Almost two week ago, Activision released the latest version in its Modern Warfare series, Modern Warfare 3. Because of all the excitement surrounding it, I did something I’ve never done before. I went to the midnight release and immediately started playing when I got home. Two hours later I finally went to bed. I had taken the next day off and played it most of that day.
Now, after having played it for two weeks, and prestiging once, I feel qualified to make a fair assessment of the game. Overall, the game is good, but it’s not great. There are some things I love about it and some things I really don’t like. Granted, on the Xbox I have only played Black Ops and not Modern Warfare, but I have played a lot of other games on the PC.
Overall, it feels and plays a lot like Black Ops, which isn’t a surprise since it’s related, but there are a lot of differences too. In Black Ops, players were limited to choosing their killstreaks once per game, but in MW3, killstreaks (technically pointstreaks as they’re now called) are set in each individual class rather than by themselves, which means a player can have five to ten different configurations depending on how many times they’ve prestiged. This is huge because you can start of with an aggressive package of guns and pointstreaks, but if needed, switch to a more defensive role using different guns and pointstreaks.
Also, there are different types of pointstreaks. In Black Ops, kills counted towards killstreaks until you died, at which point they reset, and that was the only type available. This is true in MW3 if you choose the Assault pointstreaks. They work the same way and include more aggressive things like bombers, missiles and other items that hurt the enemy.
MW3 introduces two new types of pointstreaks, Support streaks and Specialist streaks. Support streaks offer some of the same items as Assault streaks like UAVs and Counter UAVs, but they take more kills to get, however, the big difference is the streak doesn’t reset when someone dies. Say, for instance, someone gets 2 kills and dies and then gets 2 more kills. In Assault mode, no pointstreaks would be given, but if someone is running support, 4 kills, even if they died in the middle will result in a UAV.
This good and it’s bad. It helps those who don’t earn high kills, but it makes it easy for bad players to get pretty powerful pointstreaks like the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse).
The second new type of pointstreak is the Specialist, which lets you gain extra perks. Normally a player has three perks available for use, but with Specialist, after two kills, a third perk becomes available. Then, after four kills another and after six another. Then, if someone is able to get eight kills, every perk in the game becomes available and is equipped for that player until they die. Kills do not stack like they do with Support, and the extra perks disappear when a player dies.
Another difference is the size of the maps. In Black Ops, the maps were small to medium size, but in MW3, most of the maps are huge. This is great for Groundwar, but it can make it difficult to hold down objectives in certain game modes.
The maps are also very open. Black Ops tended to have a lot campers because they could put a claymore at one entrance and then guard the other, but this isn’t the case in MW3. It’s harder to stay in one spot because players are more exposed and can be approached from multiple directions. That doesn’t mean people don’t camp, however. I was in a lobby last night, and the enemy couldn’t camp in one spot the whole game, but they would move around and camp in different spots, so it became really difficult to be aggressive.
For those who prestige, this is different than Black Ops too. In Black Ops, players basically just unlocked a new class each time they prestiged, but in MW3, players are awarded one prestige point each time they prestige and can choose how they use it. A new class can be unlocked. A weapon can be unlocked so it’s always available, and players don’t have to wait till they reach a certain level to use it. Perks can be unlocked the same way. This is cool because it lets players choose what works best for them. Some might only need a few classes but want a certain gun and perk combination. No problem. It can be done. Others may want to setup different classes for different game modes and not worry about what guns they have. No worries. It can be done. This part of the new game is awesome!
Overall, I like the game and enjoy playing it, but it takes awhile to get used to. I think most people will find it harder to maintain a high Kill/Death compared to Black Ops because of the open maps. The way pointstreaks are setup in each class is great. The way players choose how they want to use their presige points is neat. The large, open maps, will take some getting used to, but I’m slowly learning them, but overall I’m happy I bought the game.
What are your thoughts of the new game?
