By Matthew Barnes —
Calling all gamers and gun lovers! Go to your local game store, because Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 has hit the shelves! Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 was given a highly anticipated release on November 8, midnight. Those who purchased the game could pick up the limited edition, normal edition, or Hardened edition. Due to this November being the month of the empty wallet, gamers would be wise to choose what version attunes to their budget.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, like all other Call of Duty games are described in one word: Awesome. The game itself has three modes, Special Ops, Campaign, and Multiplayer that includes both local, and Xbox live. There is also a set of fifty achievements, and a primo package for those who had the game on pre-order.
In this game the campaign follows the theme of recapturing the world that was stolen from you. The first level takes place in New York City, which has been ravaged by war, and occupied by the Russian army. The Russian army has taken control of the airspace, and set up a signal jamming tower. This means that no American air units could establish dominance, and without air control New York is as good as lost. Your job is to destroy the signal jamming tower and drive the Russians out of New York.
You, the player assume the role of Frost, a decorated soldier in America’s Army and the story’s protagonist of Modern Warfare 3’s campaign. The battle in New York is just the beginning, as you continue your role in the story, you will discover that this whole war is just a piece of a conspiracy, hiding answers that Frost himself has to fight in both a visible war, and an invisible war to find. The campaign is not compulsory, and you have the option of simply head-shotting n00bs in Online Multiplayer.
Online Multiplayer makes a return (again) with new maps, new guns, and a balanced set of perks. The online Multiplayer gifts the player with three starting classes that have their own guns, perks and Killstreaks. The multiplayer seems to take a different approach to warfare, as it punishes those who are too mobile and seems to have volatile spawning positions. Campers have been punished a bit more this time around. The most notable feature of the new multiplayer are the Killstreaks. Killstreaks enable you to summon powerful army artillery to your command. Artillery such as the Cobra gunner, UAV scanner, Recon Drone, and the always fun airstrike. The game play has been given little change, so it still retains the same awesomeness. The graphics have also been given a small boost, but the movement of the player, and the engine of the game itself has no noteworthy changes.
Special Ops mode is a refreshing change of pace that gives players a change of pace from the ever stale “Zombie mode” Special ops offers two features: Survival mode, and Mission mode. Survival mode is a mode where you have an endless amount of soldiers thrown at you, and you are timed on how long you can survive against them. The longer you survive and kill, the better your score. The alternative mode, dubbed mission mode is a change of pace from the norm. Players are given specific tasks. Upon receiving the task, the player should carry them out, and be given the next mission. Mission mode and survival mode is a refreshing change of pace, but the rest of the game remains disappointingly the same as the last three hyped up Call of Duty games.
Call of Duty has received scarce changes, the survival mode and mission mode are great new additions, but everything else seems so mundane. As fun and awesome as the online multi-player is, it still leaves players thirsty for change, change that is scarcely, if ever quenched. The compulsory campaign mode is a great what-if scenario, but I feel that its rail shooter, slash beat’em up till the boss mechanics leave me expecting more by the ending. Survival mode and Mission mode are a nice change of pace, but this still does not fulfill my constant demand for change that Infinity Ward and Treyarch fail to deliver. I rate Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 an 8/10. I was expecting more, and honestly I think I may have been a fool to expect that much change in this series that has turned into a no – effort cash cow.