Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops Review

I’d love to say that Modern Warfare 3’s Survival Mode is “new”, but it’s a hoard style game type, pitting you against waves of enemies that come in waves. You’ll earn money by killing enemies, and you use that money to by guns and perks (among other things). For anyone that’s ever played Zombies, it sounds insanely similar. The only main difference is they carry weapons, and they will shoot you. While there are other differences, like adding weapon attachments, body armor, sentry guns and various forms of air support, it seems the only way the difficulty is ramped up is the continual addition of more and more Juggernaughts. Survival is extremely fun, i must say. The AI gradually gets smarter and smarter, use different weapons and have more armor. New enemies are also added, with people planting claymores and chemical weapons, to dogs and humans strapped with C4.

Unfortunately, all survival maps are exactly the same as multiplayer maps. I would have rathered specific maps, like Zombies has. You can check your best against the rest of the world, with solo and co-op leaderboards for each maps, however, it only shows the last 3 numbers of your place, leading me to believe my wave 30 score made me about 150th in the world, when it actually was about 150 thousandth. Buzzkill.

Another major addition to Spec Ops is a leveling system and (gasp) hitmarkers. You gain experiences through kills and assists to go towards your rank, and to unlock items to use in survival.

Onto the specific Spec Ops missions. While many of Modern Warfare 2’s 23 missions were set in parts of campaign levels, all of Modern Warfare 3’s 16 missions are more or less working backwards through these levels, doing various different missions. In a Spec Ops mission, you want it to start immediately, so you don’t have to run through a starting event a million and three times trying to get three stars. One mission has you flying into the level, and circling around for a good few minutes before getting really into the level.

Juggernaughts are thrown in early into Spec Ops. In 2, they didn’t come in until the later missions, and were a lot more serious. It seems in three they’re thrown around so much you don’t really become scared when one pops up when you’re about to die. The music changed and they were generally badass. Now, they’re just like another enemy (they don’t look as scary any more).

Despite this, you will have some really awesome levels. There’s on flying in on a chopper offering support to your partner. You then pick them up, and you are dropped off while your partner then offers support. Another, defusing IEDs in a Juggernaught suit, and a great AC-130 level (I liked 2’s more, however). oh, and controlling sentry guns and generally owning people.

Nitpicking aside, there’s only really one main thing that could have been changed in Spec Ops (mainly survival), and that is in-game chat. When put alongside a complete stranger, it’s nice to have some form of communication with them. There’s not even a text chat!

And I just wanted to blow up some cars.

Modern Warfare 3 Campaign Review

I’d easily have to say Modern Warfare 3 would have to have been the most hyped-up game of 2011. Not the most anticipated, but the most hyped. In fact, since the Call of Duty series rose to worldwide fame between the first two Modern Warfares (mainly the second I’d say), each new game is insanely hyped up.

Now, unlike the several thousand people who got the game within the first few days, I left the series’ addicting multiplayer for later, and jumped into the campaign, which starts immediately after the events of Modern Warfare 2. Soap is gravely injured, Russia is attacking the USA, and Makarov is… Well, he’s not massacring people every time he goes to the airport. You don’t play as Soap this time, and Foley has been given the sack by infinity ward. Instead, you play as Yuri, alongside Price and Soap, and as Frost, part of an elite USA team.

There’s no doubting the games contain some pretty awesome moments in some pretty awesome locations, and Yuri, Frost and team rock up some serious frequent flyer points, travelling to New York, Russia, Africa, Germany, England and France. And while that’s pretty cool, I find it ruins the overall feeling of the game. What I liked so much about 1 and 2 was the American missions. While the stealth of playing as Soap/Yuri annoyed me, I would much rather the urban warfare seen in the American missions. In 3, the Americans you play as are also jet setting across the globe. After the first two missions, you’re never really in the same location again.

But it is a call of duty game after all. You’ll be driving through occupied Paris in a… Postal van, have the helicopter flying next to you shot down (shock horror), drive a tank into a parking lot and still not find a park, and of course, have several characters killed off, like a bad drama show. You’ll get halfway through the campaign with most main characters still kicking, but, true to tradition, they’ll drop like flies.

The game looks the same as Modern Warfare 2. It plays the same as Modern Warfare 3. lt’s like the world’s most expensive DLC. The new Modern Warfare offers many thrills, but it’s really quite typical of a Call of Duty game. There was a particular part of a level in London they could have left out, as it tugs at the heart-strings quite a bit. While it’s no airport massacre, the impending sense of knowing something’s going to happen makes it far worse in many ways.

Story wise, it hasn’t really brought anything new to the game. Sure, you get to see the sights, mainly in a particularly awesome French level with an AC-130, and fighting towards the Eiffel Tower. The AI is just as stupid as ever, getting in your way and missing the one enemy that always kills you on your Veteran run-through, however all completionists have in ways of getting 100% completion in the game are the intel items scattered across the game, giving little replay value to the campaign.

The big question is, will Battlefield 3 trump Modern Warfare 3? We’ll have to find out when I get it.

My Rating

Music: 9

Gameplay: 8.5

Creativity: 6

Graphics: 8

Other: 8

Total: 39/50

Thinking with Portals: Portal 2 Review

There’s no denying it. Portal 2 has big shoes to fill. The original game was about as witty and puzzling as it was indie. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, portal has you firing two portals to solve a series of puzzles, usually getting a cube onto buttons, paving your way to the exit. The first game had a pretty slow pace, waiting for those balls of energy (I’m sure they have a proper name) to fly and around and platforms to get to you.

I’ll assure you, Portal 2 lives up to expectations and more. Valve has obviously put a lot of time and thought into this game. Set after the events of the first game, you wake up with Aperture Science having seen better days. But, sure enough, pretty quickly you’re throwing portals everywhere (just not the black walls). To differ from the usual portal here, portal there, cube in here type of gameplay (which never gets old for me, by the way), there’s a few new puzzling additions to mix it up. Faith plates throw you into the air, and you have bouncy/low friction gel. The gels are great, you have to spread them all over the map, there’s even one gel that gives you more portal spaces. Finally, you have excursion funnels, which suspend you in mid-air, making gravity rage and Newton turning in his grave.

All these new additions really add to the puzzling element of that game. You think you’ve mastered one thing, nd then they combine two or more together. The game feels fresh throughout. The story, while not in-depth in the slightest, is so simple not to hinder your gameplay. Wheatley is just comedy gold, with great added humor to Glados’ antics throughout. And, typical for Valve, the music is awesome.

The major addition in Portal 2 is the addition of Co=operative mode. You and a friend (or a random) have to work together to solve puzzles through a umber of levels. It’s great fun with a friend. I’ve “accidentally” either thrown the level-ending cube into a pit or crushed my partner with a “mashy spike plate” (as Wheatley puts it) several times. You can’t help nearly pissing yourself with laughter while playing it.

Probably the only problem I have with Portal 2 is some stages, especially while underground, going on crazy hunts for a small patch of white wall to place your portal on. It’s not puzzling in the slightest, and just gets annoying. Besides that, I can’t fault the game for anything else past its shallow storyline.

My Rating

Music: 10

Gameplay: 10

Creativity: 10

Graphics: 8.5

Other: 8.5

Total: 47/50