DAMN OS DAMN OS
  • Home
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Coming Soon
  • Blog
  • Request Generator
  • 0
How Sledgehammer Stepped In To Save Call Of Duty

How Sledgehammer Stepped In To Save Call Of Duty

By DAMN OS on April 4, 2022

  1. Home
  2. Features
  3. FPS
  4. Modern Warfare 3

(Image credit: Activision)

DNA Tracing

This article first appeared in PC Gamer magazine issue 364 in December 2021, as part of our ‘DNA Tracing’ series, where every month we delve into the lineages behind iconic games and studios. 

As you swim through the submerged Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with Delta Force, the headlamps of your submersible light up the side of a rusted gas tanker. Two faces stare back, from the logo of Schofield and Condrey Construction Ltd, a fictional company that has quite literally gone under. But there’s no time to linger: a Russian submarine is waiting to be commandeered in New York Harbor, and Modern Warfare 3 will instafail you for falling behind. 

Most wouldn’t know that the two faces belong to Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, the cofounders of Sledgehammer Games. This fleeting fanfare was all the studio would get as it made its debut at the heart of the biggest entertainment property in the world – and exerted huge influence over the concluding part of Modern Warfare’s water cooler campaign trilogy. 

It wasn’t the game Sledgehammer was supposed to make. Composed primarily from Dead Space veterans, the studio was set up within Activision to work on a third-person COD spin-off dubbed Fog of War. Set during America’s notorious entanglement with Vietnam, it’s easy to imagine how it might have applied the developer’s experience with claustrophobic horror to the tight tunnels of Cambodia. But just months into development, crisis hit Activision. Infinity Ward’s Jason West and Vince Zampella left the company in deeply acrimonious circumstances to make Titanfall – and a huge chunk of the Modern Warfare 2 team marched out with them. 

Modern Worry

(Image credit: Activision)

Infinity Ward was left with a gaping hole on its flank, and Sledgehammer filled the breach. As two acclaimed leaders and storytellers departed, two more walked in. Schofi eld and Condrey picked up the baton with the aim of tightening up a “sketchy” story. Modern Warfare 2’s campaign had been stuffed with brilliant Bond moments – the snowmobile jump, the favela rooftop chase – but in the pursuit of ever-bigger explosions, Infinity Ward appeared to have concussed its screenwriters. The Modern Warfare 3 team responded by paring back the number of playable characters and tying up loose ends with the elusive Russian ultranationalist, Makarov.

What they didn’t do was pare back the bombast. Modern Warfare 3 treats Europe’s oldest cities as a big toy set, toppling the Eiffel Tower and fi lling out the London Underground exclusively with terrorists in order to get away with a Tube crash that makes Skyfall’s equivalent look tame. At times this leads to tonal ugliness – it’s hard to grin through a blockbuster that treats a sentence like “All civilians at the Louvre are dead” as background radio chatter. But the best setpieces stick the landing, because they’re paired with moments of intimacy. You can’t help but laugh in delight as a US serviceman pushes his body right up against the wall of a cargo plane, dodging the dinghy you’re riding into the hold as enemy ships explode all around.

Ultimately, Sledgehammer can’t be blamed for Modern Warfare 3’s inherited failings. Infinity Ward had already escalated its ‘behind the headlines’ premise to world war, and not even Captain Price could strongarm the genie back into the bottle. Yet Sledgehammer had achieved a miracle – stepping so nimbly into the shoes of the most acclaimed developer in the FPS genre that nobody even noticed the switch. Players wouldn’t truly feel West and Zampella’s absence until Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Career Advancement

(Image credit: Activision)

While that disaster happened, Sledgehammer took the opportunity it had earned and then some: the chance to take ownership of a new Call of Duty sub-series. Naming it Advanced Warfare was a statement of intent. This would be the first COD in many years to have a clear purpose, highlighting America’s increasing dependency on private military companies. What if, it asked, creative differences led a US-funded yet stateless army to launch a coup?

It’s unfortunate that Sledgehammer chose Kevin Spacey to embody the PMC threat – what was once a prestige piece of casting is now a black mark against the game. But Advanced Warfare’s many performance captured scenes anchor its alluring premise, letting Schofield and Condrey deliver on their dream of a story-first COD – one in which moments of spectacle are accentuated by the downtime in-between. Moreover, these are places you want to spend downtime in. One mission, set among the duck egg blue domes of Santorini, is a striking reminder of the blockbuster’s capacity to take you away to the world’s most beautiful locations, even if just to hunt terrorists.

Advanced Warfare’s downfall lay in design. Even for Call of Duty, a series so linear it’s best treated as interactive theatre, this entry was notably restrictive – its failstates quick and frustrating should you dare to poke your rifle off your allotted path. Worse, the QTE that ended Modern Warfare 3 turned out to be dark portent, predicting sequences that resemble the command-following game Bop It!. Only in the campaign’s closing missions does Advanced Warfare’s exosuit begin to feel like a tool for freedom and expression.

World War 2.0

(Image credit: Activision)

Those faults were largely corrected in Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: WWII. In some senses it was a step back – conceptually less bold than Advanced Warfare, leaning into the familiar imagery of D-Day and French countryside firefights. But this was less a soft reboot of the original COD than the very first Medal of Honor – embracing espionage with a centrepiece infiltration that requires you to memorise your papers.

The fighting, too, recalls the classic PlayStation shooter – granting enemies a catalogue of staggering animations that makes encounters feel desperate and scrappy. Best of all, Sledgehammer folds everything back into the squad – scrapping health regeneration and pushing you to look to your AI teammates for health kits and ammo. That mechanical investment leads, soon enough, to emotional investment.

Since then, Schofield and Condrey have both left Sledgehammer – the former now working on a spiritual successor to Dead Space, and the latter setting up a new studio for 2K. Dozens of developers have followed them out the door, and for those who remember Infinity Ward’s exodus, it feels as if history could be repeating itself.

Then again: Sledgehammer’s new Call of Duty, Vanguard, is a post-WWII story about the hunt for Hitler’s fictional successor. The message seems clear: when history comes around again, it doesn’t have to happen exactly the same way.

Posted in Mix News.
Share

Online Generators Categories

  • All
  • Android (32)
  • Coming Soon (495)
  • iOS (32)

Online Generators Tags

Android Anti Ban Apple Cheat Cydia Games Google Play Hack Hacked iOS iOS 13 iOS 14 iOS 15 iPad iPhone iTunes jailbreak Mod No Human Verification No need to download No Survey Online Generator Review root Unlimited Update
PreviousManga Publisher Shueisha Establishes Game Company
NextStrengthen Your Deck With The Summoners War: Lost Centuria Update

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Posts

  • Update: Forza Horizon 5 Surpasses 6 Million Players During Launch Week
    November 15, 2021

    Update: Forza Horizon 5 Surpasses 6 Million Players During Launch Week

    Update, 11/15/21: Over 6 million people played Forza Horizon 5 in its launch week, according to Xbox marketing head and general manager Aaaron Greenberg.  Greenberg revealed this massive launch week number for Playground Studios’ latest open-world driving game on Twitter and he said the numbers are still growing. This news comes after Xbox head Phil …

  • Elden Ring: 15 Minutes Of Gameplay Showcases Open World Traversal, Boss Fights, And More
    November 7, 2021

    Elden Ring: 15 Minutes Of Gameplay Showcases Open World Traversal, Boss Fights, And More

    FromSoftware has released 15 minutes of Elden Ring gameplay and it features some of its open-world traversal in The Land Between, Souls-like combat, a healthy amount of death, and a look at some of the dungeons that await players within.  The entire showcase heavily emphasizes player choice when navigating the world of Elden Ring. Unlike previous …

  • ‘Genshin Impact’ Version 2.4 Update Is Out Now With New Characters, Outfits, The Enkanomiya Map, And More
    January 5, 2022

    ‘Genshin Impact’ Version 2.4 Update Is Out Now With New Characters, Outfits, The Enkanomiya Map, And More

    The long-awaited major version 2.4 update for Genshin Impact (Free) is out now worldwide on iOS, Android, PS5, PS4, and PC platforms following pre-installation going live a few days ago. If you’ve not played Genshin Impact in a while, read about the last update here. Genshin Impact 2.4 – Fleeting Colors in Flight adds the …

  • NHL 22 Review – Superstar Letdown
    October 26, 2021

    NHL 22 Review – Superstar Letdown

    Every team depends on its star players to be difference-makers. They’re the ones fans look to when the pressure’s on to make the play and get the win. The problem is star players don’t always live up to their promise, and when there’s not enough supplemental talent around them, a team can crash quickly to …

  • Destiny 2 Players Missing Major Story Reveal Because Cutscene Won't Play
    February 16, 2022

    Destiny 2 Players Missing Major Story Reveal Because Cutscene Won’t Play

    Screenshot: Bungie / Kotaku Today, after months of waiting, Destiny 2 players were finally treated to Season of the Lost’s big reveal, setting up next week’s massive Witch Queen expansion. At least, that is, the players who could get the new cutscene to work. For everyone else, the only way to partake in the big …

  • Hit A Home Run In MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2022 Today
    March 16, 2022

    Hit A Home Run In MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2022 Today

    We hope you’re ready to grab your bat, head to the pitch, and strike some home runs as Electronic Arts releases MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2022. If you’re a fan of the mobile games series, you know for the most part what to expect, but, as ever, the developer has added some new features to …

  •  

    • Home
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Coming Soon
    • Blog
    • Request Generator
  • Categories

    • iOS and Android Game Reviews, Articles, and more (28)
    • Mix News (7,362)
    • Recently Updated (57)
  • Recent Posts

    • (Updated) The Most Exciting Games You Can Pre-Register For On Android Right Now
    • Cyberpunk 2077: CDPR Dev Says There’s Still Work To Be Done, Reaffirms Expansions Are On The Way
    • Elden Ring Fans Restore Cut Quests Where You Get Everyone Drunk, Learn Their Secrets
    • Best IPhone Game Updates: ‘The Oregon Trail’, ‘Fire Emblem Heroes’, ‘Tiny Tower’, ‘Subway Surfers’, And More
    • Don’t Sleep On The Citizen Sleeper Release Date
  • Archives

    • April 2022 (400)
    • March 2022 (1211)
    • February 2022 (1136)
    • January 2022 (1128)
    • December 2021 (1142)
    • November 2021 (1258)
    • October 2021 (1123)
    • May 2021 (19)
    • April 2021 (4)
    • March 2021 (17)
    • February 2021 (2)
    • January 2021 (7)
  •  

    Marvel Puzzle Quest Hack, Mod, Cheat & Tool (2022)

  •  

    Marvel Puzzle Quest Hack, Mod, Cheat & Tool (2022)

  • © 2023 DAMN OS, All rights reserved.
DAMN OS • Hacks, Mods, Bots & Cheats For IOS & Android.
  • Home
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Coming Soon
  • Blog
  • Request Generator