Watch out "Call of Duty," a little game called "Duty Calls" is gunning for you.
"Duty Calls" — a first-person shooter set in the midst of a gritty real-world war — has been downloaded 1.6 million times since it launched last week. Not bad for a game that lasts only a few minutes.
The game (which can be had for the price of free right here) looks like pretty much every other war shooter — and, well, that's the point.
"Duty Calls" and its associated video were created as a send up of all those first-person shooters/war games that perhaps take themselves a wee bit too seriously (*cough* "Call of Duty" *cough*).
Start the game and you're told, "Here's your objective: Blah blah blah secret base, blah blah blah plan, blah blah blah nuclear missile bomb, blah blah blah counting on you, utmost importance, win, good luck."
And oh the thrill as you rank up to a Master Sergeant Shooter Person! Better yet, soon you'll make your way to Sergeant Sergeant Master Sergeant Shooter Person. Check it out:
Good times. Good times. Of course, it turns out that "Duty Calls" was created to promote a shooter that doesn't take anything seriously.
That's right, the "Call of Duty" parody is brought to you by the folks at People Can Fly/Epic Games and EA — the folks who will be launching "Bulletstorm" in two weeks."Bulletstorm" is a raucous shooter with a twisted sense of humor that vows to "put the fun back in the gun." This is a game that offers mad "skillshot" points to you if you shoot your enemy in the nads and then pop him in the head.
And this isn't the first time "Bulletstorm" has poked a bit of fun at a fellow shooting game. A little while back Epic/EA released this spot mocking "Halo 3."
(In case you missed it, it's a send up of this "Halo" television spot.)
Oh "Bulletstorm," you crazy crazy game you.
Certainly the ad campaign seems to be doing its job. An EA rep told me that "Duty Calls" has been downloaded 1.6 million times and the video has been viewed 2.2 million times. Of course, only time will tell if they can gun down Activision's uber-hit "Call of Duty: Black Ops." After all, that's a game that sold 7 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. in one day.
For more FPS goodness, check out:
- ‘Bulletstorm’: Violence with ‘a wink and a smile’
- 'Call of Duty' players have killed the world nine times
- LEGO Black Ops: a bloody good game we'll never play
- Actress in controversial 'Call of Duty' ad calls it a 'dream role'
Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter .
