After playing through all the available Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 beta core 6v6 maps, testing the different gear (the new Perks system), and hitting the current max beta rank of 20, I think we’ve played enough of it to give a fair assessment to the overall gameplay experience. While this isn’t a review of the overall multiplayer given we don’t have access to the full slate of weapons, gear, and streaks, this is a Modern Warfare 3 beta review where we weigh in on how it’s faring so far.

Familiar Feeling

First things first, if you played Modern Warfare 2, then the MW3 beta will feel very, very familiar. It has the same UI, same menus, same animations (for the most part) and so on. While the core gameplay has seen massive changes, they’re just that, changes.

So far, Modern Warfare 3 really feels like Infinity Ward’s MW2 remake but with a lot of player complaints addressed and changed. Now if you liked MW2’s multiplayer but wanted it to be much faster and less campy, then you got your wish. Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer is essentially MW2 but with tweaked movement, a different Perks system, and other slight adjustments. Heck, it even feels like the changes made were something Infinity Ward could have patched in to MW2.

Of course, this works both ways. The good things from MW2 are also carried over to MW3. The Gunsmith is back and once again offers an astounding amount of customization. Players can once again choose between scorestreaks and killstreaks (streaks do not loop once again, sadly), and the gunplay, much like in MW2, feels solid.

Move It!

One major thing Sledgehammer Games changed in MW3 compared to MW2 is the movement. In the beta, you can sense that SHG really pushed the overall gameplay flow to be much faster. Sprinting feels faster, sprint recovery feels faster, sliding is faster, and you can even slide cancel this time.

This leads to the game being more action-oriented (read: less campy) since your movement is not only faster, but you don’t sound like an elephant stampeding across the map when you do run, which in turn, lets players run and gun more — something Infinity Ward was criticized for in MW2.

This significant movement upheaval has a double edge though, as while it feels fantastic, players must now deal with some of the most broken movements we’ve seen in a Call of Duty game. People say they want the OG Call of Duty back, and say this is it, yet I don’t remember the OG having this insane amount of movement speeds where a player could be across a map in seconds? While I’m glad it’s not slow and sluggish like Modern Warfare 2, being a bit “grounded” could have brought it closer to the original. It’s like seeing a bunch of crack addicts going at each other on the map with how fast it is now.

Remembering the Classics

One thing Modern Warfare 3 has going for it is the big nostalgia factor when it comes to maps. At launch, it will feature 16 remastered maps, which is a ton considering today’s live service environment.

While playing in familiar surroundings is good, Sledgehammer has wisely given it a visual upgrade. Having said that, it’s far from perfect. This time around, a lot of the maps offer more verticality in terms of windows to climb in and whatnot. Unfortunately, most of the layouts remain untouched with some weird modern design omissions such as a windows or fences that don’t break at all.

As for the new “Gear” system that replaces perks, it’s essentially the same only now players assign each perk as a part of accessory. So you get gloves, boots, vests and so on. Some are combination of two perks, but for the most part, based on what we’ve seen so far, these are the familiar perks any Call of Duty fan should be at home with. For those wondering, the inane perk earning system in MW2 has thankfully been axed. You don’t need to wait on any perk to activate it.

Having said that, it once again brings back the notion that the MW3 multiplayer could have been part of DLC for MW2.

Fire in the Hole

One major thing we noticed (and very much disliked) in the MW3 beta is how hard it is to discern enemies from friendlies. Not only that, but even against the background. Thankfully, Sledgehammer has already said that they are looking into this, which we’ll see tweaked in the second week of the beta.

Other quibbles we had were lack of weapon recoil and even the gun sounds which sounded a lot weaker (and more or less the same across the board). However, these are relatively easy issues to address, and given this is still a beta after all, we’re not too concerned about it.

However, one big thing we don’t see changing is how the game just feels like it’s DLC for Modern Warfare 2. Of course, this shouldn’t be that big of an issue given Modern Warfare 3 will ship with a full-fledged campaign, and a new Zombies mode. So ponying up $70 for what essentially is an expansion of MW2’s multiplayer shouldn’t sting that much.

Of course, we haven’t experienced the full slate of multiplayer. There are more streaks left to be earned, more gear that we can test out and then some. For that, we’ll have the verdict in our full Modern Warfare 3 review which should go up on around the game’s launch.