• Format: PS3 (version reviewed), 360, PC, Wii
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
• Players: 1-18
• Site: http://www.callofduty.com/mw3

Call of Duty is a peculiar series. Each year it shifts millions of copies and is greeted with near unanimous critical praise, yet it also attracts a special kind of hatred from a vocal segment of the gaming community that consider it a microcosm of everything that is wrong with modern gaming.  If Call of Duty is to be an acquired taste, then with Modern Warfare 3 it’s one that is more refined than ever.

The singleplayer campaign is exactly what we have come to expect from Modern Warfare: a relatively short rollercoaster ride, punctuated by memorable set pieces. The narrative doesn’t quite reach the heights of the original Modern Warfare, but it succeeds in telling an engaging story which revisits familiar characters like Captain Price, Soap and villain extraordinaire Makarov. It’s fun controlling these violent men, but war is never glorified in a dark tale that focuses on a bleak near-future, where life is cheap and atrocities par for the course.

There is a lot of jumping around between various playable characters, especially in the early stages; but the narrative is far more coherent than Modern Warfare 2, though no less outrageous. Characters are better linked and relationships more clearly defined, though those new to the series may struggle to keep abreast of who’s killing who, and why exactly they are at each other’s throats.

The supporting cast is still full of generic characters who spout the kind of hoo-ra gibberish that might have you eyeing the mute button, but the perfectly paced plot and tight combat makes you more forgiving of these caricatures, as does an outstanding final third where every loose end is tied up. Aside from the ludicrous and ill-fitting death quotes that do their best to kill the atmosphere, it is otherwise an immersive experience throughout.

The campaign clocks in at a lean five hours, though it feels about right, as the spectacle would be in danger of losing some of its lustre were it a more prolonged experience. A great deal is packed into those hours, as you find yourself speeding through the streets of Paris in an old fashioned car chase and even storming a skyscraper fortress dressed like Robocop. With moments like these, Infinity Ward have proven yet again that they know exactly how to create the most polished and exciting kind of singleplayer, FPS experience.

Once you have finished with the campaign, MW3 nudges you towards the Special Ops mode; a welcome return from Modern Warfare 2 that significantly extends the game’s shelf life. This collection of 16 short-burst missions may be enjoyed alone or in co-op, and are great to dip in and out of. In answer to Treyarch’s popular Nazi Zombies, a survival mode has been introduced where you must outlast countless waves of enemies spread across surprisingly spacious maps, either on your lonesome or with a friend. Despite offering 100% less rotting fascists, it’s still fairly entertaining, though in comparison to the riches found elsewhere on the disc it will probably be of limited appeal.

Competitive multiplayer is better than ever before, thanks to a number of new editions that tweak the existing formula, as well as the new Elite service. An impressive sixteen levels are on offer, some better than others, from tight corridors to more cavernous settings that play host to the bigger matches on the playlist. All the standard deathmatch and objective based modes are present, alongside the welcome edition of Kill Confirmed – a brilliant team deathmatch variant where you must collect dog tags from your vanquished foes to score, an objective that discourages camping and rewards exciting and risky dashes for precious shinies.

Pointstreaks replace the killstreaks of old and offer a more nuanced set of rewards to support every kind of player. Completing objectives as well as racking up kills will contribute to any one of three streak types. The Assault package is most like the killstreaks of old; the Support set awards bonuses that benefit your team more directly, and your kill count does not reset when you die; and finally the Specialist option is best suited to more advanced players who are able to string together murderous rampages without croaking, offering stackable perks that make you more powerful the longer you survive. This restructuring makes a huge difference and rewards players who don’t only play for kill counts, as well as opening up more impressive perks to players of all abilities.

With the notable exception of a much desired mute-all button, Modern Warfare 3 is arguably the most feature rich and well-rounded FPS multiplayer around. Alongside the excellent campaign and the addition of Special Ops and Survival mode, it is an exhaustive package that will keep the fanbase more than happy and the naysayers spitting venom until next November rolls around. Sounds like business as usual then.

Grab your Modern Warfare 2 special edition night vision goggles and stalk around your dimly lit living room in excitement, because Modern Warfare 3 gameplay footage has broken from cover and can be seen above.

Urban combat seems to be at the centre of the third outing for this sub series of the Call of Duty games, with the trailer taking us on an explosive tour of France, Germany, America and England. From the brief flashes of action we can see a lot of hectic fighting, including staple elements of the Modern Warfare games so far, such as helicopter crashes and repelling down things.

New York gets bombarded by a submarine, a van is shot to bits in London, a man gets blown up in Paris and a tank shows up in Germany. It looks like the world has become an even less happy place to be. A train derailment, subterranean SCUBA diving experience and speed boat chase also suggest the set pieces the series has been inching towards with all the enthusiasm of a rabid dog chasing sausages will make a dominant return.

As a final reminder that this game will be taking a tour of chaos on a global scale, the M in the MW3 logo starts off inverted to read WW3.

It’s going to be another tense battle this year between EA and Activision, who are both gunning for the end of the year crown for best modern military shooter. We’ve seen footage of both now. Who do you want to win?

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’d like to remind our readers that Tarquin’s opinions do not necessarily coincide with those of anybody else at Critical Gamer. Tarquin’s views are only guaranteed to represent the views of Tarquin.

So, Microsoft will soon be increasing the prices of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions. Isn’t that terrible? Doesn’t it make you angry? I bet if you’re a Gold subscriber you’re going to do something about it, aren’t you? E mail Microsoft and detail exactly why you think the price rise is unjustified. Or perhaps you’ll ring Xbox customer support, and demand to speak to somebody with some authority so they can explain it to you directly over the phone. No, no, I know; you and a group of friends will start an internet campaign to boycott Xbox Live until the price rises are cancelled. Perhaps you’ll go a stage further and hold out for prices more reasonable than the current ones.

Or perhaps you’ll just whinge and whine on internet forums and in the comment boxes of articles. Perhaps you’ll complain loudly without hesitating to pull your trousers down as Bill Gates approaches, a smile on his face and a sharpened vibrator in his hand.

You PS3 fanboys can stop smirking, too. How many of you bought your console on the day of release, while it was carrying that preposterous price tag? Here in the UK, thousands of morons flocked to the shops to pay £425 for a console with one controller and no games. Idiots.

Oh yes, people moaned and people cried. People roared in disgust at such an outrageous RRP. Most of the same people were fighting to be first in line on day one, however. This is because, generally speaking, people are stupid. As individuals, human beings are far more shrewd and complex than marketing executives (a whole other species) give them credit for. Put people in some sort of large group, however – ‘gamers’, for example – and their IQs will tend to plummet to Big Brother contestant levels.

I bet you’ve forgotten about the Modern Warfare 2 debacle already, haven’t you? Allow me to kickstart your fickle little brains. It was announced, with plenty of notice, that the RRP would be significantly more than most gamers tend to pay for their new releases (£15 more in the UK and before anybody says, yes I know the RRP was technically only £5 more than normal, so fuck off). Within seconds of the announcement, forum crawlers and other internerds were inexpertly bashing their keyboards with rage, telling each other how angry they were and completely failing to use correct spelling and grammar whilst doing so. Very few people informed the game’s publisher, Activision, of their displeasure.

The game managed to break various sale records even before release, and still more a few short weeks after.

To recap: if you complained about Modern Warfare 2′s pricing and paid so much as a single penny more than you usually would upon release, you’re stupid. If you complained about the PS3′s release price but still paid it, you’re stupid. If you’re complaining about the Xbox Live Gold price hikes but have already resigned yourself to paying them, you’re stupid. If none of this applies to you, don’t worry. I do not doubt for a second that I could find several examples in your purchase history that would emphatically prove to my satisfaction that you are stupid.

With me so far?

Xbox Live Gold subscription fees to increase. Xbox 360 owners impotently mumbling amongst themselves about it. PS3 online features remain free, with an optional subscription service that offers certain extra benefits. What’s missing from this picture?

Please, stop your slack – jaw dribbling whilst scratching yourselves. I’ll tell you what’s missing. Sony taking advantage of this discontent, that’s what’s missing. I only know a little about the world of marketing and PR (thank god) but surely this is a golden opportunity for Sony to scream from the proverbial rooftops about their free online play, chat, and messaging? Why is this not happening? I’ve had a bit of a think about the situation, and these seem to be the three most likely explanations:

1. Everybody who works for Sony in every country in the world is unaware of the confirmed Xbox Live price rises.
2. All of the Sony PR and marketing employees are having a holiday on the Isle of Wight, listening to old Eddie Cochran records and enjoying a range of interesting cheeses.
3. Sony are waiting to see how easily Microsoft get away with the price increases for future reference.

In one of his interviews with Critical Gamer, Michael Pachter gives a bit of a wake up call. He points out that maintaining an online service is a lot of work with a lot of money involved, and Sony “isn’t so profitable that it can afford to be magnanimous forever”. This was shortly before the official announcement of PlayStation Plus; but with a seemingly small proportion of PSN users opting in to the service, and with so many paying so much for Xbox Live Gold, do you honestly believe that Sony would never consider making the subscription fee compulsory?

If that ever happened, the overwhelming majority of PSN users would pay it. I know it, Sony know it, and you know it whether you’re prepared to admit it or not. There would be a hurricane of criticism and protest to begin with, oh yes. There would be a veritable army of friendless geeks with nothing more important in their worthless, empty lives that would spend every day for a month telling everybody who’ll listen (and many who won’t) that they’ll boycott PSN if the fee becomes compulsory. Sony will apologise profusely yet stand firm; the day will come when the fee becomes compulsory; and those who complained the loudest will pay at the last minute, realising that without their online interactions they will have no way of pretending they’re worth something to the world and would therefore be morally obligated to commit suicide.

I suppose that deep down, such people liken these financial shaftings to being raped by an elderly relative whilst visiting them on holiday. It’s a nasty, traumatic experience; but one that they manage to resign themselves to by suppressing the memory until the next year.

What do I suggest to remedy the situation? Nothing. I can’t do anything. You’re all fucking idiots.

Thanks for reading!

We thought that there weren’t nearly enough podcasts on the internet, so we’ve started our own. Hurrah! In this, our very first podcast:

• Shake your fists! As you agree or disagree with the Modern Warfare 2 vs Bad Company 2 opinions within.
• Nod your head sagely! As three of us have our say on the prospect of PlayStation Move and Natal.
• Get Excited! As we discuss LittleBigPlanet 2.
• Scratch your head in confusion! As you hear how the British will overthrow their government via the sale of biscuits.

Critical Talk is hosted, edited, and produced by Steven (who also wrote the music). He is joined here by Michael and Anthony.

Under-siege mega-publisher Activision must be feeling as though there is hope after all, as they announced today a 10 year publishing deal with Bungie, best known for the hugely successful Halo series.

Bungie will be creating and retaining any new IPs released during the partnership, but Activision will have exclusive rights to distribute their games world-wide. As has been speculated since Bungie split from Microsoft it seems they will be looking to go the multi-platform route with their next big game, citing Activisions “multi-platform experience and marketing expertise.” as key reasons behind the partnership.

Activision have of course been in the news a lot lately as former figurehead studio Infinity Ward continues to crumble. But despite the bad press and negative fan reaction, Bungie are a developer with plenty of fans of their own and huge expectations for their future output.

In what continues to be one of the messiest break ups in gaming history, Activision’s Infinity Ward has seen more key staff members quit their jobs amidst continued cries of subterfuge on one side and unpaid dues on the other. Amongst the latest batch include two key level designers, a lead programmer and a specialist that all worked on Modern Warfare 2 and brings the number of departed to the (current) grand total of twenty five.

It isn’t confirmed at this point where the latest leavers will end up, but it is highly likely that they will follow in the footsteps of those before them and join Jason West and Vince Zampella at Respawn Entertainment, which has recently teamed up with Activision’s rival EA in a partnership deal.

Though it may be the gaming equivalent of spying on the latest Peter/Jordan divorce details in Heat magazine, we’re sure this isn’t the end just yet – especially once the court proceedings begin.

(Source: Kotaku)

After taking a month or so out of work since they were kicked out of Infinity Ward by Activision’s security division, Jason West and Vince Zampella are back in the game, today announcing the formation of Respawn Entertainment, a development studio partnered with EA.

Causing a major stir at the start of March, the creators of the wildly successful Call of Duty franchise were fired over claims of insubordination from Activision. Now the two are setting up their own studio which promises that its leadership will be ‘the owners of the intellectual property they create’. It looks like they don’t want to be losing anymore multi award winning, money spewing game series.

“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me,” said Vince Zampella, General Manager of Respawn Entertainment. “For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We’re very proud of what we built – and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.”

“We’re excited,” added Jason West, President of Respawn Entertainment. “Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve.”

Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label commented, “This is the start of a great publishing partnership – one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises. Jason and Vince are two of the top creative leaders in the entertainment industry. At EA, we’re honored to be their partners and to give them the support they need to hire a team and return to making incredible games.”

The true irony of the matter is that before Call of Duty, West and Zampella were involved with the team that created Medal of Honor for EA. It will be interesting to see what comes from Respawn Entertainment, but based on what the guys at the head of it have produced so far, we have high hopes.

Speaking to Critical Gamer, high profile research analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities Michael Pachter weighed in with his thoughts on the recent news surrounding Activision and the firing of Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West .

“It would be terrible for Activision if Zampella/West won the rights to the brand, only mildly negative if they win the monetary portion.

With that said, I think it is highly unlikely that Zampella/West will win the rights to the brand. I have not seen their contracts (I am a lawyer), but my understanding from the news commentary about the suit is that they had the rights to supervise and control modern warfare versions of the game under their old contract. What was not reported is whether these rights were granted to them as employees (likely). If so, when they are no longer employees, they presumably lose those rights.

The situation is analogous to firing the coach of a sports team, who continues to claim the right to set the the team’s line up.

I don’t think that they will win any rights over the brand, but they may win some money. With 1.3 billion shares, the amount sought is only around $0.02/share, so it won’t cripple Activision.”

Either way, it seems this story is set to run and run, with law suits filed and new developments on a daily basis. The future of one of gamings biggest and most lucrative franchises hangs in the balance.



With the recent sackings at Infinity Ward, and the worrying press release from Activision stating that three new Call of Duty games are being developed, and that they are looking at “new digital business models” (subscriptions?) for the franchise, the question is where does the money making war machine go from here?

Modern Warfare 2 is a good game, but there are a few things that could be improved. The graphics engine is nearly three years old now and it’s beginning to show its age. Killzone 2 may not be the COD killer Sony hoped, but it certainly destroys Infinity Ward’s game graphically. Modern Warfare 2′s textures just aren’t as crisp or detailed, and the characters look like Action Man figures rather than people. Fellow FPS Battlefield: Bad Company 2 utilises the Frost graphics engine, and basically everything can be flattened and disfigured by the surrounding warfare. Compared to Modern Warfare’s rigid environment it feels a lot more visceral and more akin to what you would expect in the battlefield. It also makes every game vastly different, and gives players the freedom to create sniping spots for themselves. A lot of people (mainly the hardcore) might disagree, but vehicles also add something different to the game, and are well balanced in Dice’s game. Think Grand Theft Auto in a warzone and you’re not far off.

Dice's Battlefield Bad Company 2 uses the superbly destructive Frost graphics engine.

A common complaint of the COD series is the relatively short single player experience. Modern Warfare 2 only takes around 4 to 6 hours to complete, which is disappointing, considering games like Bioshock 2 and Uncharted 2 have single players that can take 12 to 20 hours to complete. The multiplayer modes in these games are just the cream on top of the gaming cake, not the main course, and gives the gamer a lot more value from their purchase.

In Zipper Interactive’s MAG and the Battlefield series there are different character classes like Medic and Engineer, who can heal comrades and repair vehicles/structures, as well as the stock assault or sniper class from the COD franchise. This adds extra tactical elements to the game, which Activision’s series currently lacks. MAG and Killzone 2 also have decent clan support, with the ability to form and also challenge other clans in a leaderboard structure, which is a lot easier than using a third party website to organise matches, that you currently have to do when playing COD. For such a hardcore online-centric game to not have this feature is a major omission in my opinion.

Killzone 2's graphics are far superior to Modern Warfare 2's

One thing that disappointed me in Infinity Ward’s latest game was the multiplayer maps. I really enjoyed Highrise and Terminal, which felt new; but a lot of the other levels often felt overly familiar to some COD4 maps, with the re-use of textures and elements from the original game perhaps making the problem more apparent. I have a sneaking suspicion they may be holding back some of the better maps as downloadable content for extra revenue. The servers and online matchmaking could also do with a revamp. As MAG has shown, you can have a lag free game, and even when the host leaves the game there is no interruption to the battle, unlike the quite common disconnections in the COD series.

The Spec Ops part of Modern Warfare 2 is probably the most interesting addition to the game, and I’d like to see this expanded in future editions, with perhaps the ability to play through the full game with a squad of mates. In many ways playing along with friends is more enjoyable than taking on a mob of obnoxious teenage Americans, who invariably camp or use lag switches to gain an advantage. Cheating is quite rife in the COD universe, and not long after Modern Warfare 2 was released I met many people with maximum prestige, even when it was impossible to achieve in that time frame. Looking at the top of the leaderboard you can see players with unachievable scores, and this is something that needs addressing to preserve the integrity of the series with law abiding gamers.

Spec Ops is a great new addition to the COD franchise.

I know I’m being ultra critical, this is Critical Gamer after all, and the COD series still has that crack cocaine addiction, and is still one of the top FPS games around. I just feel it’s needing an overhaul or re-imagining to stay on top. Activision have already admitted that they don’t expect this year’s apparently Vietnam based entry to fare as well as Modern Warfare 2 last year. Perhaps they realise that the competition is now overtaking them in certain areas and they need to rethink the following year to stay ahead of the game. Or more likely, with the addition of another developer and a third game, they are just going to milk the franchise dry while it’s still popular with the masses, who will religiously buy the latest game regardless.

Think of the bus as Modern Warfare 2 and the wee cars as the other games waiting for it to pass.

2009 according to many, was a light year when it came to ‘big’ and quality releases. This perception is mainly due to the latter half of the year being dominated by Modern Warfare 2. However the rest of the year was alive with interesting, high quality and fun titles for all the platforms.

The PS3 had Uncharted 2, amongst other games; the Wii had everything from New Super Mario Bros, to Madworld; the Xbox 360 had Halo ODST (perhaps not 10/10 material but still good) and Left 4 Dead 2. Additionally there were multiplatform titles such as The Beatles Rock Band, DJ Hero, Batman Arkham Asylum and Assassins Creed 2 to keep the faithful happy. Heck; even the PSP got in on the action with some quality AAA titles such as Resistance Retribution, Little Big Planet PSP, Another Star Wars Battlefront game, and at the start of 2010 an amazing SOCOM title.

2009 was a good year, and ironically the Modern Warfare 2 tank of a marketing machine helped the release schedule become manageable for the average player. So many games were pulled from the winter period of 2009, and instead marked for release in 2010, it allowed us gamers a much clearer picture of where to spend our money.

From the point of view of many game reviewers, 2010 is the year. We are expecting a ton of AAA content, some of which has already been released, such as Mass Effect 2. Look out though, as we also have Battlefield Bad Company 2, Red Steel 2, Red Dead Revolver Redemption, Final Fantasy XIII, Metro 2033, Just Cause 2, Metroid M, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Sega All Star Racing, SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3 (just out) and of course Halo Reach, plus way more!

The problem is, will all these games hit their estimated sale figures? We are in effect still in a recession or at least (if you want to be optimistic) not in a boom. Who can afford all these games, and will there be some people who don’t buy any due to inertia caused by not being able to handle such a level of choice?

The thing is, the list above only covers the new games. Meanwhile there will be more DLC for Assassins Creed 2, a huge DLC pack for Modern Warfare 2, DLC for Borderlands and more besides!

You have not heard the last of this bad boy. It might end up owning 2010 too!

It seems to me that we might be in over our heads as an industry and as a fan base. Just as the car industry found that the industry had too many cars being produced, might the videogame industry find we have too many AAA titles being produced? In many ways this particular Grump feels like a follow up to my ‘How long have you got?’ article a few weeks back. However you look at it, 2010 seems awfully congested. Is the industry growing that fast in a time of a poor economic outlook to sustain this level of output and production?

If a lot of this content could be sold into new emerging, ‘non-western’ markets then it would make sense. However console gaming as we know it is still small fry in China and India, where there is the triple attack of poverty, piracy and a different culture of interactive entertainment in the form of the free to play MMO.

Talking of MMOs this one is due an update soon. I think it'll eat into a lot of people's time.

I’m not suggesting that the industry is a bubble which will burst, 1980s style. However, come 2011 there might be quite a few layoffs and companies like EA, which have already spent one and half years getting very lean, will become smaller still in terms of staff numbers.

So where does that leave all the developers, artists, composers and coders who earn a living from this great industry? Well, companies like EA still want to produce product, but less and less of it will be AAA focused, or even AA focused. More and more talented designers will be producing apps, online experiences, and smaller projects. Additionally, those AAA games that are still going to be made, will become even larger productions, with larger teams.

The music industry has reacted to the ‘long tail’ of having millions of competing independent artists, by concentrating their production and marketing scale into a smaller collective of ‘top line’ acts, a model mirrored by the large Holywood studios. Consequently, so too we will see the videogame industry adopting a similar take on their business models.

Nintendo had a low key 2009 for the hardcore. 2010 on the other hand seems to be a hardcore frenzy. New Galaxy, Sin and Punishment 2, Metroid M, Zelda and more! What third party would want to release their product into that mix in 2010?

So, there will be less AAA, boxed games. But where we have AAA games, the quality will be exemplary. Alongside the outstanding and costly AAA releases, there will be far more downloadable, web community and app based products to compliment their blockbuster bretheren. There will be a plethora of income models, some being traditional ‘cash over the counter’ whilst others being indirect, back end consumer transactions.

2010 is exciting, as the release schedule congestion is going to result in a very different looking industry in 2011. One that will offer more choice than ever to the consumer.