over almost 20 years, there are an enormous number of battles and events that could be explored through the franchise's multi-character style of storytelling.
Additionally, the extremely controversial nature of many of the war's most infamous moments seems to be precisely what Call of Duty's new provocative and gritty approach to violence is looking to represent.
9 9. The American Revolutionary War
The American Revolution has been the inspiration for several films, books, and TV shows, but a surprisingly small number of video games have tried to use the setting. This is likely due to the military technology of the time being hard to translate into fun combat mechanics, but if one of Activision's studios did manage to do this the period is packed with events that could make for an interesting Call of Duty game.
Especially if the developers would look beyond the standard American and British perspectives of the conflict and also incorporate the groups of French, Spanish, and German soldiers who played a part in the revolution.
8 8. The Korean War
When it comes to media representation, The Korean War often feels like the secondary Cold War conflict when compared to the Vietnam War. Whether this is due to the shorter length of the war or the fact it occurred earlier is unclear, but there is still plenty that a new Call of Duty title could use as inspiration.
Additionally, from a gameplay perspective, the game would likely be very popular with longtime Call of Duty fans as many of the WWII weapons they are familiar were also used during the Korean War.
7 7. The Seven Years' War
Outside of the World Wars, it is hard to find a conflict that covered as many parts of the globe as the Seven Years' War. Battles took place in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, meaning a Call of Duty story would have plenty of moments to pull from.
As with any game set this far in the past, one major issue would be how to mechanically represent the weaponry of the time in a fun and engaging way, but the much slower and deliberate pace of combat could also lead to much more intense and dramatic encounters.
6 6. The War of 1812
Call of Duty has always been a series based around set pieces that create moments that stick in a player's memory long after they have finished the game, and it is this focus on memorable scenes that would make the War of 1812 the perfect setting for a new game.
In particular, a recreation of the Burning of Washington would be extremely powerful and reminiscent of the Battle of Washington D.C. that was seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as it would include many of the same locations.
5 5. The Napoleonic Wars
Just like the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars would make for an excellent Call of Duty setting due to the sheer number of locations and armies that were involved in the fighting. Especially when moments like the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's invasion of Russia are very well known due to their historical significance.
Additionally, there is a great deal of storytelling potential in getting to see the rise and fall of a figure as prominent as Napoleon from the perspectives of the regular soldiers who fought for and against the French.
4 4. The Bosnian War
This War of Mine showed gamers that there is plenty of compelling and emotional storytelling to be found from the Bosnian War, and Activision would be wise to learn from 11 Bit Studios and explore this underrepresented conflict.
Call of Duty would also be able to look beyond the Siege of Sarajevo that was seen in This War of Mine and capture more of the moments that defined the war throughout the game's campaign. Additionally, the time period of the conflict would make it easy for the developers to put the weaponry used into their game.
3 3. The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses is a collection of civil wars that occurred between two prominent houses over control of the throne of England and playing through the conflict in a Call of Duty campaign could be very interesting. If you need any convincing of the wars storytelling potential, you should know that it served as an inspiration for Game of Thrones.
It would also be exciting from a gameplay perspective to see Call of Duty explore an era of history without firearms. This would likely be a difficult challenge for the developers, but recent titles like Mordhau have proved that fun first person Medieval combat is possible.
2 2. The Hundred Years' War
Just like the Wars of the Roses, The Hundred Years' War would be a very interesting gameplay challenge for the Call of Duty franchise as the conflict also takes place during the Medieval Ages. The developers would potentially also have to adapt over a hundred years of weapons into their game, but doing this could provide quite a bit of variety for players.
In terms of story, there is a ton of potential in the Hundred Years' War as the conflict involved many of Western Europe's kingdoms and took place over the course of five generations.
1 1. The First World War
For how many times the Call of Duty series has explored the Second World War it is quite surprising that the franchise has never delved into the First World War. The conflict offers just a much in terms of story, and much of the imagery that could be used is very iconic.
Additionally, it would be interesting to see what Call of Duty's version of World War I's infamous trench warfare would look like, and fans would even still get to play with some of their favorite weapons from past titles set during World War II.