This is my follow up for Call of Duty MW3 now that the game has been out (and a few patches later) for about a month. It is that time for me to join the other COD players to go over its positive and negative points of the game.
First, let me say that overall I do enjoy the game (when it is working). So I should go over what I enjoy about the game first before going into the issues I’ve been suffering with.
Game Modes - MW:3 offers new game modes in both single and multi-player.
In single player we get Spec-Ops with either Survival or the ability to Play one of the Campaign chapters. Personally I love Survival – either single player, split screen with a friend, or online.
In Multi Player you get Kill Confirmed or what I call “Smear the Queer” Flag Defender. Kill Confirmed refreshes the basic TDM match by making it all about getting and preventing the enemy from getting the dog tags that drop after a player has been killed. Flag Defender offers a different twist where your team has to not only capture the flag, but hold on to it, and defend it. The team that holds the flag the longest wins.
Split Screen - The ability to actually go online with a buddy in split screen is awesome! They didn’t offer this in MW:2 and it was a pain in the ass when you wanted to play online – but your buddy was over and was stuck either watching you play or you had to play an offline match.
Campaign – All I can say is that the story has become so convoluted – I stopped trying to follow it in MW:2. But it is like Michael Bay on crack – full of action, explosions, and very fast paced. You won’t be falling asleep and the story line keeps you engaged throughout the story.
Multi Player
There are alot of great things added to MW:3 that I do like.
Point Streaks - (Formally Kill Streaks) In order to get that perk you now need to not only get the kills and stay alive you need to play the objective (for game types that require it of course). This has brought a little more balance into the game and preventing a ton of corner hiders from trying to kill whore throughout the game. With the breakdown of the three types available to you each having its own set of awards – it is a pretty good system. The breakdown of how you can pick your point streaks. You get your choice of Assault, Support, or Specialist. And being a mediocre player such as myself (never to see a MOAB 
) I can say I personally love the Support class.
Weapon Proficiency - The more you kill the more XP you get for your gun and the more unlocks become available to you. Even a casual player can end up getting to the higher proficiency relatively easy unlocking both perks for your gun as well as the different Camo types.
Perks – Overall I like the perks in the game. Where they are placed is decent enough. And getting pro versions of each type is fairly simplistic. I have been able to get the Pro version for just about everything in my first round of getting to level 80. For me the must have’s are Sleight of Hand and … um just about any of the others in the 2nd or 3rd slot. (Look to later for the negatives…)
Custom Classes – This is probably the best thing in the game (sadly enough). You can setup each class with not only your typical setups (guns, lethal, perks, etc..) but you can have each class have it’s own setup of point streaks allowing you to swap classes in the middle of a match to adjust to the needs of the game (and yourself).
Maps – Um… keep reading before I get into the Maps for the game.
So I apologize ahead of time – but there are few things wrong with the game that still want me to eat my headset.
Prestige Shop – I love how Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer re-introduced the Prestige Shop back into COD. Finally for those who put in the time will get rewarded. Bravo IW!
The Bad
With any game there are issues. MW:3 is definitely no exception to this.
Connection – The network connectivity of the game in consoles especially is horrid. Lag, skipping, freezing, and other myriad of issues make this game almost unplayable at times. When you have a good connection it is great – but about half the time I find myself “floating” or the screen flickers causing me to die inadvertently. Also I end up losing a ton of gunfights due to the connectivity issues. Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer needs to address this – but I don’t know how they are going to.
Collision – A you tube commentator Woodysgamertag put out an open letter to Infinity Ward to fix this issue. I thought at first he was smoking crack. Now that I’ve put in enough time – I can see his points are valid. In Black Ops when you bumped into another player you stopped moving – period. In MW:3 you hop, skip, jump around and can get PUSHED by another player. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lined up a shot just to have it miss (and then I die) due to another player pushing into me. You would think this would be a simple thing to fix.
Maps – Yes, there are a few maps that are great. And this is going to be more my personal opinion. But before the game was even released Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer stated that the maps were going to be “less camper friendly” and more gun on gun type games. But with about half the maps they are terrible. Now they aren’t the huge maps you saw in Black Ops where you had to run for 10 minutes just to get blown up by a corner hider/ghost waiting for you. But you still end up getting shot by some crazy line of sight due to poor map design.
Game Balance – Overall I think the game is somewhat balanced. But with any COD game since MW:2 I am starting to see the same issues. Noob Toobers, Quick Scopers, and Kill Whores racking up pointstreaks – and you end up with the “rain of death” of too much air support in the air. Infinity Ward should have done what was done in Black Ops – only one air support in the air at any one time. I suppose this is just whining – I still tend to do fairly well in the game even with these folks (kill whores) trying to ruin the game.
Side note: I think Infinity Ward should nerf Snipers – I know this isn’t reality, but you should have some semblance of it. Force Sniper rifles damage to DECREASE the closer they are to a target – forcing them to be the support class that they are. If you want in the action – pick up an SMG or Assault Rifle. Just my 2 cents.
COD Elite Service – This has been a disaster of a service. Infinity Ward/Activision should have been prepared for the onslaught of people joining the service! And as of writing today 12/9/2011 they still don’t have it up and running 100%! Although they borrowed heavily from Black Ops and placed a service on the web with some more bells and whistles – you would have thought they were better prepared for this. I’m sure once they get enough servers the service will be awesome – with even the possibility of even getting a mobile app of the service for your iOS or Android smartphones.
Bonus XP – I know they worked out a deal with Dorritos and Mountain Dew. Yay, we get Double XP for drinking the swill or eating the chips. But was it really necessary to try and plague us with forcing players to eat junk food just to get a heads up in the game? Not to mention those who have already manipulated the system so they have the greatest chance to win the prizes offered? Meh.. I’m just being nitpicky at this point.
Too Easy! – Again I know this is just my opinion. But I don’t think there is a huge challenge with this game as there was with prior versions of the game. It just seems too easy – kills, perks, proficiency, badges… all of it has been dumbed down for the casual gamer instead of those who actually buy and play the game constantly. And I am just a single player who Pubs with only 18hrs played so far. Sure there will be the grind to Prestige – but I dont’ know if I will try and even get to 10 as I’m already starting to lose interest.
Sound and Options – I know.. we don’t NEED 10,000 options to adjust in the game. But it would be nice to have a few more than we are offered. Please fix it so we can turn down/off the in-game music! Also if we could altogether mute the sounds when we hit a milestone/level etc in the game? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go hide in a corner waiting for the stupid level up sounds to go away – which can take as long as 45 seconds!! (Yes I’ve counted).
Though people have stated that in-game sound is superior to what Treyarch is able to produce. I think there all smoking crack. MW:2 was great, Black Ops was decent, and MW:3′s sounds although should have been the SAME as MW:2 just aren’t quite the same.
Conclusion
Now.. overall I like the game. I am still enjoying it for the most part. I am even fairly successful with the normal learning curve I usually suffer through having been cut relatively short this time around. Maybe I’ve been playing COD too long now – but I expected a game with a bit more polish and fine tuning. On the plus side there have already been a few patches released to the game (which haven’t really impacted my game play at all). All I wish they could do is FIX THE CONNECTIVITY! Oh… and one last thing Activision/Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer – for the love of all that is gaming. FIX THE SOUND OPTIONS SO I CAN TURN OFF THE F***ING MUSIC!
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