Campaign
Modern Warfare 3 continues the ongoing Modern Warfare storyline right where Modern Warfare 2 left off. Soap and Price are in bad shape following their narrow escape at the end of MW2. Russia is super pissed at the U.S.. And World War 3 has started. You jump around to a few different characters on several fronts of the conflict - fighting off a Russian invasion of NYC as a Delta Force character before hopping over to see how Soap and Price are doing and then jumping off somewhere else. The story is really quite interesting. It took me a while before I actually remembered all that happened in MW2 (I remember specific moments more than story or characters), but after a few levels I was engrossed all over again. It is full of trademark Call of Duty set pieces and amazing moments, and unlike some games that made you do a lot of watching (or, worse, QTEs) when the cool stuff happens, MW3 leaves you in control.
One nice thing I really liked about the campaign is that it is split into a ton of small levels instead of overlong ones. Each level only takes 15-20 minutes and there are 15 of them. It adds up to a game that is only 5 hours long, but it is a really well paced, exciting 4-5 hours. Each level usually has some unique element to it, and you only do things for a few minutes before doing something else, so it never feels boring or repetitive, but also keeps you a bit hungry for more, which makes re-playing the campaign worthwhile. It delivers the high spots and then moves on to something else.
I have to admit, though, that I did get tired of constantly dying during the campaign. No, not the COD trademark "side characters die at the end of every chapter" stuff. I mean during gameplay. Enemy grenade spam (you don't see the grenade indicator when you're looking down the sights). Exploding cars. Suddenly accurate enemies (the A.I. is mostly cannon fodder, but at a few chokepoints they become super accurate). I'm not even playing on Veteran or anything and I died a hundred cheap deaths. To its credit, though, MW3 does have very conveniently placed checkpoints, so you never have to restart very far back from where you died, but it definitely gets obnoxious after a while.Spec Ops
When you finish the campaign, and it is worth playing even though I complained a little, MW3 also has Spec Ops Mode. There are two separate modes this time around - a horde-style Survival mode where you fight waves of enemies and buy new equipment between waves, and an objective-oriented Mission mode. The missions are one-off missions that compliment the story campaign to give you an even broader experience of the conflict. You can play Spec Ops solo or in co-op locally or online. There is a separate XP system for Spec Ops so you can play and progress and unlock new weapons to use, just like MP, which makes it fun.
Of course, the real draw of a new Call of Duty for most people is the competitive online multiplayer. There is no combat training against A.I. here like there was in Black Ops, unfortunately, but it is easy enough to pick up. The XP system COD popularized is once again in place, so you earn XP by doing a wide range of things on the battlefield and level up to earn new weapons and perks. Individual weapons now level up as well, and you earn new attachements or stat boosts for a given weapon buy using it a lot. A lot of the fun of COD multiplayer is that it is fully customizable based on how you want to play, so every player can have a unique experience and make it fun in their own way by using different loadouts and perks and managing their weapons differently. It is addictive as heck.One potential issue with the multiplayer in MW3 is that many of the maps are seemingly too small for the number of players on them. On one hand, it encourages players to actually move around more since they are much more likely to be flanked on the smaller maps, but it also changes the pacing of the game. There aren't really those slow paced moments between kills anymore. You just constantly have to be on the move. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it also doesn't exactly feel like COD anymore. Not all of the maps are too small, though, and with the variety of gametypes available, some gametypes strike a better balance on certain maps than others, so there are still plenty of fun maps even if a few are only so-so.
COD Elite
Activision got a lot of backlash when it announced Call of Duty Elite earlier this year. Elite is an Xbox 360 dashboard application, or you can access it on the Internet, that lets you check out your stats and overall COD experience similar to how Bungie.net and Halo Waypoint work for the Halo games. The base stat tracking is free, but Elite also has a premium subscription service that gives you all of the DLC, video guides to help you play better, and more for $50 a year. Elite is not required to play multiplayer, it is just sort of a Season Pass for DLC plus other benefits. If you are serious about COD, though, it can certainly be useful.
Graphics & SoundVisually, Modern Warfare 3 can't match the great graphics of Battlefield 3, but it is in no way a bad, or even average, looking game. The engine is a little dated, sure, but there is something about the visuals in the COD games that manage to look sharp and realistic and genuinely good even if other games have better textures or lighting. MW3 really does look great and always runs at 60FPS.
The sound is also very good. Solid voice acting. Good music. And some of the best sound effects in the industry.
Bottom Line
All in all, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is yet another solid entry in the franchise that will keep players busy for months. A good, well paced campaign, awesome Spec Ops mode, and industry leading multiplayer all combine to make this a great overall package. Buy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment