Throughout my life I have always been behind the curve when it comes to computer/console gaming, at least when compared to my peers. So it will not come as a surprise that as I’m reviewing a game, Modern Combat 3 on the iPad, modern combat 4 has already been released.
Currently the only other games I’m playing are COD Black Ops 2 and Skyrim, the former late at night when I get some downtime, and even then really only the zombie mode, and latter when I have some long periods to myself and decide to let the mind roam for a bit in a sandbox world.
Anyway, back to the game in question. Being new 6 months new to the iPad this is the only FPS I’ve ever tried on this platform, so take my views with a pinch of salt…
First things first. Don t bother with the gyroscope setting. The idea of using your iPad as a real world window in the game – using its physical movement to aim and shoot – is a nice idea, but wholly impractical. I’m a middling to rubbish gamer, but even I can do basic stuff such as aim and shoot on a new game. With the gyroscope setting on this game I spent the first few levels emptying magazines into the ceiling, like a brummie gangster with a MP10. Even my younger brother who I have to admit is better at this than I am or ever was, found it challenging.
The story line is just pure US hawk guffage. The US of A has been invaded by the KPR – Korean Pakistani Russian alliance. Sometimes I wonder if the game developers at Gamesloft are being ironic and trying to catch us out, or if they are as ignorant of geo-politics as I fear they may well be.
Now while North Korea still exists as a throwback to the Cold War and for the most part still views the USA as its greatest military and existential threat, and Russia though no longer a primary threat for the west, sometimes gets prickly if the west interferes in what it believes to be “its own backyard”, Pakistan on the other hand has nominally at least been on the US’s side. OK so it’s ISI security services play the kind of dirty double games the Italian secret services did in the 1970′s to the point it appears to be aiding the Taliban insurgents even at the detriment of its own people. But on the whole unless anything has changed recently Pakistan are down with the kids on the “whur un Terrur” and are a US ally.
I’m wandering off the point here. Anyway the USA has been invaded by the KPR alliance, who like the look like cinese/russian/taliban units mixed together look pretty similar to each other and its up to Corporal Walker(I think that’s the protagonist’s name) and phantom unit (or whatever the generic special unit is called) to lay all manner of hurt upon the hapless invaders,who have somehow taken down the whole American defense network and parachuted tanks onto American mainland without office workers realizing it. There’s also some absurd violent humor along the way particularly in the way some of the main bad guys are dispatched.
Once you get passed that madness the game is surprisingly quite good, certainly impressing the non iPad users, in particular the graphics, which quite frankly look gorgeous and way more impressive than I ever expected it to be on a tablet device. The game-play is smooth and fast paced. Ok not as frenetic as anything on a PS3 but challenging and engaging enough to hold you attention. Though in some ways though the game is a bit too easy. The aim and shoot facility becomes a bit of a doddle after a while, and becomes more of a choice response exercise on when to reload and move and cover which isn’t bad in itself as there’s plenty of situations in the game which this becomes quite challenging. It just means you cant compare this to COD in its dynamics, even if the game is trying blatantly be a COD lite for the iPad
The only annoyances are the that the grenade button is to close to the trigger button meaning that sometimes you lob a grenade away without meaning to. I think I played the first two levels accidentally throwing grenades without ever meaning to. Fat Finger syndrome I think its called.
The other annoyance I have is not really warranted, more a side effect of playing sandbox games like Eldar Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto or Mercenaries. When I see a staircase and I have a gun I naturally want to walk up the stairs o get a better vantage view. So it gets annoying when game developers put a staircase in the middle of a map which plays no tactical role except to be a obstruction. Why not put a chimney or a lamppost or something else?
I also tried the online facility, which was OK but just doesn’t give the same sense of mayhem that you get from a game that has specifically been made for this purpose.
Despite me moaning it has got a lot of good things going for it, if you want a “scacca pensieri” for the iPad then its money that is not badly spent. Graphics are great, the game-play is solid, keeping in that sweet spot between easy and too difficult, though I must stress is not exactly unputdownable, which for the iPad is a GOOD thing, as as a platform it occupies a different niche from a console. Will I buy Modern Combat 4…..mmmmm probably not. It simply didn’t wow me enough in story line terms or interesting game mechanics to engender any loyalty. As a COD clone its great, but its a bit like the difference between Gobots and the Transformers toys in the 1980′s. One has character and content and the other has not, no matter how polished the end product becomes, it will not garner long term loyalty except among hard core fans of the product or platform.
Good Effort though
4/5
Source:
http://badgermannu.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/modern-combat-3-fallen-nation-game-review/