Activision unveils 1st gameplay for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare lll got its gameplay reveal today at Opening Night Live at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.

The developers showed off Operation 627, an underwater mission that is at the very beginning of Modern Warfare III. In it, Task Force 141 members dive underwater and emerge in front of a castle on the edge of the Kostovian Sea. They scale the walls in the rain and use night vision equipment to see.

They fire a line up to the top of a turret and zip up to the top. They use silencers to take out the first guard they see, and they start clearing the castle as more stealth paratroopers land on the parapets. Then they go weapons hot with sharp but quiet-sounding machine guns. It turns out the place is a prison, and the soldiers gun down a bunch of the guards as they move deep into the prison.

Last week, Activision unveiled its big reveal inside Call of Duty: Warzone as players became the first to find out details about the big game coming on November 10 as part of 20th anniversary celebration of the franchise.

Modern Warfare lll is scheduled to release on PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Battle.net and Steam as a direct sequel to last year’s record-breaking Modern Warfare II. Beta tests will happen on October 5 and October 6.

Players will experience a rich and immersive campaign with unprecedented player choice, picking up directly after Modern Warfare ll, a new open world Zombies mode set on the largest Call of Duty Zombies map ever, and one of the greatest collections of Modern Warfare multiplayer maps ever assembled with
both fan favorites and new ones. The reveal trailer showed a lot of combat in the dark, under the ice, and in places where soldiers wore four-camera night-vision goggles. Seems like the campaign gives you plenty of options for stealth play versus run-and-gun.

Activision had already said that all 16 multiplayer maps from the 2009 game would come back with modern touches on the classic battlegrounds. The reveal inside Warzone came after you had to complete a few missions against bots. To the tune of a slow version of Don’t Fear the Reaper, Activision revealed the first gameplay scenes from the game.

For the first time in back-to back years, Call of Duty returns with a direct sequel as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III picks up immediately following the events of last year’s incredible blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

All 16 launch maps from the original Modern Warfare 2 (2009) have been modernized with new modes and gameplay features and will be available at launch. For the first time in Call of Duty’s history, a vast amount of content from the previous Modern Warfare ll game will transfer – or “carry forward” — and be available in the next Modern Warfare title.

All weapon and Operator content that has been previously unlocked or is currently available to players in Modern Warfare II, will carry forward between Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare lll.

Modern Warfare III expands the universe for players, with more to come in post-launch plans, including over 12 new core 6v6 maps that will fuel post-launch live seasons and new Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile experiences when it launches.

Campaign narrative

As teased earlier, the villain from the 2009 game Vladimir Makarov is returning and Captain John Price and Task Force 141 must adapt or die in a fight against the ultimate threat in this direct sequel to Modern Warfare ll. Makarov was the ultranationalist who staged the “No Russian” civilian massacre in the 2009 game. The campaign will stretch across the world as a “dark and gritty” experience.

In the trailer, Makarov pulls out a gun and runs down the aisle of a civilian airliner. So, the game is clearly suggesting it will push this edge again. Makarov evidently wants a world war.

In addition to cinematic Call of Duty campaign missions, Modern Warfare III introduces Open Combat Missions, a new innovation that empowers player decisions.

The Open Combat missions complement the cinematic levels players know well for a cohesive narrative story and emphasize player choice with numerous additional paths and choices to complete objectives.

The missions are built to react and adapt to different playstyles – whether taking a stealthy or run-and-gun approach, players can truly play how they want.

Returning multiplayer maps

All 16 launch maps from the original Modern Warfare 2 (2009) have been modernized with new modes and gameplay features and will be available at launch to get everyone started, while over 12 new core 6v6 maps will fuel post-launch live seasons.

Players will be able to play fan favorite game modes like Hardpoint and Kill Confirmed, in addition the brand-new Cutthroat Mode (3v3v3) on core maps where these modes have never been experienced before. Players will experience new movement mechanics, including the brand-new Tac-Stance designed for tactical close-quarters combat.

Gunsmith evolves with the addition of After-Market Parts, allowing players to have enhanced customization and create new weapon combinations.

Core features

Modern Warfare lll brings the return of features like classic Minimap behavior with red dots indicating when an enemy is firing an unsuppressed weapon and map voting, allowing players greater autonomy over their multiplayer matches. Players had complained about the minimap changes earlier.

Faster Aim Down Sights (ADS) out of slide, reload cancel and slide cancel have been refined. This brings back some features players were missing in a big way.

All perks will be available at the start of a match, including the new silent movement perk, Covert Sneakers.

Core Multiplayer Health is increased, lengthening Time-to-Kill (TTK). For the first time in Call of Duty’s history, a vast amount of content from a previous Modern Warfare game will transfer – or “carry forward” — and be available in the next Modern Warfare title.

All weapons and Operator content that has been previously unlocked or is currently available to players in Modern Warfare II, will carry forward between Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III.

In addition to the 16 core launch maps, Modern Warfare lll will also launch on day one with four huge environments containing a host of new play spaces.

There will be three brand-new Battle Maps – large scale locations where Modern Warfare III’s Ground War and Invasion game modes will be fought. And there will be one War map that will support the epic return and evolution of the popular War Mode that first debuted in Call of Duty: WWll (2017).

In a robust post-launch offering, over 12 new core 6v6 maps will also be available.

Zombies open world

For the first time in the Modern Warfare universe, players can team up with other squads to survive and fight massive hordes of the undead in the largest Call of Duty zombies map ever. That teaming up sounds fun, as you can get to much larger-scale battles beyond fighting in your own squad.

Developed by Treyarch, Modern Warfare Zombies tells an unearthly Dark Aether story set in the Modern Warfare universe with missions, core Zombies features and secrets to discover. Players will experience an open world PvE extraction survival experience where core Zombies features come together with new mechanics, and they face off against some of the biggest enemies in Call of Duty history.

The Modern Warfare lll Open Beta (dates to be announced) will be free across all platforms, with players who pre-order gaining early access. Players who digitally preorder Modern Warfare III will also gain access to the campaign up to a week prior to launch.

Some people are already speculating that this will be like DMZ, an extraction mode, with Zombies. We’ll see if we can get some player-versus-player-versus environment as well.

The company made the announcement at Opening Night Live ahead of Gamescom.