Call of Duty maps have not hit like they used to for a LOOONG time! I've talked about this in quite a few videos but I found a video that really sums up the issues nicely! This is why Modern COD Maps suck now!

Original Video ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yaCNm2MZyA
Designer's Delusion ► https://www.youtube.com/@DesDelusion

Born too late to explore the planet
Born too early to explore the stars
Born just in time to experience the entire COD lifecycle, Good, Bad and Ugly

“They used each lane as a distinct entity” is a fascinating point

there's also no excuse not to have 20+ maps at launch when they're all just reskins of each other and play the exact same

The problem is not three lanes. It's that every map is three lanes.

my first girlfriend broke up with me earlier this week. i didn't know i needed in depth critiques of COD map design to make it a little better, but i did.


edit: thank you guys for all the sweet comments ❤️ i feel so loved and supported by my friends, family, pets, by the Lord, and by all of you beautiful random people who i'm happy to call my brothers.

Modern Call of Duty used their data to optimize for engagement, failing to realize that's not the same as optimizing for fun.

Cod maps back then didnt just play well but they also told a story. Most maps had a significant impact in the campaign

It's been 15 years since MW2 and I still can look at that plane in the thumbnail and instantly remember the entirety of the Afghan map, every nook and cranny.

There's an amazing video by  Favyn discussing "casual" vs "competitive" design and how trying to appeal to one or the other leads to design cannibalism. Then he goes to talk about the old ways in which devs used to design with armony among game elements.

I think there's something to be said for older games' maps having quiet moments. I played CoD 4 back in the day, and I remember matches sometimes where I wouldn't be in a firefight for maybe a whole minute. And you know what? Rather than being bored...it made me tense. It put me on edge. Those quiet moments became TENSION. I could hear shooting, but I'd arrive after the action. And that makes you...tense. You start getting paranoid, you're on edge, suddenly you're really checking every corner. The longer you're alive, the more you wanted to stay alive. Could the enemy see you? I couldn't see them. It was tense. And I think that's something which has completely been lost.

Traditional three-lane: too streamlined, not enough complexity

Ghosts style: too chaotic, randomness and dying from every angle

Solid video on level design, but you touched on another important element: weapon balance. When maps don't favor a particular weapon, that frees up the player to experiment and find what fits their style instead than everyone using the same gun because it's obviously superior to everything else.

He didn't even mention that as the games went on, they stopped making special areas for the rcxd unless it was nuketown. The other maps kind of forgot it was a killstreak

"They aren't designed for everyone. They're designed for sweaty esports tryhards or just lazily thrown together" sums it up pretty well. Esports and streaming culture really tainted cods design philosophy. We can't have any down time or moments to think anymore. Every moment needs to be filled with non-stop action or player retention might go down

7:35, another underrated part of what you’re saying here is that older cods always had places you could access that made no sense but were fun just for the shits and giggles, like the powerline in array on bo1, the massive ladder on underpass in mw2, they give maps charm and allow you to make memories. Newer maps don’t have that “let’s camp here for the lolz” aspect at all

What amazes me is 3 lanes is just fine if there's a little bit of care and interest occurring. A great example is Halo 3's Pit. It's an incredibly simple 3 lane map, but it was loved so much by the community that 343 even remade it for Halo Infinite.

0:52 that one uncle on Thanksgiving

One thing with old maps that I've only just now noticed is that when other players got into a fight you would hear the noise from that fight from far away and it adds something to how I think. I hear shotguns going off in the distance, and now I have to think am I about to get in close to him or can I flank him. New maps just have me ignore that cause there's not alot of ways to change my approach. He's either in front of me or behind me and that's it. Nothing else to focus or care about so now even the audio cues don't matter.

There’s a reason why modern COD multiplayer has so many map remakes added. They don’t know HOW to make interesting maps anymore. They know we don’t want their 3-lane maps so they just keep recycling