E3 2011: COD: Elite (Impressions)

by: Sean - posted: 6/11/2011 3:11:00 PM

I was/am one of the people who is deeply skeptical of COD: Elite. Plenty of questions are swirling about regarding the nature of this partially free, partially paid service. EA was emphatic about clearing up one particular point: they're not charging to play multiplayer. That's good news, certainly, but what then are they charging for?

COD: E is going to function a little like Halo: Waypoint, tracking your statistics across COD: Black Ops and COD: MW3. The stat-tracking is impressive, showing where on individual maps you kill or get killed, where you tend to shoot people the most what weapons you're best with, really an impressive amount of information. There will also be organized tournament-style competitions, with occasional prizes, and the ability to organize clans based around a particular topic. Live in Los Angeles? Join the LA clan, sure, but if you live in Westwood on Glenrock Avenue? Start a Glenrock clan, and play with your neighbors. Clans can be formed by anybody around anything, from dog-lovers to my old war buddies.

All of that content is free.

If you pay, a fee amount that's yet to be determined, you get access to all upcoming COD DLC with no extra charge, as well as tournaments with larger prizes, such as an all-new Jeep Wrangler.

Is it going to be worth it? I'm going to give that a definite maybe. Let's put it this way: if they want to charge $5 a month, that's $60 a year. That's quite a bit of money for the chance to win some stuff and double the price of DLC at 3 DLC packs a year for $10 each. if it's $3? $36 a year sounds more reasonable to me.

The free features are definitely going to be interesting, but we need to learn a little bit more before we pass judgment on COD: Elite.