Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Hands-On Preview [E3 2011]

During last week’s E3 expo, we dropped by the Activision booth and waited in line for a bit for the opportunity to try one of the next big shooters that gamers are foaming at the mouth to get their hands on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

If you don’t know what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is then it may be time to crawl out from that rock you’ve been living under. But just in case, here is a little bit of information on what the game is about. Modern Warfare 3 takes place in an alternate timeline where the world is on the brink of another World War after the events of the second game in the series and tells a story from the perspective of multiple soldiers fighting on different fronts for various allied armies.

What we got to try out during our visit to the booth was a mode of co-op spec ops called survival, where two players team up and battle off waves of enemies that grow progressively stronger as each new wave appears. To help deal with the enemies, there was the option to use the Armory during the game, which lets you purchase new weapons and upgrades on the fly. The map, called Dome, was a decent size and fairly standard. It seemed like a wise option for the mode we were playing but nothing about it really stood out.

Visually the game looks really good and it carries a fantastic level of detail. All of the explosions and enemies looked really smooth and the game comes off as pretty polished, considering how early in the development cycle it is. The controls didn’t change at all and the overall feel of the game remains the same as always, with the exception being that the character feels like he moves a bit heavier, not as swiftly as before.

It is kind of hard to describe Modern Warfare 3 as something fresh or new, to be honest it is just like the last few titles with a few changes to the multiplayer but nothing really ground breaking or awe inspiring. Infinity Ward found a formula that works for them and they’re going to stick with it.

Gamers that enjoyed the last couple of Call of Duty games will likely find Modern Warfare 3 enjoyable and for those that felt like part two was just more of the same, you’re probably going to feel like that about this one.