Anticipating Modern Warfare 2: Part Two

The original concept for SpecOps can be seen in the final “bonus” mission of CoD4 – Mile High Club. IW really wanted to include an in-airplane assault in CoD4, but found it didn’t fit into the plot they’d crafted for the campaign. Instead it was included as a cool stand-alone mission for those who complete the game and a reoccurring nightmare for those who try to beat it on Veteran. Similar inspiration was taken from the mission One Shot, One Kill which featured quasi-co-op play with an AI buddy and planted the seed for SpecOps in MW2.

SpecOps can be played solo (even offline) if you really want, but the main draw-card is clearly to grab a buddy and take care of some business. SpecOps even has some missions which are two-player only to encourage co-op, whether it’s online or split-screen, which is sure to make for some cool team play moments. One of the more user-friendly additions to SpecOps is the ability to choose a different difficulty setting to your buddy if he (or she) is new to the series. As a side note, I’m disappointed IW rejected my suggestion to name this option “Girlfriend Mode”. However in terms of earning stars, the game will only count as the easiest difficulty of the two so there’s no cheating your way through those Veteran stars. Friendly fire is always enabled in SpecOps and if your partner is downed by any kind of fire, he’ll enter a Last Stand mode with a timer counting down before he bleeds out so you’ll need to haul donkey to save him in time.

SpecOps works on a system of tiers and stars, very similar to Guitar Hero, with a possible three stars to earn per mission. Beating a mission on Normal will earn you one star, two for Hardened and three for Veteran across 23 missions. Missions are split into 4 tiers (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta) and not all tiers are available at the start. Earning stars will unlock the later tiers, but you aren’t required to fully complete each tier before moving on to the next (similar to recent Guitar Hero games). You can also invite a friend to help you with missions from the higher tiers, even if they haven’t unlocked them yet.

The AI has been beefed up in MW2 in both SP and SpecOps, with no more bad guys predictably popping their heads up from behind cover several times for you to wait for an easy headshot. Enemies will now lay suppressing fire while their enemy buddies try to flank your position. Enemy snipers will take a shot and then displace to another position like a real person who’s worried about you retaliating. There’s even a quick glint of light from the sniper scope as they sight in on you (no confirmation yet on whether this mechanic will be in MP too).

Unique to SpecOps mode is the new Juggernaught enemy. Spawned randomly during certain SpecOps matches (several times depending on difficulty), the Juggernaughts are heavily armed and armoured enemies who don’t worry about petty things like cover or ammo conservation. When you hear the drum beat that heralds their approach, reminiscent of the Tank music from L4D, you know that there’s a crazy dude wearing bomb disposal gear and carrying a belt-fed machinegun coming your way. You can bring them down with SMG or pistol fire (eventually), but it’s best to bring out the big guns and lob a few .50 calibre rounds at their heads to get things under control quickly. You really don’t want one of these guys catching you unaware.

Of the total 23 SpecOps missions, IW have only shown details of a handful of them to save the majority of the surprises for people to experience for themselves. One of the first missions shown was Breach & Clear, an escape through a Russian Gulag reminiscent of the scene in The Rock where the SEAL team attempts to infiltrate Alcatraz via the sewers. The level opens like most SpecOps matches, with a small room for the players to choose their weapons before beginning the match with a new gameplay mechanic. Once ready, players will choose to “breach” into the gulag through a wall which stuns and disorients the enemies inside by allowing the players a few brief seconds of slow-motion “bullet-time” in which to take out the closest threats. What follows is a hectic battle against riot shield wielding enemies with laser sights cutting through the smoke and haze from above. The objective is to make it through to the other side and escape.

As an example of the variety found in SpecOps mode, another level shown by IW is the snow-speeder race Time Trial (as seen at this year’s E3). The objective is to navigate through the checkpoints and reach the finish line as quickly as possible. When racing in co-op mode, you’re trying to beat your buddy to finish line. You can even shoot him up if he’s ahead of you, filling his screen with the patented MW2 red cordial blood effect and hopefully causing him to drive right into a tree. Everyone knows that all’s fair in love and snow-speeder races.

Out of the levels shown so far, my favourite was the Estate Takedown level (clearly inspired by the house assault in Shooter) where you’re tasked with assaulting a house surrounded by woods and then holding out against the counter-attack. I say “was” because G4tv recently unveiled a new SpecOps level called Overwatch which builds on the Death From Above mission in CoD4. In Overwatch, one player operates the AC-130 Spectre gunship orbiting the map and the other player is the boots on the ground, marking targets with a laser designator in his weapon. Words really can’t do this mission justice and I highly recommend watching the video, if only for the last few seconds where the gunship’s rounds slam into the enemy transport chopper and bodies fall out like moth corpses being dumped from a bug-zapper. I’m really looking forward to playing the role of the gunship operator, not for the whole “raining death” thing, but just so I can drop quotes from Transformers to my buddy marking targets below – “Sir, the attitude is not going to speed things up any bit at all. I’m going to ask you to speak very clearly into the mouthpiece…”

The best thing about SpecOps is with the variety and stand-alone nature of the missions, it’s perfect for adding more missions after launch through DLC (whether paid or unpaid). IW have also hinted at being open to the idea of including leaderboards for SpecOps in a further patch, but this was more along the lines of “we’re not saying no” rather than “it’s coming”.

I actually think IW has hit a really good idea with SpecOps. Sure co-op in the SP campaign would’ve been nice, but the most talked about and memorable missions from CoD4′s SP are the missions which showed the unusual side of modern warfare. Whether creeping through the grass as a sniper or the emotionless kill confirmations from the gunship operators, SpecOps will bring more of these iconic moments to MW2 and is sure to become another staple of the series going forward. Tune in for the final installment of the Anticipating Modern Warfare 2 series which will focus on the best and my favourite part of the game – multiplayer!

Leaked Modern Warfare 2 Video Controversy

SPOILER ALERT!

A leaked video of the opening level of Modern Warfare 2′s single player campaign is doing the rounds and generating quite a bit of controversy. As it could be considered a spoiler, please avoid this article if you want to go into the game fresh. For everyone else who might be wondering if this is another example of Australia’s depressing battle against an out-dated classification system, read on.

One last warning for those who click before they read.

MODERN WARFARE 2 CAMPAIGN SPOILERS BELOW!

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…Last chance…

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OK that should do it.

Reportedly a French gamer has obtained an early/leaked copy of Modern Warfare 2 and uploaded a video of the opening level from the campaign. Activision is working hard to quickly issue take-down orders for any websites who host copies of the video, however the story has been picked up by first IGN and now News.com.au.

The level opens to an undercover CIA agent who has successfully infiltrated the villainous Russian Ultranationalist group as they enter an airport. Shortly after exiting the elevator, the Russians open fire on unsuspecting and unarmed civilians in the airport without mercy. Sound a bit familiar? Whilst the player isn’t forced to participate in the slaughter, it’s an incredibly confronting and brutal scene illustrating the evils of terrorism which has (not surprisingly) already drawn criticism.

A spokesman for Activision has responded to the video, telling IGN:

The leaked footage was taken from a copy of game that was obtained illegally and is not representative of the overall gameplay experience in Modern Warfare 2. At the beginning of the game, players encounter a mandatory “checkpoint” in which they are warned that an upcoming segment may contain disturbing elements and they can choose not to engage in the gameplay that involves this scene.

Thankfully the OFLC has already reviewed Modern Warfare 2 and rated it as MA15+ (currently the highest rating available to a video game in Australia). They even mentioned the Airport scene in their review, but stated that elsewhere in MW2 the player receives a penalty for killing civilians (certain levels in the Special Operations mode). This likely played a large part in avoiding the Refused Classification verdict that L4D2 received recently (which clearly does not penalise the maiming of human-like undead).

Excerpts taken from IGN and News.com.au.

Left 4 Dead 2 demo servers a plenty

So as you may have gathered we’re big fans of the Left 4 Dead series here at 3FL, so to this end, we’ve set up 256 demo servers all ready for the faithful who have pre-ordered the full version of Left 4 Dead 2.  At this stage the release date for the demo is suggested to be going live sometime tomorrow morning Australian time, but we’re all ready to go with our servers with Valve releasing the dedicated server for the demo earlier today.

3FL, the only place to play Left 4 Dead and now Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia.

Anticipating Modern Warfare 2: Part One

Even without the recent decision to alienate the entire PC community, the sequel to 2007′s best selling game was always going to be big deal. Infinity Ward have been proclaiming the “bigger, better and more bad-ass” nature of Modern Warfare 2 from the start. So for our console-playing readers and the three PC players who haven’t cancelled their pre-orders in protest, read on to find out what to expect from the biggest game release of the year.

Modern Warfare 2 is divided into three separate sections of gameplay – Single Player, Special Operations and Multiplayer – each with their own unique elements and appeal. For this first instalment on MW2, I’ll be focussing on the SP campaign and various improvements Infinity Ward have added to their proprietary IW 4.0 game engine from Call of Duty 4.

In a first for the Call of Duty franchise, MW2 is a direct sequel to the SP campaign story from CoD4. With the death of Imran Zakhaev in the first game, his successor Vladimir Makarov (who likes to tell people he was named after a gun, but was probably named after a famous 1960s figure skater) has moved in to consolidate the Ultranationalist forces in Russia and continue their bid for world domination. In the years following the events of CoD4, Makarov is able to use Zakhaev’s death as an act of martyrdom to build greater military and civilian support than his predecessor and present a threat which can’t be ignored.

Enter Task Force 141, the international coalition (AKA World Police) comprised of teams from Army Rangers & Delta Force, Marine Force Recon, Navy Seals, British SAS and led by (recently promoted) Captain Soap MacTavish. Assigned with countering the threat of Makarov’s forces, Task Force 141 will be the tip of the spear in tracking down the (sometimes imperfect) intelligence leads provided by the CIA which will lead you all over the world in search of Makarov – including Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil and even onto US soil (as shown by the recent Infamy trailer).

You play as Gary “Roach” Sanderson, a new recruit to Task Force 141, who’ll serve under and along-side Soap throughout the game. As always, a new member of the team means a new timed training course to run through to help choosing the game difficulty. Infinity Ward have commented that they recognise some players like to obsessively run the training course over and over, shaving fractions of a second off as they go, so those players can look forward to the improved training level section of MW2.

Some of the primary complaints about CoD4′s single player campaign were the lack of innovation (in terms of co-op play) and what was perceived as a “short” 6 hour play time. However IW have maintained these aspects for MW2, explaining that whilst they looked at co-op they found that it broke the “immersion” of the single player experience. They also looked at including the levelling system and customisable nature of CoD4′s MP mode in the SP campaign for MW2, but found the same problems. Ultimately IW want to carefully craft the single player campaign to present the most action packed, Bruckheimer-film-esque cinematic experience players expect from the sequel to CoD4. The plan has always been to leave us wanting more.

The biggest gripe from CoD4, almost universally so, was the annoying nature of the infinitely spawning enemies and the “magic line of progression” which needed to be crossed to move forward. Often I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to defeat the enemies in one area, or simply ignore them and push forward. Again IW have listened to the community and confirmed that not only will there always be a finite amount of enemies on each level, but they will react differently and choose different paths to follow with each play through. Beating Veteran difficulty will no longer be a case of learning the enemy placements one death at a time, but a unique and challenging experience every time.

Whilst IW have kept the same game engine for MW2, they’ve definitely made some significant improvements – the most important of which is Texture Streaming. The big problem with designing games for consoles is making the best out of the limited memory on offer. Texture streaming is a new way of conserving memory by only “drawing” the information local to the player. Whilst the maps are huge, your console is only “drawing” the one gun you’re carrying and the nearby environment and simply tracking everything else it isn’t drawing. This allows the system to spend more power on destructibles (cars, shattering glass, flower pots), local effects and textures whilst still maintaining a larger “play area” than previous games. The end result is a game that looks better, is more bad-ass and still remains bigger than its predecessors.

A small announcement that slipped by unnoticed was securing Hans Zimmer to provide an original orchestral soundtrack for MW2. Whilst he doesn’t have instant name recognition in the gaming world, the film industry is a whole different story. Working on films such as The Dark Knight, Gladiator, The Last Samurai and Black Hawk Down has earned Zimmer 7 nominations for Academy Awards and one win (*cough* for The Lion King *cough cough*). Definitely someone who can bring a wealth of experience in evoking greater emotion and intensity from any scene, so it’ll be interesting to see his first efforts in the medium of video games.

It’s to be expected that the sequel to the best selling game of 2007 would have more “editions” to choose from than any other game and MW2 definitely delivers. From the regular “disc and manual” edition, to the steel-book Hardened Edition which includes a download code for Call of Duty 1, to the massive Prestige Edition which includes working Night Vision Goggles and the less prestigious Veteran Edition which includes a Soap action figure. There’s something for everyone – from Johnny Everyman right up to the most extreme of power-nerd collectors.

There’s honestly so much to talk about this game that I couldn’t possibly fit it in one article and expect anyone to read the whole thing. I haven’t even touched on the extensive multiplayer aspects (arguably the main drawing card of MW2) or the new Special Operations mode which will be as long (or longer) than the SP campaign itself. Stay tuned for more MW2 coverage as we approach the day when males aged 16-40 enter hibernation for the next several weeks. Expect stock prices for flowers and chocolate makers to sky-rocket following November 10th.

What is that? What could it be?

So what is that image on the side bar that has appeared?  What is that?  What could it be?  Can you figure it out?

Maybe tomorrow it will be different, who knows.  Can you guess what it is?

Flash Game Friday: Thing Thing 4

Looking for something to do on an otherwise boring Friday whilst waiting for the weekend to finally arrive? Well maybe our section Flash Game Friday has something for you.

This week’s game is "Thing Thing 4", a kinda weird name for a sideway scroller shoot ‘em up, but anyway.  Go play Thing Thing 4 now!

Left 4 Dead 2 appeal rejected

Today the Australian Classification Review Board have once again given the un-modified version of Left 4 Dead 2 a thumbs down.

In a statement released by the Classification Board today, they have stated that the appeal review of the game has once again been RC (Refused Classification), meaning that the game cannot be sold in Australia in its unmodified version.  Previously Valve submitted a modified edition of the game to ensure that Australian gamers received a version of the game, with the modified version receiving an MA15+ rating, but the appeal against the unmodified version has now received the same result as the original submission.

The major points of the decision are as follows:

The computer game contains a level of violence which is high in impact, prolonged, repeated frequently and realistic within the context of the game.

In addition, it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional ‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the impact of this game on minors.

The media release also notes that the 3 member panel came to a "unanimous" decision, which is in contrast to the original decision which was only classified RC by the majority, rather than being a unanimous decision.  The full media release can be found by going here.

Props to SomeYeti on our forums for the heads up.

Infinity Ward Responds to PC Anguish

Hoping to suddenly silence the millions of voices crying out in terror after the recent announcement that Modern Warfare 2 won’t provide dedicated server support for PC, Community Manager Robert Bowling (AKA 402) has posted the reasons behind Infinity Ward’s decision on his personal website.

I recently broke news on a PC community member’s podcast that Modern Warfare 2 would be introducing a completely new backend infastructure called IWNET that would allow matchmaking for multiplayer games on PC. The news, by default, means no more browsing through a Server List for a server with the settings / ping you want among other things, and sent shockwaves through the hardcore PC community, leading to many more questions than answers as to ‘HOW’ this would work, and if it would really be better for the PC community as a whole.

Questions, assumptions, and speculation I intend to dispel.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It’s also the most feature-rich PC version we’ve ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own.

How does it do this?

Matchmaking & Smoother Gameplay: When you want to player a multiplayer game on PC, in the past. You’d have to scroll through a Server Browser which listed every available server which was hosted by individual server admins. Each had their own private rules, mods, or ways of playing the game. Most players would also use the server browser to find just the best quality game (based on PING). With IWNET matchmaking, it takes all that into account for you. All you have to do is select the playlist (pre-set gametypes with custom rules) that fits the style of play you are in the mood for. When you do, it will automatically find you a game with the best performance, ping, and preferences based on your location and individual connection as well as matching you with players of your same SKILL. So you’re always guaranteed the best game performance for where you are and what connection you’re playing on as well as an equal game with other players of your same skill level, not rank, but skill level. It doesn’t mean you’ll just be thrown into a random game! It will put you in the game that will give you the smoothest gameplay possible without you having to manually find a server with the best ping.

Playlists and Private Matches: As I described above, Playlists are pre-set game modes and gametypes for public games. If you just want to jump into a public game of Search and Destroy or Hardcore Search and Destroy and you don’t care about fully customizing it, then you can utilize playlists to do that quickly for you. However, say you’re in a clan and you want to play a Clan match with another team, or you want to practice for an upcoming tournament that has specific rules in a private game. Then you can start a Private Match (which is essentially like running your own private server) where you have complete control over the rules, who can join, boot players you don’t want, and essentially control the entire game or tweak it to your liking. Once the rules are set, you can invite the other team in or just start it up with your clan to practice with the custom rules before the match. This now allows you to play custom games out of the box without the need to install mods, find a modded server with the rules you like, or worry about not being in control of the match.

Party System and Friendslist: Modern Warfare 2 on PC also makes it much easier if you want to party up with your friends, or again, with your clan for a match. You can utilize the friendslist to see when your friends are online, and invite them to your Party. A Party allows you to move from game to game as a group. It’s great for clan matches, because you can party of with your clan and move from public game to public game together. Or if you’re doing a scrim, party up and invite the other clan (who is in a party) and they’ll all join at once. Set up a private match together and play. It makes setting up scrims or games with friends easier and hassle free.

Cheat / Hack Free Games: The biggest benefit of using IWnet by far is the fact that you don’t have to worry about joining a server full of aim-bots, wallhacks, or cheaters. Or relying on the server admin of the server to constantly be monitoring, banning, and policing it. Modern Warfare 2 on PC allows us to control the quality of the game much more than ever before as well as utilizing the VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system to keep games clean of hackers and cheaters.

All in all, IWNET adds a load of new features that the PC version of our games have never had before and allows us an infrastructure to continue to update and improve on the game post-launch.

So apparently replacing a tried and true server browsing system with a dumbed-down "Click ‘n’ Play" console match-making system is "actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made" into a PC game. I guess less really is more after all.

I understand where they’re coming from – at the end of the day they’re a business who needs to appeal to the lowest common denominator (read: idiots) to make as much profit as possible. Just don’t tell us you’re doing us a favour in the same breath – PC players are smart enough to see through that.

Excerpts taken from http://www.fourzerotwo.com/

Modern Warfare 2: Yep, its a console port

Well in news that will disappoint Call of Duty fans, Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling has stated that Modern Warfare 2 for the PC will not include support for dedicated servers for online multiplayer.

The new comes as a slap in the face for quite a lot of PC gamers who were quite happy that the latest iteration of the Call of Duty franchise was returning to Infinity Ward.  This latest move really only gives more credence to suggestions that the game was being developed primarily for the console market and the PC version was an after thought.  Bowling’s explanation is that they were wanting to more closely tie the PC platform in with the console experience, where they have no plans to offer dedicated servers either.

The reality of the situation is that it appears Infinity Ward are pushing an incomplete product out the door to meet a release date, with the excuse of wanting to offer the same multiplayer experience across all platforms being somewhat of a cop out.  The simple fact is that at least with the Xbox 360 platform, game publishers can supply dedicated servers for that platform if they so choose, which is what Valve did for the 360 version of Left 4 Dead and are likely to do again for Left 4 Dead 2, so the excuse that it isn’t possible doesn’t really stand up to any level of scrutiny.

As with all decisions that infuriate gamers, there is a petition up at petitionline that is currently running at over 44 thousand signatures, you can vent your rage by going here to sign it as well if you so wish.

Cheers to the guys on our forums for the head up.

Flash Game Friday: Stickman Madness

Looking for something to do on an otherwise boring Friday whilst waiting for the weekend to finally arrive? Well maybe our section Flash Game Friday has something for you.

This week’s game is Stickman Madness, a flash shooter in the same vein as Virtua Cop that you’ll find in arcades.

Go play Stickman Madness now!