Nut Load. Mini reviews of games old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional shock face.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

Genre: FPS | Players: 1, 2, Multi | Developer: Infinity Ward

The close out entry in the Modern Warfare trilogy finds the player controlling several protagonists during a full on breakout of World War 3 between Russia and pretty much everyone else. Players control soldiers fighting the actual war and the covert ops specialists trying to bring the actual masterminds of the conflict to justice.

The gameplay formula is still in place with the same frantic action set-pieces. Though it seems to be trying very hard to top previous ones and is reaching a bit as they have already done nuclear weapons and civilian massacres. They have wrung it dry apparently as the campaign can be finished in a short 5 hours. The "why actually play the game yourself" snap aiming is still there doing the work for you as is the great Spec Ops co-op missions. One bright spot is the characters themselves as they have gained some actual gravitas to them throughout the trilogy and the voice actors have gotten the hang of doing them, so that is at least convincing. Keith David is switched out for William Fichtner which is still cool among a few other big names.

The multiplayer was handled entirely by separate studio Raven Software and that has at least paid off as it is still fast-paced action with some tweaks and much less prone to bugs. Killstreaks are replaced with different Pointstreaks which makes it easier for less skilled players to get rewarded as they are now awarded points for things other than kills. Also some new modes and tweaks too. Overall, feels a bit strained, but still likely has what players came for.

Buyer's Guide:
Available on PC, PS3, 360 and Wii. Comes in standard and collector's "hardened" editions.

3 Victory Cigars out of 5

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