We're gut-checking this one At least if it was on the 3DS, you could see how the 1 FPS brand in the world looks on Nintendo's most advanced hardware. Instead, you get a heavily pixelated gameworld that looks at times like it's being viewed through a Vaseline-smeared lens. Defiance sports extremely clunky controls that have your fingers jumping from face buttons to shoulder buttons to touchscreen at first. Even once I settled into the controls, they never felt comfortable to me.
Yes, there's multiplayer for up to six people, a decent arsenal and more recorded voicework than you'd expect. Too little of what you experience from a COD console or PC game—the quasi-realism, big set pieces, the silky smooth animation—shows up here. It's a Call of Duty game in name only. That is not pretty. Rivalry has also played a part in the tribalism of the user reviews. EA has pitched its Battlefield 3 title very much against Modern Warfare, both in its advertising and in some barbed pre-release interviews — and this has fostered a factional atmosphere: gamers love a platform battle.
Battlefield 3 is a phenomenal game but I'm a little bit sad that the PR for it has been at the expense of another brilliant title. It's not great that we're back to the old Sega v Nintendo situation.
And here we unearth a more insidious undercurrent: Activision is being actively punished. Last year, the co-founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, were sacked for breaches of contract and "insubordination". The duo immediately sued the publisher, claiming that millions in royalties were being withheld from Infinity Ward staff.
Activision later counter-sued suggesting that West and Zampella were using the company's IP to broker a development deal with a rival company. Later, the dismissed twosome set up Respawn Entertainment and announced a publishing contract with EA, Activision's main rival. Now, I've read through the papers submitted by both parties.
They make complex claims and counter claims and it looks as though it is going to take many months for a US court to get to the bottom of what is an intricate corporate law case.
The point is, as it stands, no one outside of the Infinity Ward or Activision knows what happened. No one, that is, except for the internet, which has sided with West and Zampella against the 'evil corporation'. The idea of a couple of creative "Davids" taking on the Goliath of Activision is an attractive one, but it is also deeply flawed. Well, talking about an entertainment form with millions of passionate fans as a packaged goods industry isn't great — and irony doesn't work well on the internet.
Even if something dark and unjust did happen at Infinity Ward, we enter troubling critical territory when the wrongs of the author, the studio or the distributor are visited upon the appraisal of their work. Movie history is littered with despicable characters who have made astonishing films; is Melancholia any less of a work because Lars von Trier claimed to be a Nazi during his Cannes press conference? Tying in with the contempt for Activision is a distrust for the reviewers themselves.
Several comments beneath my own review for Modern Warfare 3 had to be removed because they were essentially libellous. And this has happened hand-in-hand with the rise of the internet and the democratisation of opinion. The louder you shout the more kudos you get and no matter what your opinion, someone else on the internet will agree with you — and you get a boost from that. It encourages people to think, 'I am correct, it's self-evident that I'm right, therefore the reviewer must be subject to bribery.
It's something of a farcical accusation. As one reviewer tweeted last night, games publishers barely trust us to take our own screenshots any more let alone keep quiet a widescale attempt to fraudulently secure favourable review scores.
Furthermore, Call of Duty is perhaps the one entertainment brand in the world that doesn't need critical acclaim to ensure success.
That's a quite staggering mathematical failure. But like other reviewers, I suspect, I wrestled with how to score Modern Warfare 3. It isn't innovative, it isn't original, but it is ruthlessly compelling and packed with content. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Jamie has a background in computer repairs and maintenance along with network administration, he now enjoys utilizing the benefits of new technologies and enjoys writing about anything that brings new technology to the world.
He began writing for Product Reviews in mid and has since expanded his knowledge across a wide-base of devices, he is looking to get more hands-on experience with new devices to gain a better understanding of the latest and greatest technologies.
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