With the Opening Night Live, the official kick-off of gamescom 2023 took place, showcasing more than 45 trailers: including 8 minutes of the campaign from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. MeinMMO editor Maik thinks that the large audience could have been used for a real highlight.
What was shown at the ONL? As expected, viewers were treated to a fireworks display of trailers of the highest class. The event lasted 2.5 hours including a pre-show and featured more than 45 trailers. Here you can find a list of all the games shown.
Among them was Modern Warfare 3. 8 minutes of the first campaign mission were shown. Taskforce 141 infiltrates a fortress in the dark and heavy rain, reminiscent of the Gulag on the original Warzone map Verdansk. The hint of nostalgia has caused a pulse, I admit it.
But ultimately, the presentation is too reminiscent of the campaign trailer from 2022 – a lot of water, action, and darkness (via youtube.com). CoD should have used the ONL and the broad audience to present the probably best innovation of the campaign: Open Combat Missions.
What it’s all about and why I’m looking forward to it, you’ll find out below. Here’s first the long campaign trailer from the ONL:
What are Open Combat Missions? Call of Duty has been the epitome of corridor levels for years. Large areas sometimes concealed that, but mostly it was from A to B, and along the way, you had to complete C. Sometimes D was a scripted surprise.
In CoD MW3, Open Combat Missions are supposed to break the mold. Well, about half of the missions should run in Modern Warfare 3 according to this pattern and offer a kind of sandbox where you decide how you want to proceed. Nothing new in the shooter genre, but for a CoD campaign, it is.
Creative Director David Swenson explained during the ONL: “You can go quietly, equip silenced weapons, and achieve all objectives without the enemy noticing that you are there. […] if you want to go loud, you can equip armor plates and attack the enemy head-on. [Open] Combat Missions will support that.”
CoD MW3 launches on November 10. With the right edition, you can access the campaign earlier:
Why could this be good? It immediately reminded me of two things and raised a question:
- Sounds like Ghost Recon
- Reminds me of the Spec-Ops “Time Trial” missions from MW2 (2009)
- Can this be played in coop?
Depending on how open the missions actually are, this could be a lot of fun. However, it requires good NPCs and the right commands to implement something like this in a fun and comprehensive way. I am skeptical about that.
I also had to think about CoD MW2 (2009). There were coop missions with a worldwide leaderboard. Some of these missions had different solutions that were not obvious. Once, my friend and I made it to 6th place on the leaderboard because we had found such a path.
That was a real grind festival, as every millisecond made a big difference. If the Open Combat Missions are inspired by that and offer multiplayer, I see a lot of potential for replayability.
If they are just normal missions that offer two or three obvious solutions in a larger area, later used as a battle map for the big multiplayer modes, nothing will change.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 relies on a proven successful concept: nostalgia. Thus, the shooter will launch with 16 maps in multiplayer – all from Modern Warfare 2 of 2009.
For my part, it could be a little more nostalgia. The Open Combat Missions as a time trial with multiplayer would be such a measure. But please leave the “Noob Tubes” in the drawer.
What do you think about the presentation of the campaign and Open Combat Missions? Leave a comment. If you want to learn about CoD MW3, check out our comprehensive info article: CoD MW3 2023: All info on release, beta, pre-order, and leaks
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