Robert Bowling talks about the philosophy of Modern Warfare 3. How does it compare to COD4 and MW3?
Infinity Ward creative Strategist Robert 'fourzerotwo' Bowling was in New York yesterday to show off Modern Warfare 3's Spec Ops mode to journalists, who also went hands-on with the new and improved mode. As reported by Kotaku », he revealed a few interesting details about the game's multiplayer mode, such as how a combination of ideas from Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 are used.
Bowling began by talking about how they hope to accelerate the flow of action by reducing the number of hotspots, or as they are commonly known as, camping spots. Players who "camp" in one spot for a long period of time have become a big nuisance in the online community in recent times, and Infinity Ward claim that the Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer maps are designed to include no more than five hotspots. According to Bowling, this "simplifies it so that the less skilled player has less to think about," before going on to say that "what happens when you have more is that the professional guys are using that spot that is either difficult to get to. … There's fewer places to hide, which discourages the more camper mentality that seemed to emerge in the map design of Modern Warfare 2."
Multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 also featured maps that introduced more verticality in combat, but Bowling claims that the Modern Warfare 3 maps won't emphasize this as much. He then went on to admit that players heavily relied on air support in Modern Warfare 2, before once again reassuring that this too will be reduced. Bowling is a big fan of high-speed, fast-paced and infantry-focused combat, admitting that while they believe this was achieved with Call of Duty 4, they moved away from it with the sequel by relying heavily on air support, killstreaks and perks. So those who prefer the original Modern Warfare mentality of gun-on-gun and fast-paced infantry gameplay may be in for a treat.
What about the core deisgn philosophies in map design? According to Bowling, that stays the same from one Modern Warfare game to another. In what way does it stay the same? They analyse every aspect of how they want the map to be played, how a team should play out a map, and how a lone wolf should play out the map. When designing the map they will look at how many hot spots there are when coming around the corner and how many angles and locations does the player need to check to see where an enemy could come from. The more ways a map can be played the better, just as long as it can be balanced. How the maps are designed also play a part in the various game modes. For example, in Team Deathmatch you'll be looking at different locations and angles for enemies to kill, while in objective-based modes like Search and Destroy you'll be looking for various routes where you're not likely to put yourself in danger.
Bowling claims that in Modern Warfare 3 the map philosophy is changing slightly. He states that the design in Call of Duty 4 was very simple as there weren't much options in terms of where you could go, while Modern Warfare 2 decided to expand on vertical combat by increasing the multi-floor levels and the number of buildings that you could enter. However, in Modern Warfare 3 it allows you to focus on what's necessary by having some maps that focus on verticality and multiple things, while other maps will be very limited on the hotspots. He describes the hotspots in Modern Warfare 3 as a 'key thing' due to them wanting the player to be able to turn a corner and know that there are no more than five places they need to check.
To end if off, Bowling acknowledged that while these map philosophies won't register with a lot of the casual players, the hardcore fans who've been there since the beginning will appreciate stuff like the map design and the return of more gun-on-gun combat.
In another interview with MTV », Bowling talked about party chat on Xbox LIVE. Due to cheating and lack of team chatter, Infinity Ward decided to disable party chat for the majority of playlists in Modern Warfare 2. If players were in a party and joined a playlist which doesn't support party chat, then a warning menu would give them the option to join game chat, otherwise they would be kicked from the game. While this was an interesting idea with good intentions, it backfired with many gamers complaining about it.
At the same New York event, Bowling told MTV that there are millions of gamers who play the game and each and every one of them is different. They have to try and entertain the casual gamers, while also trying to entertain the competitive gamers. He then went on to mention that Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer was designed as if it were a professional sports league but Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer allows for both professional, triple-A and amateur leagues.
Without going into detail, Bowling mentioned that the major focus of Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer is to give players more control over how they play and more options. An example he used is that there will be places where competitive players can go to have restrictive voice chat, while other players will be able to play the same mode without having to deal with the same restriction. He ended by saying that Party Chat should only be blocked in Search and Destroy due to cheating possibilities, but that it wouldn't be disabled in modes like Domination.