If there’s one thing that has everyone talking about Modern Warfare 3 outside of the fact that all the MW3 maps are remakes of classic Call of Duty maps, it’s the fact that MW3 is going to let you “sneak through entire levels” like in the Hitman games through its new Modern Warfare 3 open combat missions. However, one way Call of Duty is upping the Modern Warfare 3 open combat missions difficulty to help keep it balanced is by making checkpoints few and far between. That’s right, these MW3 campaign missions are going to be a lot harder than you might think.
Ahead of the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 beta dates and the MW3 release date, Call of Duty offered fans their first look at the game’s new open combat missions – some of which seem to feature updated Verdansk POIs. Part of the “continued pursuit of innovation”, according to this Call of Duty Blog post on the new feature, these open-ended sections of the campaign aim to give players a new level of freedom with multiple avenues of approach that “redefine player agency”. That all sounds pretty good, right?
Well, there are going to be some drawbacks – a price to pay, if you will, for this new level of freedom. As associate director of level design Robert Pitts explains, “there are minimal checkpoints” in Modern Warfare 3’s open combat campaign missions. While this does offer you “additional opportunities to return to your mission infiltration point to rethink your strategy”, it does also mean that dying is going to cost you a lot more in terms of progress.
Saying that, though, it really does sound like you’re going to be able to use everything Call of Duty offers in any one of the MW3 game modes to succeed. You can use any one of the MW3 guns you want, take advantage of vehicles and killstreaks, and scavenge for loots and supplies as you make your way through each open-ended area.
Is this going to be a something we see in Call of Duty campaigns going forward, or is it a last-minute attempt to flesh out a shorter single-player experience for players paying a premium price to play? We’ll let you be the judge of that. All we know is that these open combat missions are going to offer something new for players to try out – and that’s never a bad thing when it comes to this franchise.
The questions, though, remain. Is this going to be one of the best FPS games we’ve ever played? Will Call of Duty rise to the occassion to become one of the best competitive FPS games again through MW3? Is there going to be a ‘No Russian’ mission in Modern Warfare 3, too? Only time will tell. One thing we do know, though, is that MW3 is making playing the objective even easier – so, you really have no excuse anymore.