Bungie: Halo can learn from Call of Duty 4

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Aug 6th 2008 at 6:00PM }

"We have a lot to learn from their success too, they did some very innovative things to keep people going and their experience-rewards system was something that we paid a lot of attention to." Is that any way to talk about your main Xbox Live competitor? Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Bungie's Lead AI Programmer, Damian Isla, had quite a few nice things to say about Infinity Ward's ridiculously successful shooter, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Isla joins a chorus of reviewers in praising the game's single-player campaign for its tight pacing and scripting, praising the developers for doing "a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand." Though Isla notes that Halo 3's gameplay is heavily dependent on simulation (meaning in-game physics and reactions, not reality), it still "has a lot to learn" from Call of Duty 4's tunnel of fun approach.

With Infinity Ward's next project rumored to be a sci-fi shooter, it seems the studios might soon be trading places outside of the Xbox Live rankings.

Tags: Bungie, Call-of-Duty-4, COD4, FPS, Halo, Halo-3, Halo3, Infinity-Ward, Xbox-Live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maverick Saturn @ Aug 6th 2008 6:05PM

True that, COD4 was like a roller coaster of events, I didn't get the same feeling when playing Halo 3, I've never much been a fan of Halo since they messed up with Halo 2, but don't get me wrong, Halo 3 wasn't in my view a bad game, just didn't stimulate me enough, the multiplayer is what kept me going really :(

Saying that, I hope all shoot em ups can recreate the experience I had in COD4. Games like Resistance, MOH, Killzone, Red Faction, I'm looking at you all, you're all based on war, I expect to feel like I'm in war.

Tom18230 @ Aug 6th 2008 6:17PM

Yes, because we all want COD4 clones..

UltimateQ @ Aug 6th 2008 6:20PM

All FPS are clones of each other. It is a working formula. That is why I haven't really played an FPS since RTCW. Team Fortress is an exception, but I don't play that as active as I did on RTCW.

And yes I've played CoD4, it had good single player, but fell short on multi-player. Now all of you fanboys are gonna vote me down and attempt to argue with me because it seems that I am outside of the popular opinion.

Maverick Saturn @ Aug 6th 2008 6:24PM

I didn't say clones, I'm talking about the immersion, the action going on around, how you function as an idividual and in a team.

I don't expect Resistance for example to be a COD4, but I would like the same action movie effect. COD4 was described as an action movie type game, there was lots going on, explosions here there and everywhere, bullets hailing everywhere etc etc, thats exciting in a game, even if its linear, it just makes that single player experience more fun to play and it actually felt like the WAR it aimed to create, so far Killzone 2 and gears 2 look that way, but Halo 3, resistance 1 didn't give me that, which wasn't a bad thing, just would have been preferred, ya know?

Maverick Saturn @ Aug 6th 2008 6:31PM

Agreed, thats where Halo makes up for things, in multiplay and where COD4 fell short. COD4 is the sorta game that is made for the single player experience, the war effect and action represented makes it a great storyline type of experience, however, it is difficult to recreate this in multiplayer, Halo can bore me half to death on campaign mode, but once I get online I'm having bundles of fun. Thats where they differ.

Duder @ Aug 6th 2008 6:08PM

Infinity Ward's next COD game will be in Vietnam. I don't know if that's their next game, but 'Nam is definitely their next COD entry.

ratm @ Aug 6th 2008 6:34PM

Treyarch mind you.

gore on the floor @ Aug 6th 2008 6:38PM

Where's this coming from?

Obie @ Aug 6th 2008 7:13PM

Out of his ass.

Duder @ Aug 6th 2008 7:40PM

No, Treyarch's next game is WWII again, remember? As for the Infinity Ward bit, I was with a friend when he took a survey about a couple different games, the other being the new Red Faction. He agreed to their NDA, but I didn't.

Obie @ Aug 6th 2008 8:09PM

Suuuure! And I am really Shiggy Miyamoto.

dustandechoes91 @ Aug 6th 2008 6:08PM

The best thing to learn from cod4?

Go multiplatform.

F1 & The day I beat Ghost and Goblins @ Aug 6th 2008 6:13PM

I myself like Halo 3 Better mainly because its very versatile in terms of Game types and Forged Maps.

MKA @ Aug 6th 2008 6:31PM

I will get around to reading this.... but I really just wanted to say is I love the Photoshopping on this one.

Wise Guy @ Aug 6th 2008 6:33PM

I own COD4 but could never really get into the online. All my friends who were former Halo players have since moved onto COD4 or other online shooters. I'm addicted to the scope of Halo. I played the crap out of slayer matchmaking but am now finding Objective and Big Team Battles to be even more fun. It's insane. There was HEAVY capture the flag with weapons and vehicles (tanks) on the map. There is something about vehicles and taking a transport out while on foot that gives Halo that WOW factor... then being able to go back and watch your WOW moments. Great fun! Lot's to do.

ice~ @ Aug 6th 2008 6:33PM

I can't remember a single event from COD4's story, but i can name a plethora of events from HALO 3's, it's wierd im not saying COD4 is bad, but the story just doesnt stick for me, teh only thing i remember, is the nuke being launched...bout it

Obie @ Aug 6th 2008 6:45PM

Are you kidding me? COD4 had a bunch of "holy $#!t" moments for me...Halo 3 well...not so much.
To each their own I guess.

tmacairjordan87 @ Aug 6th 2008 7:23PM

Damn I guess I really hit my head harder than I thought earlier today, because I know I did not just see someone say Halo's story is better than anything, let alone COD 4.

LaughingTarget @ Aug 6th 2008 7:48PM

If you can't remember this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2S3N0uSSho

You didn't play COD4. Poor Sgt. Jackson.

Mike-453 @ Aug 6th 2008 7:53PM

Lot's of people are really into Halo's story, making them instantly biased towards Halo 3, mysefl included. I find Halo 3's chain of events far more interesting, but still admire CoD4 for how amazing the thrillride of events are presented.

Opinions...

Maverick Saturn @ Aug 6th 2008 7:59PM

Lol, I barely remember anything from Halo 3 campaign since I've been playing multiplayer mode, maybe I will play again one day to recall those memories, what I do remember is Halo 2 campaign, because it was boring, dull, confusing at times and Legendary mode was ridiculous ¬_¬

ice~ @ Aug 6th 2008 8:06PM

whoa I didn't say I prefered either story, personally I feel FPSs aren't big on stories, and they shouldn't be for a multitude of reasons. Ill bet there's more than one fps out there with a good story. I just buy the fps' for the online play, which I grow tired of eventually
but I'm not bashing halo3 or cod4 don't get me wrong

DangerMouse @ Aug 6th 2008 8:57PM

I thought Halo 1's story was brilliant. From jumping out of the ship, to going around to different places on a ring with very imaginative locales was very well done. The story wasn't obtrusive and boring the way they presented it in Halo 2, which i think is a terrible single player game. I haven't played Halo 3 yet, but after running the second one, i lost all interest in it.

LeadBoxx @ Aug 6th 2008 6:34PM

Well If they take something from COD4 I hope they follow Infinity Wards model for getting into a game. It takes forever for me and my friends to get into a match on HALO3, but when we switch to COD4 it happens oh so quickly.

Kristof @ Aug 6th 2008 6:57PM

I agree. I groan every time a friend wants to play online. It's like 5-10 minutes of waiting around. Oh wait, one person won't join, lets wait longer .... and longer .... oops restart the search. COD4 is almost instant matchmaking and get this, you just stay in the room if you're enjoying it.

Obie @ Aug 6th 2008 6:43PM

It's always nice when one developer gives props to another. And I agree, I enjoyed Call Of Duty 4 as much as I did the first Halo.

Ethan @ Aug 6th 2008 7:16PM

The fps market hardly needs more similarity.

dark_inchworm @ Aug 6th 2008 9:58PM

The comments hardly need more similarity.

ice~ @ Aug 6th 2008 7:20PM

@Obie
you're probably right, it's just i played through COD4's story once and Halo 3's about 3 times with me and my friends to get achievements...

anyway, i own both halo 3 and Call Of Duty, and frankly, the both of them just got really boring for me online-wise, i mean, when i played COD i was matched with a bunch of unskilled, whining, little babies who only used M16's and cried when they died by a grenade or m203, and halo 3, well, nothing kept me playing cause i wasnt a fan of the rank system.

But obviously my opinion of the games are totally wrong since both remain on top for almost a year...god bless the people who still play those games without getting tired of them O.o