The massively-hyped wait is over. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III held a special reveal event today to show off the trailer for the highly-anticipated game featuring the return of one of gaming’s greatest and most evil villains, Vladamir Makarov. In a special event raid called Shadow Seige, players teamed up to take down enemy AI, secure surface-to-air missile sites, use those sites to blow an entrance into the middle of Al Mazrah, and then infiltrate the new hole to grab and evacuate highly radioactive gas containers. The event then gave players a sneak-peak at the trailer for the new game, plus provided players with a bunch of in-game rewards.
Fans were first introduced to Makarov in Modern Warfare II (2009) in the highly controversial mission No Russian. The mission featured players storming a civilian airport and laying waste to unsuspecting passengers. While players were not forced to fire on civilians in the mission, they were forced to engage with the first responders. Then your character, Private First Class Joseph Allen, is killed at the very end in a signal that Makarov knows who you were and is one step ahead of Task Force 141. Players saw a teaser for a newer version of No Russian as a teaser at the end of Modern Warfare II (2022), this time aboard a plane.
https://youtu.be/mHDEDDrGYvo
Whether or not fans will be able to play No Russian in the Modern Warfare III (2023) isn’t yet known at this time, but the mission received enough backlash that there’s a solid chance we may just see this plane sequence in cut-scene. Then again, Call of Duty is known for subverting expectations and delivering to fans that which they most desire, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the mission were still playable. I hope it is, as video games are meant to push us into uncomfortable places so that we have a better understanding of why these events are so tragic. Even in the modern era, games like 6 Days in Fallujah aim to provide players with that supremely tense and uncomfortable feeling of actually being in a war.
Following the events of Shadow Seige, players find out that Makarov’s agents now have the gas canisters that you and your three teammates loaded during the mission. Similar to PFC Allen, Makarov has your entire team dispatched for your troubles, showing that Makarov is just as ruthless as ever. As your chopper exfils with the enemies, your bodies, and the gas canisters, the screen cuts to black, and players are treated with a trailer for the upcoming Modern Warfare III (2023) and players are able to pre-order right away. The pre-orders actually contain immediate unlockables for Modern Warfare II (2022), so there’s an advantage to pre-ordering early.
SPOILERS LEAKED BY CAST AHEAD
While the trailer isn’t entirely specific, we do know several things from the lead-up and the words contained within the trailer. Elliot Knight, the voice actor for Gaz accidentally let slip that the upcoming game features three deaths in the campaign. “Let me tell you something, 2 sad deaths, and 1 good death,” said Knight on social media. Fans had further confirmation from the actor who plays Ghost said that neither he nor Soap would be biting the bullet this time around, so do the math there and you can figure out a decent bit of information. That leaves Farrah, Gaz, Price, Laswell, Alex, or Alejandro on the chopping block.
The other big news comes from my buddy Gene Park at the Washington Post. Park reported that the other big news about Modern Warfare III will be a permanent shift toward a sandbox approach to solving levels and missions. The Call of Duty team has taken to calling these “open combat missions,” per Park’s reporting. Similar to the later Battlefield games, players can go in guns blazing, use a systematic approach, or even go full stealth. The dialogue recorded by the players features the same lines recorded in variety of fashions, all depending on how the player approaches the mission.
“Players could revisit the same location several times without seeing a particular story beat. If players want to be silent, they can use silent weapons. If they want to breach and clear a room, players can choose which tools and weapons to use and where to enter. It is the first time the multibillion-dollar franchise, the biggest in the games industry, will offer a ‘sandbox’ experience,” wrote Park.
When you add that into the return perks, the return of the red dot on the maps, remasters of all the old remaining maps, and a general shift back to player-oriented combat, it’s clear that the folks at Activision heard the complaints and saw the drop-off in concurrent players. They know who butters their bread and they’re back after their dollars. This might be the most hyped Call of Duty since the last one, but it seems like the hype won’t die off as soon as players get their hands on the game and realized nothing had changed. Modern Warfare III is back and bigger than ever.
I cannot wait.
Kane Webb is an entertainment journalist for @BSO and @TheMarvelReport. He also writes about the USC Trojans for @AthlonSports and has been featured on @FanSided, @Scout, @Rivals, the Bakersfield Californian, Wisconsin State Journal, and much more. You can follow him on Twitter: @FightOnTwist
