Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Same sh*t different day

It feels kind of redundant to review a game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 no matter how big this franchise has become. Except for maybe a couple of tweaks, this is essentially the same Call of Duty you played last year, the year before that and so on. The adrenaline pumping single player is polished, exciting and short but you already knew that. The multiplayer is fast paced, deep and addictive. Guess what, you knew that too. So should you buy this game? Yes, if you’re a fan who will never get tired of Activision’s successful formula. On the other hand, if you never liked this series to begin with, Modern Warfare 3 definitely won’t change your mind.

Who doesn't like set pieces?

The single player kicks off right after the events of Modern Warfare 2. Players join Soap McTavish, Captain Price and a bunch of new recruits as they race around the clock to stop the evil Makarov who’s hell bent on starting World War III. Players who’ve stuck with this series since Modern Warfare will get some sort of closure as the story comes full circle with a satisfying ending. There are also quite a few nods to previous games that were appreciated.

 

On Video: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

As far as gameplay goes, you know the drill all too well. In every level you’ll encounter waves of respawning enemies till you trigger an invisible event marker or complete your objective. You’ll constantly be assaulted by set-pieces some of which even after three games (three Modern Warfare games i.e.) are downright impressive. Modern Warfare 3 is a painfully short game but there’s rarely a dull moment. I’ll give them that. Sure you’ll have a few minutes of boring shoot outs where you simply duck in one place and shoot the brain dead enemies baying for your blood but for most of the time, the game moves at an enjoyable pace. You’ll experience a slight respite from all the relentless shooting with a few stealth segments but before you start feeling like Sam Fisher, the poop hits the fan and its guns blazing till the end of the level.

Through the fire and the flames

After the five hour single player campaign (you expected more?) you can head online for some co-op via the game’s Spec Ops mode introduced in Modern Warfare 2, tackle the all new Survival mode or get lost into the game’s biggest draw, its competitive side. Versus play works like older games where you level up, unlock cooler weapons, customize them, choose your perks, killstreaks and go to town on your enemies. Unfortunately most of the maps present in this game are really small making your lifespan very short. After coming out from a game like Battlefield 3 where team work is essential to success, Modern Warfare 3’s lone wolf attitude felt a bit off. Plus the game’s become too fast paced for its own good with encounters ending in the blink of an eye. And since maps are so small, spawn points are haywire and once enemies start stacking their killstreaks against your team, prepare to die a lot. Still if you’re a fan of the game’s uber fast paced combat, you’ll enjoy what MW3 throws at you.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/gaming/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-same-sht-different-day/257372

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Posted in Call of Duty , Call of Duty: Modern , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 leak , CoD , Modern Warfare 3 , Modern Warfare 3 trailer , MW3

Guns drawn in Activision, EA shooter game battle

The two biggest U.S. companies in the video game industry are preparing for a gunfight. This holiday season, Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts will battle for supremacy in the $5 billion a year market for first-person shooter video games. Just two weeks apart, the two companies are releasing major sequels of games where players shoot weapons through the perspective of on-screen characters. EA is coming out with "Battlefield 3" on Oct. 25; Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" hits store shelves on Nov. 8. The first-person shooter game genre ranks as the industry's largest segment, according to video game research firm EEDAR.

With global video game sales taking a beating in recent years as cheaper online games emerge, the competition between Activision Blizzard and EA is both a much-needed jolt of excitement and a welcome event for investors. "It creates a lot of buzz for the industry. These are two very high quality titles and when there's high quality content, there will be demand that follows it," said Andre Chan, an analyst at Neuberger Berman, a firm that owns Activision Blizzard shares.

Chan said shares of each company will swing on the first batch of sales data for the games, which can be played on computers and on consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox or Sony's PlayStation. "There will definitely be some impact on the share prices, depending on how well the first day numbers or five day sales numbers are," he said. Sensing an opportunity to goose sales, the CEOs of both companies have been engaging in some playful taunting. During a television appearance in June, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, said that he had only seen footage of EA's game on a computer, the implication being that it wouldn't play well on consoles. That didn't please EA boss John Riccitiello, who fired back by telling Reuters that, "The very fact that (Kotick) is trying to cast doubt on our game is a perfect example of how we got his goat." Trash talk notwithstanding, from a sales perspective EA is bringing a knife to a gun fight. "Modern Warfare 3" is the latest installment in Activision's Call of Duty series, one of the most profitable franchises not just in video games, but in all of entertainment. Last year, "Black Ops," the previous edition of Call of Duty, made $360 million in its first day on sale, more than double Harry Potter's record-breaking opening weekend box office take in June.

The call of the battlefield rages on

Activision's head of publishing, Eric Hirshberg, said that pre-orders for the latest edition of the game were "significantly ahead" of last year's numbers. "We are hopeful that we can pull off the unprecedented feat of delivering the biggest entertainment launch in history for the third year in a row," he said. To go along with the game, Activision is releasing "Call of Duty Elite," a new subscription service that costs $50 annually and offers extra online content, including apps for mobile devices and better ways for online group play. Gamers who buy both the new game and the service together in a package save $10. To differentiate itself from Call of Duty, EA has been touting the cinematic feel of "Battlefield 3," which features a technology called "Frostbite 2" that makes action appear more realistic. "They are going to sell a lot of copies of Call of Duty but our focus is to start taking market share away from them," EA's Chief Operating Officer, Peter Moore, said of Activision.

Moore noted that EA used the same strategy to make FIFA the No. 1 soccer video game. Still, most analysts agree that Activision's "Modern Warfare 3" will sell at least twice as many copies as EA's "Battlefield 3." But EA's aim is to gradually chip away at the lead and gain enough momentum to take the crown back from its rival in the next few years. "EA would be happy to sell half of what Call of Duty sells this year. But it does leave the opportunity for EA in 2014 or 2015 to try to beat Activision at their own game," said EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich. Activision Blizzard shares were down 7 cents at $12.85 while EA shares were up 48 cents at $24.31 in midday trading on Nasdaq on Friday.

source: http://tech2.in.com/news/gaming/guns-drawn-in-activision-ea-shooter-game-battle/249152

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Posted in Activision Blizzard , Activision Blizzard vs Electronic Arts , Battlefield 3 , BF3 , Call of Duty Elite , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 , COD3 , EA , EEDAR , Electronic Arts , PS3 , Sony PlayStation