When I left the house this morning, I told my wife I’d be late home because I was going to shoot a couple of people in the face after work. By this of course, I meant I was visiting the Gameloft studios to play a preview build of Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation multiplayer, not going on a bloody rampage round the office with a shotgun. The funny thing is, she didn’t even bat an eyelid. She just kissed me goodbye and reminded me to take my lunch. Hmm.
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation is due to drop on October 27 on iPhone and iPad, and after our single player hands-on back in August, we finally got to give the multiplayer portion a try.
It is looking seriously beefy, with six maps, seven game modes and up to 12 players online (up from two last time out). There’s also 100 ranks available for levelling up, with each rank providing a new perk, such as faster reloads, faster movement, last stand grenades, etc.
Each weapon and it’s subsequent attachment also features it’s own set of challenges (head shot your editor 50 times with the silencer attached for example), and there’s good news for those of you who enjoy blowing up the entire map after killing ten people in a row; kill streak rewards make an appearance, for example three successive kills gets you satellite scan, with more getting you the likes of turret deployment, air support and even a full nuclear strike! You’ll also be able to share your kill stats online, including viewing your match history, scoreboards, leaderboards, and earn a range of trophies, such as best kills, and best ally.
Gameloft took us through a few scenarios, including standard deathmatches; Bomb Squad, where you must plant bombs in enemy territory as well as dissarm them in your own backyard; and Zone Control, which is a bit like capture the flag but with multiple zones to capture and defend.
Graphically, it’s shaping up nicely, with a far higher amount of details in the multiplayer maps, which are larger and more detailed. We played it on both the iPad 1, iPhone 4 and iPad 2, and it was particularly clear that the iPad 2 version sports a visual upgrade over it’s older brother, with crisper geometry and extra texture details on weapons and environments. Watch out too for the cool blur effect when running away from your best mates shotgun. No word yet on iPhone 4S improvements, but we may have to wait for future updates before we see any 4S specific features.
So, in just a few weeks time, you can jump online and get a taste of the latest in the Modern Combat series, which is looking like it could rival even it’s obvious console inspiration in multiplayer robustness.
Check out the video below as Nigel and I take on Gameloft at their own game… and lose!
