Call of Duty’s third installment of the Modern Warfare series is upon us. With the start of the open beta and early access last weekend, PlayStation Users got to taste first followed by all other platforms this weekend, as of this writing.
With Modern Warfare 3, the features and playlists were all so similar to the others in the Modern Warfare Reboot series, but what I observed during my gameplay was the customization options and gunplay. At first, the gunplay mechanics were all so clunky or stiff, as I expected it to be similar in fluidity to Modern Warfare 2. One might even imagine the gameplay being reminiscent of COD Ghosts.
I spent time in multiplayer matches, such as Kill Confirmed, Hardpoint, and Team Deathmatch. As one would expect, it was competitive as hell and even more fast-paced, with the movement mechanics being improved. I would say, like the Mantling movement, I didn’t expect to have my operator climbing things at a faster pace than before.
But one thing that piqued my interest was the revamped Perk system, which turned into what they called the Gear system. Basically, turning what we know as Perks into Gears or clothing accessories such as Gloves, Boots, and Vests.
Here, you can equip several gears of choice, each with its own attributes and bonuses that stack up when you combine one gear with another. During my gameplay, I opted to equip either the Quick Grip Gloves or the Commando Gloves, with the first one being able to quickly swap weapons and the latter being able to reload while sprinting. And with the Boots gear, I opted for the Stalker boots for increased ADS and strafe speed.
And for the Vests, which can affect your other Gears and weapons, I went for the Gunner Vest on one loadout and the Engineer Vest for another.
The Engineer Vest is mostly equipment and explosives-focused, which gives me additional tactical grenades and more Gear slots to choose from, all of which are useful to me in game modes such as Hardpoint. The Gunner Vest, on the other hand, is useful for run-n-gun type tactics, as to spawn in with increased ammo, reload speed, and another primary weapon, replacing the Overkill perk from previous games.
Other Gears, such as the Bone Conduction Headset, reduce overall combat noise, similar to the headsets from Escape From Tarkov, allowing you to hear footsteps and gunshots more. The Mission Control Comlink reduces Killstreak points, allowing you to call in your UAV even faster.
As for the maps and game modes, the fast-paced, usual classics are there, Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, and so on, along with the OG Modern Warfare 2 maps, such as Favela, Estate, and the ever-chaotic Rust.
It gives us players nostalgia for the golden days when we would slaughter each other for hours on end. And, that’s really it, nostalgia. But with its promise to have the maps be “modernized” feel, mixed in with some new features such as the Tac Stance, it really stirred up a new vibe to playing in the OG maps.
The Tactical ADS or “Tac Stance”, gives me a new edge in playing close-quarters maps such as Rust and Skidrow, by switching to it during close-range battles. It really delivered as being the bridge to hipfire and ADS, but it really isn’t a necessary option, as we veteran players can always do with the hipfire option, spraying without ADS by pure muscle memory alone. And I also can’t wait to further explore this new ADS option in Warzone soon.
Also making its way into Modern Warfare 3’s game modes is Cutthroat, a small-team tactics game mode, where 3 opposing teams of three must fight out who is the last team standing, with an Overtime mode where you must capture the flag to win. A sort of mix between Search and Destroy and 2019’s Modern Warfare’s Gunfight, this certainly adds a new flavor to Modern Warfare 3’s game modes.
Map voting is back, this feature has been missing for quite some time, but now it has finally returned, giving us players the option to choose between maps while playing in our favored game modes.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Modern Warfare 3 will still deliver the same fast-paced arcade FPS we all know and love. Given that this one is still in its beta phase, I am hopeful that there will be fixes and balances made, such as Flashbangs in this game are so overpowered you aren’t able to see for a good few seconds, which to me feels like a minute being blind. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this Open Beta phase, and I will look forward to some new features during the release.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 will be released on November 10 for PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.