Line #6 VideoGame/DutyCalls


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duty_calls_screen.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The next stage is "Sergeant of The Master Sergeants! Most Important Person of the Extreme Sergeants to the Max!"]]
3	->''"[[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} War... war never changes]]. Or does it? [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots The war has changed]] [[FauxlosophicNarration ...did it? The answer is no! Unless it is yes! No, of course it is! Is war! Yes! No! Yes?]]"''
4	-->--The opening narration.
5
6	''Duty Calls: The Calm Before The Storm'' is a playable {{parody}} of the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise (specifically the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' games) and those that follow in its footsteps such as ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany'' and ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'', [[ClicheStorm poking fun at some of the most pervasive, cliched tropes in modern military shooters]] with an extremely short campaign (roughly five minutes in length). You, the player, must storm an enemy base, witnessing the brutal horrors of war and the unending monotony of shooting uniform-clad soldier after uniform-clad soldier with the same boring weapon, ranking up before taking down the enemy leader and securing the nuclear missile bomb, ensuring the [[AmericaSavesTheDay United States']] victory over enemy forces once again.
7
8	In actuality, the game is a covert advergame developed by People Can Fly, developers of ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'', to advertise ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', to emphasise the things they didn't like about modern military shooters, and how ''Bulletstorm''[='s=] was being made to contrast with them. It's been speculated that ''Duty Calls'' was the developers' way of compensating for the lack of a PC version of the ''Bulletstorm'' demo, though how much better a job ''Duty Calls'' does in advertising ''Bulletstorm'' is debatable. It's still funny, though.
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10	For a much more serious TakeThat at military shooters, see ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''.
11	----
12	!!This game features examples of:
13	* AdvertisementGame: It advertises another game, ''Bulletstorm''.
14	* AmericaSavesTheDay: Once the player reaches the Leader Enemy Boss, the player character gives a thumbs-up with [[spoiler:American flags and fireworks sprouting out of them]].
15	--> '''Leader Enemy Boss:''' U.S.A. is dominate! I'm crying tears. I'm crying tears.
16	* ArtificialStupidity: The enemy A.I. is limited to standing in one spot and shooting at you. It is a 5-minute promotional parody and not an actual game, after all.
17	* BadBadActing: The characters grossly exaggerate how voice acting in shooters can fail to be as dramatic as they try to be.
18	* BigNo: The {{mook}} in the Jeep does this when the game goes into slow motion for some reason.
19	* BlahBlahBlah: The briefing.
20	-->''"Here's your objective: Blah blah blah blah, Secret Base. Blah blah blah, plans. Blah blah blah Nuclear missile bomb. Blah blah blah [[ItsUpToYou counting on you]], utmost importance, win, good luck."''
21	* BulletTime: The game goes into slow motion so you can defeat an enemy who killed one of your allies.
22	%% * CaptainObvious: Literally everyone.
23	* CardCarryingVillain: Most of the mooks you encounter declare themselves as enemies.
24	%% * ClicheStorm: Parodied. [[invoked]]
25	* CutsceneIncompetence: Lampshaded.
26	--> '''Enemy:''' ''[[CaptainObvious I am a paratrooper because that is a real-life war scenario. You cannot shoot me because this is a cutscene to make the game feel more dramatic, like a movie. Soon I will be landing, I have landed on the ground]].''
27	* DeathIsDramatic: One of your allies tries to advance the story about halfway through, but gets killed by an enemy in a Jeep. He dies, [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction then says that he has died and laments about how this has increased the drama of the story]] after dying.
28	%% * DeconstructionGame
29	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The ranks you go up in, starting with "Master Sergeant Shooter Person" and culminating in "[[spoiler:Sergeant of the Master Sergeants Most Important Person of Extreme Sergeants To The Max]]".
30	* EarnedStripes: Parodied, as the chevrons just keep piling on the Sergeant rank without moving onto the Lieutenant equivalent.
31	* EveryCarIsAPinto: The military vehicle that can be shot, explodes after only ''[[ExaggeratedTrope two shots]]''.
32	* EyepatchOfPower: The Leader Enemy Boss.
33	* ForegoneVictory: All the enemies never attack on their own (two of them only attack through scripted events), and you can never run out of ammo.
34	* HitboxDissonance: The hitbox of the enemy soldiers are much smaller than it looks like.
35	* HypocriticalHumor: While they avoided this for the most part, there are still a couple of glaring instances.
36	** The "B-B-B-B-BLOODY SCREEN!!!" and regenerative health are used in ''Bulletstorm'', no satire involved.
37	** The game parodies scripted events. ''Bulletstorm'', unfortunately, has a few of these. Again, no satire involved.
38	** Also, it's rather ironic that in ''Duty Calls'' you can only jump an inch off of the ground but in ''Bulletstorm'' you can't jump at all.
39	* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: It's impossible to jump over the sandbags.
40	* KleptomaniacHero: For no good reason, you can pick up a small meaningless stick and 500 sheets of wide ruled notebook paper when you find them.
41	* LampshadeHanging: Frequently.
42	* MacGuffin: The Russians have the nuclear missile bomb. They will never give it to you!
43	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: When enemies get hit, they say a delayed "ow".
44	* MediumAwareness: Multiple times. An example:
45	-->'''U.S. Soldier:''' Hey Foxclub Niner, I'm gonna point at you and say something serious to further develop the game's storyline.\
46	''(Jeep runs over him)''\
47	'''U.S. Soldier:''' Ow! I'm dead, increasing the drama of the story.\
48	'''Russian Soldier:''' Ha ha! You cannot stop me, [[TemptingFate unless the game goes into slow motion for some reason and I become easy to shoot]].\
49	''(the game goes into slow motion and he becomes easy to shoot)''\
50	'''Russian Soldier:''' [[OhCrap Ooooohh]] [[SlowNo noooooo.]]
51	* MundaneMadeAwesome: "[[RegeneratingHealth B-B-B-BLOODY SCREEN!!!]] [[BlatantLies So real...]]" Doubles as HypocriticalHumor as the game it's promoting does the ''exact same thing''.
52	* NoFourthWall: Almost every character heavily implies that they are video game characters, with three of them outright stating that they are in one.
53	* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: The game takes place in a very linear area.
54	* PunBasedTitle: [[ToiletHumor Duty Calls]].
55	* RankUp: Once every one or two kills.
56	-->''Rank up! Master Sergeant Shooter Person!''\
57	''Rank up! [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Master Sergeant Shooter Sergeant Person!]]''\
58	''Rank up! [[RunningGag Sergeant Sergeant Master Sergeant Shooter Person!]]''\
59	''Rank up! [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard Master Sergeant Shooter Sergeant Important Person of Sergeants Extreme!]]''\
60	''Rank up! [[OverlyLongGag Sergeant of the Master Sergeants Most Important Person of Extreme Sergeants to the Max!]]''
61	%% * RealIsBrown
62	%% * RegeneratingHealth
63	* TakeThat: A big one to military FPS games like ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' that focus on "[[RealIsBrown gritty realism]]" at the expense of "fun". Ironically, ''Modern Warfare'' was a big take that to fun, jingoistic war shooters in the first place, deliberately (and subtly) subverting many of ''those'' cliches like AmericaSavesTheDay and PatrioticFervor. Essentially, ''Duty Calls'' is the parodic ''Film/ScaryMovie'' to ''Modern Warfare''[='s=] satirical ''Film/{{Scream\|1996}}''.
64	* TemptingFate: Invoked by the Jeep driver, as noted above.
65	* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: "I am crying tears."
66	* TotallyRadical: TO THE MAX!
67	* UnsoundEffect: Instead of sounds appropriate for an M4 assault rifle, the gun says "boring" with each shot.
68	* WhamLine: Parodied. "I'm gonna point at you and say something serious, to further develop the game's storyline."

Context VideoGame / DutyCalls