Black Ops II: Solid Execution

As I've noted before it's been interesting to see how the YouTube community surrounding Call of Duty has evolved over the last few games. I think it's fair to say the wider audience for pure montage work or extreme superplay isn't really there anymore. Some of the more vocal uploaders are frequently heard kvetching about dead subscribers and slashed partner incomes. People have probably gotten bored too, both player and viewer, we are on the eighth Call of Duty for this generation alone.

This is quick-scope king Zeyrion's last clip to date, uploaded in January.



That trend for herculean efforts apparently burnt itself out with the last game Modern Warfare 3, which got to a point where every other video seemed to have a dubiously acquired 30+ killstreak. It didn't help that the actual systems that game operated with made watching this kind of clip uninteresting - lenghty streaks took advantage of predicting so-called revenge spawns, meaning this high-level play was basically just a guy wildly patrolling a small area picking off people rushing blindly, repeatedly attempting to get their own back. There was also an idea that most of these scenarios were set-ups, with channel directors recruiting willing subscribers to die on cue.

If my subscription box is any indication of prevailing trends, viewers now instead seem to want to a more personable experience - long unbroken gameplay with a voiceover dabbling in unconnected water cooler chit-chat. With this in mind it's interesting to see how TheSandyRavage has adapted. Ravage's Modern Warfare 2 videos were characterised by extreme twitch feats and Duke Nukem sound boarding. He refused to do commentaries, claiming he was too boring. Instead he recruited others to provide hype, most notably ELPRESADOR.



For Black Ops II this format has evolved into Ravage and his pal fickmoley chatting shit with each other over what constitutes their day-to-day playing experience. Uploads are regular, with the duo drafting in other YouTubers like ONLYUSEmeBLADE and Mr Sark for flavour. I think I remember Ravage saying he'd finished university and was having trouble finding a job, so presumably he's hoping to generate a consistent stream of revenue with this output. Good luck to him. As well as providing fun clips, he and Moley have the kind of easy rapport that's always pleasant to listen too. It's certainly preferable to channels that feel the need to provide bizarre, borderline offensive dating tips in their struggle for content.

Another channel worth checking out is Xbox Ahoy who presents weekly weapon breakdowns. His detailed assessments of each game's guns proved so popular that Activision hired him to create Modern Warfare 3 vids exclusively for Call of Duty Elite. I'm actually stunned it's taken me this long to post one of his videos, I've been a channel subscriber since the dying days of Modern Warfare 2. Xbox Ahoy's work is incredibly well produced and manages to convey massive amounts of information without ever becoming dull. As a taster, here's his analysis of the MSMC, possibly Black Ops II's most multi-purpose firearm.



If that tickled your fancy, Xbox Ahoy also has a supplementary channel focused on viewer feedback and games not named Call of Duty. Tune back in next month when there'll probably be some concrete news on the next instalment - Call of Duty: Ghosts. SLIDE INTO COVER.