Monday, June 21, 2010

Military Shooter Review


(this is re: E3)

I think for the most part, the best thing I can say about (upcoming shooter) is that the graphics are somewhat improved over (last year's version). The weapon selection is somewhat improved, and naturally the new guns are as lovingly modeled as those seen in the last entry of the series.

Game-play wise, this is the same reliable, responsive controls seen in previous entries of the franchise, but it is still my personal opinion that controls for (helicopter and or minigame sequence) could stand revision. I would like to see the ability to remap controls in the console version, I still don't understand why this isn't a standard feature in the 5th/10th/20th entry of this series.

In single player, you guide your player character, a heterosexual white male, through a series of missions, on many levels you are aided by several squadmates who are established tv/movie/game tropes. The minorities amongst them are stereotypical, although rendered quite well. After killing enough Russians, Arabs or Vietnamese you save the US/World from a Nuclear Weapon/some BS scifi weapon. The plot is serviceable although nothing we haven't seen before.

As with previous entries many of the dudebros buying this game will spend hundreds of hours shouting homophobic epithets at each other. The modes are fairly varied although for the most part you just kill other dudes and hope your viewpoint doesn't get covered with strawberry jam. The more you play multiplayer the more boosts and guns you unlock, a mechanic quite common in these games.

Fans of the series will be pleased, as this is the same shit they bought last year, there is literally nothing new for those who aren't dudebros though. Overall I give New Yearly Sequel of Modern Warfare Game 8.5 out of 10 dudebros.

4 comments:

Ms. Heathen said...

I'm willing to put up with a certain amount of dude-brosity if they'll let me have a P90 and an AK. Well, except for the America's Army franchise, I just can't get into there being so many controls to master. The M16 in that game is a dream, it's a damn shame you need twelve hands to play it.

Ian "Sol Invictus" Cheong said...

Too funny, and too damn true. What I'd give to play a game featuring a Russian soldier (either male or female) as the protagonist, with Americans as the bad guys. I mean, why not? The idea that Russians are the "bad guys" is a terrible assumption.

The Fremen said...

Ms. Heathen: I do love the P90, nothing like praying and spraying!

Sol Invictus: that's what was so great about Counter-Strike. You didn't have to be either SAS or Green Beret, there were options from other countries. It's also just ridiculous to have Russia v. USA in all these new games. If there ever is that much animosity I'm sure Russia would fight using a proxy. But yes, it would be nice to see a game where you play as a non-American, maybe learn a bit about how there's no such thing as Good Guys v Bad Guys when it comes to two nations fighting by killing their young men.

Ms. Heathen said...

Sol Invictus: My only problem with the Russians as the good guys is that most developing companies have them speaking Russian. I can pick up a couple of words like "information" and "grenade", but I can't divide my attention between audio cues and subtitles to find out what my team is saying. FPS games are the only games where I rely on audio cues to navigate, so I need them to be clear as day.