REACTION - Call of Duty added a cat human hybrid skin, and that’s pretty stupid

Knackers getting knocked.

By Jonathan Garrett
02/08/23

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a jolly crossover or unexpected brand synergy; Fortnite has thrived off of the concept, and titles like Smash Bros. Ultimate did a wonderful job embracing a wide variety of characters and games. But then you see things like Sgt. Pspsps in Call of Duty: Warzone, and the term “jumped the shark” somehow isn’t strong enough to encapsulate how dumb I think this is.

A recent Eurogamer article brought this to my attention, and my initial response was: why?! This seems dreadfully out of place, at least at face value. But it doesn’t take much digging to notice that COD has been indulging in absurdity for a while now. We’ve had Die Hard crossovers, a Godzilla theme, and apparently Nicki Minaj is even due to become playable at some point.

I just wish it hadn’t come to this. If the only way for COD to retain those sweet and juicy Battle Pass and microtransaction purchases is to shed any recognisable identity and become a weird blend of pop culture silliness, then that’s… mildly disappointing.

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TARPS?

At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.