Call of Duty: A Franchise Retrospective and Analysis 

MW2019 best campaign, best Multiplayer. Your complaints about multiplayer is invalid. You dont know how to move, you dont know the maps, nor do you know how to flank the enemies, or use equipment to kill campers. You got so wrapped up in the single player because you overthought the political bullshit instead of just enjoying it. TLDR: get good, liberal.

I'm an old lady and don't know anything about video games. The RU-vid algorithm sent this to me in the middle of the night. It was so well done I stayed up and watched the whole thing. You are a very talented young man.

Dude i LITERALLY search "Call of duty saga: analisys" I found THIS video that was uploaded 10 hours ago. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks.

My Grandad and I loved playing the old COD games back in the day, he was the one who got me into video games,unfortunately he passed away a month ago at 87 years old.His last COD game he played was WWII. Before he passed, he managed to complete Sniper Elite V, even while dealing with his arthritis! Even though I helped him in some sections, but most of the time it was all him. He’s a true gamer till the end and he was one of the bestest friends I have ever known. RIP Grandad, we will meet again, and I hope you are up there playing every video game in heaven, save me a seat, I will be there in maybe 70 years, if I’m lucky.

We disagree on ALOT, but this was an amazing watch and incredibly put together you did an amazing job.

This is what I love about RU-vid man. We dont need to wait on a documentary company to produce a professional video on a particular subject we are passionate about, we can literally do it ourselves. Great video man, excellent analysis!

In WAW the Japanese were designed to stand out in gameplay compared to the Nazis. The Japanese ambush, suprise, and rush you. While the Germans hold up with machine gun nests and are generally more cautious. The Japanese in WW2 used a variety of tactics to surprise their enemy, faking their deaths, using traps, and hiding in the grass to name a few. It helps immerse the player and reinforces the sporadic and violent chaos of war. The game also uses heavy violence and gore to try to put yourself in the boots of an average soldier, war is cruel, war is messy, and it represents the morale-killing events soldiers mighty experienced in the battles portrayed.

I always love bringing up this anecdote: I spent so much time playing MW2 with my best friend in high school, sometimes we'd take turns playing multiplayer so we wouldn't have to use split screen. One day while visiting, he had apparently gotten MW3 and was playing it the whole time I was hanging out and I didn't even notice it was a different game until he pointed it out. I figured if I can't even tell the difference between MW2 and MW3 then there's no reason for me to buy it.

This is honestly still a channel that aged well. There was passion in each topic, and you never sold out. I have upmost respect for you to this day.

1:14:27 It’s been 12 years and I just now found out Reznov will acknowledge you no scoping enemies

The effort on this video is unreal mate hundred percent deserves a like

This is a great video and fantastic analysis, but I think with WaW it just seemed like you were LOOKING for “problematic” things, its not racism just by depicting a country’s military correctly

I just finished this video, took me probably 6 sessions because of my time commitments. Just wanted to say a massive thank you for creating this and providing an eloquent run through of the series. Hearing about all of them back to back really put into context how far the series has come

The fact that there are still people playing the original cod games' multi-player is truly impressive

I really appreciate the fact that you cover the classic Call of Duty games as well unlike most people who pretends anything before COD4 isn't important or good. COD2 to this day is my favorite in the franchise simply because it doesn't have an actual story, it just wants to show interactive authentic WW2 battles. And it does a fantastic job in terms of immersion and making you feel like an average joe especially in Veteran difficulty.

I have to say you totally underrated Big Red One It focused on small scale tasks in bigger picture feel. It also took people to areas and places no game period has taken people since. Italy and Vichy France got tons of coverage content and really made you feel like your as close to WW2 perspective as one can be post WW2. And the player plot was amazing in it. Tons of armor and planes too. It deserved tons more recognition.

After watching the zombies analysis first and then watching this it's actually very interesting to see your opinions on each title's version of the mode changed based on how you experienced the node i.e. casual vs veteran. Anyway, great content!

Having seen the immense amount of effort you have put into this video, I’m happy to say that this video was an absolute pleasure to watch from start to finish. I particularly enjoyed hearing about your own past experiences with the CoD games as an analysis on its own own and of this length can become quite sterile and soulless. The part about the silent MW2 lobbies hit me right in the feels :( A video about CoD zombies would be super cool! I’m looking forward to see what you come out with next!

Hello everyone. Thanks for watching. This video is a bit older now but I was clicking on it to check in on some comments and got like 10 mid roll ads in the first hour. I think that is absurd, but YT studio isn't letting me change it. I turned off ads for the video but some people are still getting them. I hate the idea of YT deciding where my ads go in this 3 1/2 hour long video so I just turned em off. If you still get them, let me know. Anyway, if you see this, love you bye

They arent my favorite games, but they are some of the most fun experiences ive ever had. I will never forget sleeping over a friends house and playing MW2 all night and hitting a crazy cross the map throwing knife kill. Thank you for this video!

I graduated in 2013 as well and that summer is so special to me as well because of bo2 and mlg events. I absolutely fell in love with comp COD that year and I wish i could relive it again to some extent. It was just amazing.

Great video though I vehemently disagree with the pseudo dislike for WaW. I too have played cod since the very first one and responded inversely to the video creator here I guess. I found the new tone, gore etc... supremely refreshing and much more realistic than previously takes on the setting. BTW people hate to admit this but it’s true, why do stereotypes crop up in society? Because to an uncomfortable degree they tend to have truth too them so I just don’t understand how cod was racist here. The Japanese really did have scary and fanatical devotion to the emperor to the point where nearly every last soldier and civilian had to be ruthlessly cut down in places like Saipan and Okinawa. The Japanese really DID lose previously unheard of in amounts of men (to the western mind) In obviously futile bonsai charges and Kamikaze attacks. The Japanese were absolutely known and if anything more likely than not to commit horrific war crimes on civilians, soldiers and prisoners of war. Such as cutting off certain private quarters of dead diggers (Australian’s) as well as G.I’s and shoving them in their dead mouths so as to enrage their comrades when they were found. I won’t even mention the unforgivable acts the Japanese committed toward Chinese civilians. There’s many theories as to why they were like this, the most likely being high commands way of putting the Japanese public/military in a place where they understood no surrender as the only choice given they had brutalized their opponents so much that no mercy would be given. Nonetheless though my point is that these are stereotypes because that’s how the pacific war was. If anything I thought waw shy’d away from the climate of absolute racial hatred both the Americans and Japanese had for each other at that time. It’s why the pacific war isn’t as glorified today as the European theater. The brutality and cruelty was much more akin to the Eastern front or a pseudo Vietnam rather than the image of the allies morally liberating a French village.

1:13:44 The voice clip you're talking about is probably the one where he screams "Sanitäter!". The dude is calling out for a medic, basically. My most memorable sound across the early games is that one weird death noise that first appeared in CoD2 and found its way to CoD4.

This took me down the rabbit hole of my childhood. Literally this unlocks me memories of staying up late middle school playing zombies with the bros. Planning how we would reach the next round. Man this is timeless. Even looking at missions i forgot i even played !! Absolutely speechless…thank you man !!

This is one of the best video essays I've ever seen and the fact that I sat over three hours through it is testament to that. Quite a spectacular feat actually haha. Well done, certainly earned that sub 👍

Stopping my life for three hour’s then

1:23:00 It's really refreshing to see someone play zombies without using the tried and true high round strategies, or having someone run in circles for hours. Just sitting in a hallway crouched shooting zombies with an MP40 is really what zombies has always been.

Watched in 2 sittings-- the last half maybe a month later once it came on autoplay this morning and I remembered. Really enjoyed this analysis. It was nice to be reminded of the nostalgia while not feeling crazy for (mostly) walking away from COD a while ago (just based on life circumstances; no console or PC between 2014 and 2019). You dove into some thematic depths I wasn't expecting, and for that you get a sub my man.

I'm sad this video is over. Phenomenal job, brother. I know how much work this stuff takes and I am in awe of your dedication, level of detail, and at some points, vulnerability. I appreciate the apparent adoration for a franchise we love, even during the points in which you were criticizing it. Thank you for the work you put into this.

I haven’t finished this video yet, but I’m happy to FINALLY see CoD3 get some love. That’s my nostalgic, favorite old CoD that I’d go back to if I could.

The little German I do know comes from my time with COD, and as I kid I specifically looked up the translation just to understand the intentions of enemy AI since they actively call out their tactics or where they spot opposing soldiers to know if they're targeting the PC. There are a couple specific recognizeable German VA lines that come from COD 2 and were repurposed in both COD 3 and World at War which is why they're recognizeable. The "Sanitater" ("Sally tater") callout is the German soldiers calling for a medic, and is triggered as a reaction voice line whenever a nearby fellow German soldier gets killed which is precisely why you hear it so many times what with you mowing through so many Wehrmacht troops in the game.

man i had to give this a like and subscribe, this was a phenomenal video essay on the video game series I grew up on. Starting all the way back on COD 2 on the 360 i fell in love instantly and was a consistent fan player and try hard through and through we except infinite warfare lol. Either way great job again David the time money and dedication to the perfection of this video blew away all expectations

21:54 I was literally just born while you were 1v1ing, the joy in your voice recollecting ab this specifically is heartwarming for me. In 20 years I hope I find myself reminiscing with my friends of 1v1ing in Fortnite’s “playground” before creative. Crazy how video games can create some of your most valuable memories, almost brings a tear to my eye. I lost likely won’t be able to watch all of this video but I salute you sir and can only hope I can have such a work ethic as yourself in the future🙌🦾

Really enjoyed this video, i disagree with what you said about mw3 and mw 2019 but still really loved this , i listened to it as a podcast

This took a tonn of effort. I feel like I'm reliving my late middleschool years and my high-school years. World at war and black ops 2 are still my all time favorites of the series. World At War for campaign, and BO2 for multiplayer. Those were the glory days for sure

how i’ve only just found this video blows my mind, this is going to be a great watch. The effort in this video ALREADY, blows my mind. Thank you for this man

"A mascot that neither Treyarch or Sledgehammer managed to recreate." *Looks at Mason, Woods and Menendez*

As a long time hard core zombies fan. It is very interesting to listen to how a more casual fan sees the maps. Love the video. You are an amazing video essay creator. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to watch more.

I’d like to say that COD3 and COD2: the big red 1 are insanely underrated at least from a story perspective and music was fantastic. Hell I’d go and say they should’ve been made into movies

I was laughing when in W@W you were talking about the Germans yelling ‘sally tator’. I remember that and ‘indie kong’. It has space in my brain from playing so much cod 3 and W@W growing up. They use those sound bites 1 more time in the Nova 6 missions in black ops. They got their money’s worth in those.

I’ve never seen this channel before, but I got a rather nice Lego Concorde for Christmas and needed some background noise. This video came up and I’m happy it did. Funnily enough, the video ended as soon as I finished the plane. Great video

I don't see WaW's potrayal of Americans hate against the Japanese as racism. It's more so that these are battle-hardened Marines who've spent years fighting the Japanese, whom many that fearlessly fought like animals in WW2, have grown to hate them. I mean, Miller witnessed a Marine POW have his eye burned out with a cigarette, countless traps that ambushed Marines, and both Roebuck and Polonsky witnessed their Sergeant Sullivan, who they looked up to, stabbed right in front of them. The opposite is actually in the Soviet campaign. Sure, the massacre at Stalingrad was a good reason to hate the Nazis but every Soviet throughout the campaign shows absolute brutality and hatred against the Germans. The Soviets will burn surrendering Germans and shoot a POW begging for mercy. The only exception is Chernov who is mocked for his pacifist nature by Reznov who tries to teach him how to be a soldier. What's more interesting is the character Chernov He doesn't understand war like everyone else and represents the silent minority in the Red Army. He refers to shooting a POW as 'murder' and not war, horrified by the rockets tearing Berlin apart, sees no point in killing dying Germans. He even records your actions and his thoughts on you will be revealed at the end varying on whether you are a hero or not after he dies. The purpose of the American campaign was actually a new style of gameplay. The Japanese fight WAY different than the Germans in WaW. The Germans fight more generic like in previous titles, but the Japanese are more aggressive and determined. They will often ambush with traps, play dead, hide in the grass, Kamikaze, and at the end of the game, they will lure Roebuck or Polonsky into a surrender trap just to blow themselves up (which justifies their hatred, had they shot them they would still be alive) followed by 3 waves of Banzai chargers Treyarch wanted the player to relive the horrors of the Pacific Theatre, which was way more intense and bloody than the European and African theatres and were more dangerous than German soldiers. The Americans and Russians openly hate their enemies and is the only game in the series to portray this level of sadism and hatred. You literally called it racist because the Japanese are the only minority faction in the game.

Just wanted to say, thank you for providing your insight. I haven't finished the video yet (halfway) but the fact you are willing to work this hard and put together a video of this quality and insight is incredible. Thanks for sharing this. I hope this video provides you a lot of reward for your hard work! Cheers from Canada bud 🍁

Dude I watched this months ago and I was telling my buddy about it and I got so excited to rewatch. Phenomenal job man

I hope you’re doing well my man. I started playing cod when I was 10 years old playing World at War (cod5). I’ve fallen deeply in love with the franchise for well over half of my life. Thank you so much for this video. This has been such an amazing trip down memory lane. Thank you for all of your effort.

You are going to have an astounding impact on the future of commentary and Retrospective Analyses on RU-vid. This video is phenomenal and you are going places.

I've watched this and your borderlands retrospect back to back. It is 3am now. I regret nothing. 3:56am at the end. This was really enjoyable. I hope you read this, you are an actual legend.

Bro I'm convinced your essays on GTA 4 and RDR are some of the best analysis on those games on RU-vid and I'd love to see you talk about Outer Wilds, the space exploration game. There's so much for you to talk about regarding that game and its design. Thx for the good stuff

David, I have to admit that your view on COD4: Modern Warfare is a very interesting one and one I somewhat thought about when playing the game and I did think about it deeply on one occasion. This video of yours is really well done and I’m happy I found this. Thank you.

Great video. One nitpick: 46:20 5 shermans = 1 tiger is a common myth that is not really true. Sure, Tiger Tanks were kinda strong, but not that strong, and the Shermans were much better than usually given credit for.

«I don’t expect anyone to watch this video all at once» Me knowing dam well I'm going to watch the whole thing in a row: Yeah, that would be crazy.

Watched all of this during an acid trip. 10/10 video. Really loved your in depth analysis on each CoD and how it has progressed throughout the years. BO2/BO3/MW2019 are probably my top 3.

I bought the original call of duty for PC like you did my friend. Right when it came out. I was a clan leader (Red Army)…the nostalgia from this video is actually brining a tear to my eye. I remember getting on the landline phone with my friends/ clan members before getting xfire. It was a simpler happier time. Thanks so much for this video man!

Between you and NCG I'll never lay in bed unable to sleep again. Sometimes I am unable to turn my brain off at days end. These videos keep my mind active enough that I forget to worry or process life as I slip into the game world while being no stress which allows me to sleep. Thanks man.

You have the best videos essays on game theory, The most in depth ones. great work,keep it up.

As a Zombies heavy COD player, this really gives me a perspective on multiplayer and the history of older COD games. Great video all in all! (Watched it in one sitting while playing Cold War)

Holy shit. Thank you SO much for the insane effort that must've gone into making this video! I came here to learn more about the CoD series (I knew absolutely nothing and, tbh, had some unflattering preconceived notions in my head), about what makes it appealing to its fans & some criticisms even fans might have, and boy did you deliver! Plus I found your way of talking about these games super enjoyable to listen to. I could feel your love (and occasional frustration) through the screen. I got here because I watched a LP of the MW2 reboot and - yes, like many many others - fell in love with Ghost. He single-handedly made me decide to try and learn more about the franchise. I honestly didn't think I would have so much fun learning. :D Thank you very, very much for 3.5 educational hours, told from a perspective I hadn't considered before!

I feel I must leave my thoughts on this here. What an incredible undertaking and analysis from start to finish. I have loved every one of your extensive analysis videos and this one is no exception, but only now do I believe truly what goes into it and can appreciate the effort. Thank you again for another incredible work of art.

I always look forward to these longform videos of yours, and I like many others very much appreciate the work you put into them. Keep it up, David!

Finest Hour was my VERY first COD game.. It's cool to see it get some notice as I used to love the game. Little did I know there was already an original COD game on PC. My next one was Big Red One and that was FANTASTIC

Just from the first 6 minutes alone, I can already tell you are my kind of guy. This is my first time seeing your content, and let me say; clear, concise and respectable is the impression I got. I have a strong suspicion im gonna enjoy the next 4 hours lol.

Man I'm a sucker for documentary type videos like these. Keep going at it, this community needs more people like you to give depth to the amazing design of our various beloved series.

Love the fact you take time and put 100% effort in your videos.

Really appreciate your work man.. stayed until the very end of the video without skipping. Took me a whole week to finish your video..

Your analysis of Cod 4 is absolutely spot on and summaries my feeling perfectly.

Another wonderful video. Thank you so much for spending the incredible amount of time, effort, and planning it must have taken to get to this point in time. This work is without a doubt both a love letter to the games we've played before and now, as well as a true aspect of just how passionate you are in your work. If anyone deserves more recognition for their work on this platform, it would be you. I am indefinitely glad that I found you when I did. I wish you the best, and we will all be there to see just what lies in store for you next!

the zombies retrospective sounds great! this video was incredible enough

There were a surprising amount of laugh out loud moments in this 3.5 hour video. Particularly the juxtaposition at 2:25:20 when those asinine exoskeletons pop out after a moment of serious self-reflection. You were able to transcend the self-indulgent writer-ey wordiness of your script. No one else could have done it better. Awesome job dude. Can't imagine how many hours you put into this

I miss the old, simple ps2 cod games.

I like games like soma; things that make you think and question everything. It does in its own way, but I’ve never been able to play it effectively enough to experience the story myself. This is a wonderful analysis. Many thanks for the time and effort you’ve put into this.

WOW! This retrospective is so well done, I'm just speechless! Well done sir 👏💯

Now this is how you do a video essay! Started listening to this to fall asleep, but I was so pulled into it I paused it to properly pay attention in its entirety. Great work here. May the algorithm be in your favor

I remember playing the first Call of Duty as a kid and the Stalingrad speech getting me truly amped up and ready for the upcoming battle

OG MP CoD UO was my childhood man and it required so much skill. So fun.

Watching pieces of my childhood...I feel so old now. All of these games we play about war took on new meaning when I joined the military. I remember when the devs used to tell you in front of the camera and not online that these projects were out of love and reverence for these conflicts and those who make that ultimate sacrifice. I miss games being able to make me stop and really think sometimes. Now it's all fever dreams of bright colors, explosions and numbers... it puts things in a whole new light when you have to learn about things like war, standing in their boots. I hope they wake up and find passion in the craft again. I would be lying if I said that the games, movies, shows, history, and art I interacted with as a child...didn't help durect my will to do something larger than myself. Glad you made this video.

Big red one was the first cod game i ever beat all the way through and that airplane mission still gets me going i play it every month or so for the nostalgia vibes now gonna play it again

Susan Wabbajack better boost this in recommended because you earned it. This is some of the best commentary on the CoD franchise alongside Reycevick. And that’s not just because of the effort put into the video, anyone can do that. You actually made something truly worth experiencing.

3 n a half hour anLysis. This is beautiful work man! You are amazing!!

This video hacked the algorithm cuz I fall asleep with a different video every night but wake up to this lol

As an older very casual player (I’ve only completed a couple campaigns, and prestige’d once with my lil bro’s help)- I really enjoyed this video. It reminds me of my dad making my brother write a little history report before allowing him to play the latest cod. Thank you for your work and perspective.

I’m a old cod player. I definitely put the most hours into the original and it’s expansion then any other cod game and played it until about 2009. Base assault was my jam. So many good memories playing that game

You: no on will watch this in one sitting. Me, working night shifts: watches entire video 👍

I so wish i could play COD 1 for the first time again.

What an incredible video, great work my man! A pleasure to watch

Keep up the great work! I am one of those Ghost fans, it was my first Cod game. So many great memories of playing it with my brother. I also am glad to see love for Infinite Warfare, I love the single player!

Dave, thank you so much for all the superhuman effort put into these three and a half hours, I cannot gather enough words to cpngratulate you on this. Absolutely enjoyed every hour of the commentary!

You went in-depth right to the beginning. Great video I have to watch this in parts.

This video has been playing right after I fall asleep so i have “watched” it three times now

Thank you, so much, for this video. It truly helped me out a lot in determining which games to go back and play. I started with MW3, never picked one up again until CoD mobile, which convinced me to get the current game. This vid was right on time. Thank you again for your effort

Call of Duty means a lot to me. I remember starting with Finest Hour. I loved that game. I remember hooking up my PlayStation to an Ethernet cable for the first time, just to “try out” online multiplayer in World at War. I remember borrowing CoD4 and preordering MW2. I remember buying Black Ops 1 and getting on the first night and seeing all my friends playing together, which was rare at the time, on Radiation. This was a great video. You can tell where I fall on the best time for call of duty. I’m the guy that thinks CoD4 until MW3 was the best era. Anyways, great video.

Epic video David! this was allot of work wow. I hope to hear some gameplay, im just 30 minutes in and kinda missing that.

Brother I have been looking for someone to put something like this into words that remind u of what they were trying to do with the original games and not just the nostalgia but I’m glad u can look on it with bot pair of eyes good on u we need more ppl that understand it’s a game but also telling the story of what theses real ppl went through back then amazing job

this is unbelievable you are insane you need so much for recognition how i don’t think anyone has put this much effort into a video

Watched it in one sitting :) loved the vid

About 5 minutes into the video and I already subscribed just because anyone with this level of dedication has to make quality content

Holy crap, good job. Your effort is clearly in display. Congratulations, your effort has payed out, this video is awesome!

I fucking LOVE THIS video and I LOVE YOU. You've gained yourself another subscriber. Don't stop making videos man.

On WaW, the savagery of the Japanese is no myth. Historically, the accounts of war crimes on their part are numerous and cruel at best; making it also more scary the fact that they didn't need an ideology like Nazism to achieve it. So the "lack of nuance" is just how the Americans at the time viewed the Japanese, which would not have been strangers to the violence displayed in the game. The campaign of WaW makes the Pacific theater quite harsh and difficult, without any meaning unlike the Eastern theater, but it only serves the purpose of giving us the mindset of the soldiers of the time, which was an extremely violent war on strange islands far from home for some greater geopolitical goal.

Amazing work you've done here. Mindblowing. This is an anthem to CoD.

Found this video years late obviously but yeah, I played Big Red One and the first two cods on our old dell home desktop online. loved it as a kid