Modern Warfare 3 Feature Needs to Break a Sad Trend
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Highlights
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 faces criticism for being seen as a glorified DLC and relying on past game content, but the recent beta has convinced some fans of its value.
- The Call of Duty franchise has struggled to strike a balance between pleasing fans who want something new and those who prefer the traditional formula, resulting in a disappointing trend of abandoning new features after one entry.
- Modern Warfare 3 introduces a potentially game-changing mechanic called “Tac-Stance” that has received positive reception during the beta. Sledgehammer Studios has the opportunity to break the trend of axing features and make a significant impact on Call of Duty multiplayer.
The annual Call of Duty cycle remains controversial, and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will change that. For a good few months at the start of the year, it was heavily rumored that there would be no full Call of Duty release this year, and for many fans, that was actually a little bit exciting. The notion that Activision was taking a year off to really refocus and get the next Call of Duty entry right was definitely an enticing one, but inevitably, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was eventually announced, and it’s been a bit of a rocky road ever since.
Upon its initial announcement, many fans viewed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as little more than a glorified DLC, with no original 6v6 maps of its own, and a heavy reliance on bringing over content from past games. While this is still definitely on the minds of many fans, the recent Modern Warfare 3 Beta did seem to convince some folks that the game does hold some value. But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 very much still needs to prove itself, and a great way to do that is by breaking a recent, disappointing trend for the franchise.
Call of Duty Needs to Stop Abandoning New Features After One Entry
The Call of Duty franchise has been around for two whole decades now, and for the last one and a bit, it’s been constantly derided for retaining the same general formula for the vast majority of its modes. To be fair, the Call of Duty crowd is an infamously difficult one to please. When Call of Duty devs shake things up a bit too much and introduce new mechanics many openly mock it for trying something new and wants a “return to form.” But when Call of Duty keeps the same formula, fans complain that they’re just buying the same game again and again every year. It’s a difficult balance to strike, and most Call of Duty games of the last decade haven’t quite succeeded in hitting it.
This constant desire to please everyone has led to one of the saddest trends in Call of Duty history. Over the last ten years or so, whenever a new feature is added to Call of Duty and it isn’t an instant smash-hit, it’s gone by the time the next annual release rolls around, usually never to be seen again. Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ Extinction mode, Call of Duty: WW2‘s Headquarters and War game mode, and Advanced Warfare‘s speed reload are all just a few of the biggest examples of this disappointing trend.
Interestingly, it’s usually Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty entries that actually try to experiment the most with new features, modes, and mechanics, and as such it’s usually the studio that sees the most axed features in subsequent entries. But Sledgehammer is back at the wheel once again with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and it finally has the opportunity to break this trend, seemingly introducing a potentially game-changing feature that could impact Call of Duty multiplayer significantly moving forward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is introducing a new mechanic called “Tac-Stance.” By holding down the left trigger and pressing a button on the D-pad, players can switch to this Tac-Stance, giving them an aiming option that comes between ADS and hip-fire. In Tac-Stance, players move faster and have increased accuracy, but they can’t aim down the sights fully. Though it might need some tweaking before and after launch, Modern Warfare 3‘s Tac-Stance has the potential to be truly game-changing, and its reception from the Beta has been pretty positive. This might finally be the mechanic that breaks Call of Duty‘s recent sad trend, and it’d be fitting if Sledgehammer is the one to do it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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