I feel like we as a culture have moved so far away from Nickelback being an acceptable band on any level, but then again, what do I know? For a long time bands like Nickelback and Creed dominated the rock charts with their brand of formulaic pop rock that appealed to folks who live in Middle America and keep Jay Leno on the air. I still get weirded out when I think that when people say they like “rock” now, they probably mean one of the above bands to some degree. We’ve fallen a long way since the 70’s, huh?
There were videos floating around a few years ago that showed how derivative and unimaginative Nickelback songs really are, but don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. While this is only two songs, the point is rather strong; everything is broken down into a formula so much so that the intros into the verse are almost perfectly timed, the choruses sound the same and everything lines up or sounds exactly the same. A lot of that has to do with repeated keys, sure, but also repeated time signatures, tempos and even vocal inflections. What’s scary is that you could probably do this with a lot of their songs.
The point here is that Nickelback was pre-packaged rock n’ roll, mass produced and tinkered with to provide listeners with something that the suits knew fans liked listening to. They knew their audience and they hammered them hard for years with this kind of stuff. This is precisely what Activision does with the Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare changed the industry when it came out, with a blend of a dramatic, fast-paced and well-written single player campaign and some of the best multiplayer maps and modes that gamers had ever seen.
The problem came when Activision kept recreating the experience year-after-year, with things almost being exactly the same every time. It was exactly what bands like Nickelback did for years and highlights the problem with stuff that is intended for mass markets. Now we finally have video proof of just how unoriginal the folks behind Call of Duty games are in this new video that shows footage from Call of Duty: Ghosts side-by-side with footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with both games developed by Infinity Ward.
There are literally no new ideas in Call of Duty games, which is exactly why we here at MiddleEasy do not suggest that you play any single player mode in a Call of Duty or even, yes, a Battlefield game. I’m sorry, they are just worthless.
News tip from the mighty Fedor of MiddleEasy, Ted Malakhov. 100 points!
