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INTERVIEW: Just Joshing - Treyarch on this year's Call of Duty
Could Call of Duty: Black Ops be the best CoD yet? We sit down with Treyarch to talk about RC cars, Infinity Ward, and the most anticipated game of 2010...
Written by David Scammell, 02 September 2010
GamerZines: Why did Treyarch choose the 60s and the Cold War?
Josh Olin, Community Manager, Treyarch: It was a perfect opportunity for us to tell a story and create gameplay that players haven't seen before in the Call of Duty franchise. That was the number one philosophy at Treyarch. With how long the Call of Duty has been going and how many great games have been made for it, that means players have had a lot of great experiences already. We can't be recycling it, we don't want to feel like we're repeating what's already been done, so we wanted to pick an era and genre first of all that had new things. The Cold War has all sorts of new locations and new weapons, and then the Black Ops team; they had all sorts of new tactics and new missions and operations that they went on, classified stuff. All of it was just variety - we wanted to create fresh new experiences.
GZ: There's been a lot of talk recently about how Black Ops is getting Activision's biggest ever marketing spend and it's been reported that pre-orders are up over last year. Do you think you've made a better game than Infinity Ward did with Modern Warfare 2?
JO: That's tough to say. The game's not done, but I think we've made the best game that Treyarch has ever made, for sure. We're in a great position to blow everybody's hair back in November. I want you guys to tell us whether we've hit that mark, I want the game to speak for itself, and I want fans and members of the press to let us know how we did. We certainly invested everything we had into it. We focussed every developer at the studio to work exclusively on Call of Duty after we shipped World at War. That year we made three games, this year we're making only one game that has three core components that each has a dedicated team to it: single-player, co-op and multiplayer.
GZ: EA suggested that they want to take the shooter crown back this year with Medal of Honor. Are you worried about their game?
JO: No, I'm sure they're going to make a great game, they always do. I think that there are plenty of players to play both games, quite frankly. But Call of Duty's a pretty good game; it's a pretty tough one to beat.
GZ: Modern Warfare 2's airport scene hit the headlines last year. Will there be similar controversial scenes in Black Ops?
JO: Controversial is such a subjective term. It's tough to say. It is a mature themed game for mature audiences and we're not shying away from the brutality or grittiness of war. Capturing that level of authenticity and realism is important in trying to immerse the players. Anything we do will be to propel the story or illicit an emotional response from the player, to make them feel angry or righteous or sad. Those are all elements that help immerse the player that much more deeply into the world. Nothing that we'll do will be gratuitous.
GZ: Are we right in thinking that a return of the Zombies mode was confirmed quite recently?
JO: We haven't revealed the co-op mode yet. I confirmed that part of the Prestige and Hardened Edition copies of the game is the four World At War Zombies levels playable in Black Ops co-operatively, but that's all we announced. We were revealing our limited collector's editions of the game and that question came up with the retailers, and so I just went ahead and cleared that up. As for what our actual co-op mode is that ships with the game, we're not ready to reveal that just yet.
P3Zine Issue 45
For our latest Call of Duty Black Ops coverage, click here to download P3Zine Issue 45 for free.GZ: Speaking of the Prestige Edition, why the RC car?
JO: It's interesting - the Prestige Editions are really popular and the hardcore fans want it for a couple of reasons. First, they want something that is maybe functional, so the RC car is something that is interactive - you can actually drive it around. But also, some people want it to be on their shelf to complement their Call of Duty collection, so it'll come with a stand and it's modelled after the in-game kill streak reward, the RC XD, which is a little remote control with C4 strapped to it. The car has a 200ft range, it transmits audio and video wirelessly back to the controller, so it's a surveillance vehicle, and it's just something that's fun to drive around. Who didn't like RC cars when they were a kid, right? And what are we but kids trapped in adults' bodies? (Laughs)
GZ: There have been criticisms about the length of the campaigns in previous CoDs. How long are you aiming for with Black Ops?
JO: We just don't know, the game's not done yet. It'll probably be comparable to World at War's length but you wouldn't want to quote me on that, it's not for sure. Whatever we wind up with, we have a very specific story to tell. It's a very deep and complex story so whatever levels we need to tell that coherently and not have it being confusing or have plot holes, then that's how many levels you're going to get. There are locales all around the globe - we've only confirmed south-east Asia and Soviet Russia - but we don't want to reveal more because it's part of the story.
GZ: What can players expect from the downloadable content?
JO: We're not working on the downloadable content now - we're just focussing on making the game. If we do wind up doing downloadable content you'll hear it from me.
GZ: As a company Treyarch has shifted to focus purely on Call of Duty, and since then Infinity Ward has seen a bit of a collapse. Do you see yourselves as the primary Call of Duty development studio?
JO: No, we don't really think of it like that. We're still set out to make Call of Duty: Black Ops. That's our only charge right now and we've remained undeterred, unaffected and unaltered in our course which is to deliver the best game we can possibly make. Honestly, we've put ourselves in a great position to make the best game we've ever made.
GZ: Thanks, Josh.
This interview was taken from a group interview held at Gamescom 2010.
Call of Duty: Black Ops launches on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and DS on November 9th 2010.
Call of Duty Black Ops coverage available in P3Zine Issue 45 - click here to download it for free!
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