Yesterday, when we all met Call of Duty Dog for the first time, the first thing we said was, “Aww, a dog!” The second thing we said was, “Too bad they are going to kill him.”
Every comment, every video, every Call of Duty Dog joke made has been accompanied by the implicit assumption that, yes, this dog is totally going to get shot. Why else have a dog in a Call of Duty game? They tell us we’re going to care about this dog, that he’ll be part of the team. We’ll forge an emotional attachment to him.
That is obviously code for “just before the final act, the main bad guy is going to fucking shoot him in slow motion while you look on, helpless to intervene.”
Let’s not forget that this is Call of Duty we’re talking about. In these games, it’s more surprising if a mission doesn’t end with you getting betrayed and shot in the chest at close-range by a man you Thought Was Your Friend.
I can imagine the dogicidal cutscene so vividly, it’s like it already exists. You round the corner, and a swarthy gentleman with a beard is standing there. The audio goes hushed and does that flipped low-mid-frequencies only thing, and everything goes into slow motion. He brings his gun up, and then swings it to the side. He fires. A single doggie yelp. Silence.
I swear to God, they had better not kill Call of Duty Dog.
We’ve seen it happen too many times. Old Yeller. The Fallout games (if we weren’t careful). Fable II (sort of). I haven’t even seen I Am Legend and I’m about 95 per cent sure the dog gets it. The dog aaaalways gets it.
So, time to shake things up, Infinity Ward. Forge a connection with us by giving us human characters we can believe in. If you need to move us emotionally, show us heartbreaking devastation, make us come to grips with the destruction of a defenseless town or something. Let us watch our team grow closer, then tear us apart and test that friendship. Don’t just give us an awesome dog, let us hang out with him, then kill him to make us sad.
I mean, it’ll work. I’ll be super sad if you kill Call of Duty Dog. But surely you can do better!
I guess we’ll have to wait to see what happens when the game comes out. In the meantime, what do you guys think? How would you rate Call of Duty Dog’s chances?
I, for one, hope they surprise us all. I hope they let Call of Duty Dog live. Heck, let him star in his own DLC (Dog-loadable content). We have fallen in love with Call of Duty Dog. Please, don’t tear him away from us.
Comments
15 responses to “I Swear To God, They Had Better Not Kill Call Of Duty Dog”
I hope so, Having a dog as a next gen feature if lame.
Spoilers for most CoD games after Modern Warfare
Players didnt care when their squadmates died.Players didnt care when the character you were controlling died.
Players didnt care when the previous games protagonists (who we had supposedly come to know & care about) died.
Players didnt care when a child died.
The writers are gonna try anything to get an emotional reaction from players, therefore this puppy is toast.
Its not gonna work. Knowing the stereotypical 14 year old who seems to be the main audience for the series, in 99% of cases, I think at the first opportunity, they player will shoot the dog themselves.
I think why no-one cared when anyone/anything died in these games is that being multiplayer focussed meant the single player stories (for want of a better word) were just threads to hang a bunch of cool action set pieces together. Not playing the same character for any length of time made it hard to get emotionally invested in anyone or anything (I say not having played the last game, possibly even the last two).
But… but I ONLY played the single-player, and I cared! I cared a whole lot. 🙁 I was saddened.
The tweeest is
the dog will eat your corpseThe only way the dog was worthy of mention in the press conference is if you get to play as the dog.
If you can play as the dog and pee on things, all the entire X-Box Live “bros” will buy the console and the game day 1.
What would be really sad is if the game ends with you getting shot and dying and the dog just laying beside your body. Camera slowly pans out, fades to black, credits roll, the end.
…thanks for that…*sob*
That’s emotional man..If that’s not what happens I’ll be sad
Even if that is what happens, I’ll be sad. It’s a lose-lose.
When they announced the new Call of Duty Dog, was I the only person that thought of this? http://news.sportslogos.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Screen-shot-2012-11-12-at-19.00.34-.png
The dog will be injured saving your life and you wilbe forced to shoot it to put it out of its misery.
As cool as all this speculations is it’s all clearly wrong.
I predict that after the first few missions with the dog as the player’s partner and forming a close attachment, it will be reveal that its is in fact the DOG that is a double agent that has been sent to gather information and kill the player but he doesnt finish the job, the player now having risen after being left for dead must track down and now get revenge on the traitorous dog.
Yup, pretty much. You take a high position and have to snipe the dog who was your best friend in this fucking mixed up world. You take the shot and hightail it outta there lucky to finish the mission.
Then in CoD:GhostsII you see only a limb was blown off and you once again have to stop this maniac of a 3-legged dog (you’ll probably need to stabby stabby CoDDog this time round).
The dog will turn out to be Russian arms dealer, trying to sell nuclear weapons to North Korea.
Then on the last mission it will kill you with a throwing knife. This will spawn another three call of duty titles where players will run around as dog characters spam killing people with throwing knives. You won’t be able to kill the k9 characters unless you shoot them 6 times in the head.
Holy crap I laughed at the DLC line
He will Rest in peace with: Soap, Roach, Ghost n Gaz – Along with all the other Characters i grew fond of, only to have them killed off horribly.
They should just cancel out typical multiplayer mode, and instead replace it with ‘Dog Mode’. Where you just be a dog. Fetch, eat, sleep.
Or make dogs a playable race with unique perks
I think you have to buy the “Mans best friend” DLC if you want the dog to live. Don’t worry, it’s going to be available day 1.
Wait…you havent seen I Am Legend? You are seriously missing out!
L1 – Bite, R1 – Bark, L2 – Sniff about, R2 – Piss everywhere
With the obvious “spoiler” backlash I wouldn’t be surprised they delay the game to rework it so the dog lives.
If they try and force a connection between the dog and the player for the sake of killing the dog for a tear-jerker later it’ll be as cliche as it ever was. Man’s best friend and all. I’m personally not a big fan of CoD games but I’ve played all but BlopsII. Infinity Ward won me over with Modern Warfare and I think World@War was the only other game I really enjoyed. It also inspired the name I chose to comment however long ago… Campaign co-op for the win.
Hypothetically though I would prefer they do not kill off the war-mutt. But to be honest ( just like that airport level in MW2) put the gun in my hand and I will shoot. I will.
Not because I’d harm an animal, but because it’s just a game. I’m sure I’d slay as many as they chose to throw at me. F8ck ’em. They gonna rip my throat out? Bullet. Gonna get in the way when I’m shootin’ the baddies? Bullet.
Makes no difference to me.
It might be a neat addition to the franchise as something other than a pest in multiplayer. But no matter how intelligent the dogs are in the game world it all boils down to the game mechanics as a whole. And that personally isn’t something I’ve enjoyed in CoD for a long time.