How Dare They Put This Many Parries In a Call of Duty Game

Last night, I began the campaign for Modern Warfare 4, the latest Call of Duty game. I anticipated standard elements like shooting bad guys, hiding behind cover, and blowing up tanks or navigating busy cityscapes. However, I was unprepared for an entire parrying mechanic, as if it were a first-person Soulslike game. The game starts conventionally, with soldiers stationed in Hajin, a fictional city in South Korea, facing a North Korean regime bombing the city.

Combat then transforms during "Out in the Cold," where Captain John Price infiltrates a Manhattan nightclub and extracts information from a Russian asset. Parrying begins with pressing L before being hit to block, followed by pressing R to punch them. Soon, combat involves a mix of melee and pistol combat, reminiscent of John Wick.

A chase scene and parkour segment through Midtown add excitement and fluidity reminiscent of Mirror's Edge. The boss fight against Makarov, however, commits two grave sins: requiring parries to win and being an instant-fail fight if a single parry is missed. This slogs the momentum built up by action-packed set pieces. The next mission, "Following Orders," has players play as an unnamed soldier in the North Korean army, searching for a regime dissident in a rural hamlet.

When cornered, the same parry prompt returns, adding frustration to an already challenging fight. While I don't claim to be a Call of Duty expert, I believe parries in first-person might not feel as natural as in third-person games like Valor Mortis. However, this feels more like trend-chasing than a logical decision. It's not a critique of parries as a mechanic, but rather situational commentary about their appropriate placement.

Despite the potential for innovative genre mashups, as seen in turn-based RPGs, parries in an expensive first-person shooter seem more like a roadblock for the engaging aspects of the game. Modern Warfare 4 succeeds in solid shooting, carefully designed levels, and intense set pieces, but it doesn't need to force players to press L to parry.