After publicly announcing that Treyarch was leaving World War II behind for future Call of Duty titles, rumors have surfaced indicating the series will be heading to Vietnam.
I love the smell of rumors in the morning … smells like victory.
Okay, now that we’ve got the obligatory Apocalypse Now misquote out of the way: Back in last October, Noah Heller – Senior Producer on Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War – hinted to OXM UK that the company wouldn’t be returning to Normandy and Stalingrad anytime soon:
“I won’t let your readers read into the comment too much, but we are showing the final battles of the Pacific and the European Theatre and that lets us put a close to the war. I’m sure game companies will be making World War II games for years to come and World War II is a very classic war. But we’re happy that we put the war to bed.”
With Treyarch’s series co-developer Infinity Ward currently holding firm in the realm of modern warfare, this leaves the series with relatively few historical options. According to TVGB, a “source we consider reliable” has said that Activision is looking to license music for the seventh Call of Duty game: “Vietnam War era tunes, as well as Cuban, African, and Soviet Union music.”
Said source specifically mentioned Noah Heller, so if this rumor pans out to be true, we’ll know that the franchise is in Treyarch’s hands once again. Of course, as with all rumors, there’s nothing concrete here – so don’t go breaking out the tie-dye, counterculture, and napalm just yet.
Anyway, time for some baseless speculation: A hallmark feature in the CoD games has been showing the story from two different points of view – CoD4 had the Brits and Americans, WaW showed the European and Pacific fronts, so on and so forth. I’m curious as to how they’d pull something like this off for ‘Nam, since I doubt they’d be letting gamers play as Charlie anytime soon. Or maybe they would – two opposing viewpoints would make for a potentially interesting storyline.
Or, given that the rumor mentions “Cuban, African, and Soviet Union” music as well as Vietnam-era tunes… perhaps the second storyline could be of, say, a CIA agent engaging in some international espionage? Making this rumored title less Call of Duty: Vietnam and more Call of Duty: The Cold War? It’s an interesting idea, and there’s certainly a ton of potential here if executed properly.
In the meantime, looks like we’ll have to wait for confirmation – or denial, so why not spend the time reminiscing about Battlefield: Vietnam with this classic Penny Arcade strip?
