Hello all. It’s been a few months since my last post; funnily enough, I was working on a hype post for the Summer Game Fest, but I lost the drive to complete it. The new line of work is changing everything I know.
Sad story aside, everything from said event looked solid, and we’re rapidly approaching many of the titles I had my eyes on. I hope you’ll are ready; it’s going to get hairy.
Back to the present; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
Yeah…
I’ve been openly critical of Call of Duty for the past few years. Vanguard was tragic, while Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare II, the “soft reboots” of the iconic trilogy, killed everything I enjoyed about the franchise. The core issue is that design choices were made for the sake of change: not because they were genuinely thought-out changes.
Infinity Ward has caught a lot of flack since the release of Modern Warfare II, with this being one of the most unfinished titles of all time, gameplay changes made for utterly no logical reason, and much more. Modern Warfare II is strange, and despite overwhelming commercial success, it’s not a bright spot on the series after being hyped up to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
However, looking to capitalize on the Modern Warfare name train, Modern Warfare III releases this November. After a neat little reveal in Warzone‘s Shadow Siege event, it’s looking like the game players were promised to receive nearly a year ago.
Just a day or two ago, 10 minutes of gameplay was shown at Gamescom, albeit it was campaign footage. I’ll drop that down here for ya’ll to feast on, but the purpose of this article will be to focus solely on the multiplayer news.
Modern Warfare III Reveal Details
Modern Warfare II’s launch confused everyone, as Activision seemingly spread a web of statements indicating it would be a two-year title and that premium DLC would come in 2023 to support the game. However, that has changed, as the premium DLC package has become a full title; MW3.
For the first time in franchise history, this year’s release is the first time CoD has come out with a direct sequel… ever. It’s always been alternating development teams working on their version of CoD, but we’ve never seen a sequel in back-to-back years as we’re about to witness.
A lot of info has come out in the time leading up to the reveal, and now that the floodgates have opened, here’s everything that’s been confirmed via various influencers and the official blog post:
So far, what has been shared has been quite the breath of fresh air, ironically, as everything that Modern Warfare II lacked is a marketing point for this year’s title. Map voting will return after it’s been absent for a while, the horrid Perk system from last year’s entry is no more, longer time-to-kill, and many more highlights will make their way back into the game’s formula. The Gear Perk system sounds pretty neat: from what I’ve read, it sounds like an expansion of Black Ops 1‘s Perk setup, where your first-tier Perk would determine your character model in-game.
Along with these changes, 16 maps will be present at the launch, with 12 of them being maps from 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as the franchise reaches the 20th-anniversary mark. Again, this comes off the heels of last year’s release being devoid of anything that connected the old and new versions of the game.
The Zombies mode returns, which may be a series first for a modern-era title, as they mostly supported Spec Ops. It seems to be a much larger version akin to Outbreak, which forces players into a large-scale map to complete objectives and survive against increasingly difficult mobs. Cold War featured this, and while it was a great way to level up guns, some players preferred the round-based format much more.
And – that’s all we have for news right now, but am I wrong for saying this reads – good? Most of the comments and reactions I’ve seen have loved the idea that Modern Warfare III is everything MWII wasn’t. Time will tell how much Activision and Vanguard developer Sledgehammer Games can deliver, as Call of Duty’s annual event, Call of Duty NEXT, takes place October 5th, ushering in what’s next in everything CoD while giving fans a look to see if there’s truth to the hype.
It’s a rather late showcase this year, but until then, I’m holding my ground and won’t budge until they show me something great or if the full reveal matches the written hype. We’re in the depths of the CoD cycle: the proverbial phenomenon where the previous title has exhausted its stay, and the next title is on its way, dropping breadcrumbs to keep up the hype. While MW3 reads great on paper, 16 years of ups and downs is hard to overcome.
Do something cool Sledgehammer Games, or at least something cool enough to hold us over until Treyarch returns next year.
Johnnysworld 