Modern Warfare 3 was released on November 8th, 2011 with record shattering numbers. Just a week after release, Activision reports that MW3 made the company 775 million dollars at retail. Actisvision created Beachhead Studios to create Call of Duty Elite, a social network for Call of Duty fans, which also doubles as a digital distribution service that happens to have a premium subscription model.
There are 4 ways to get Call of Duty Elite Premium: Buy Call of Duty Elite vouchers at participating retailers, buy Call of Duty Elite from the Call of Duty Elite website or apps, buy Call of Duty Elite from the PlayStation Store, or Xbox Live Marketplace, and finally, buy the Hardened Edition of MW3. MW3 Hardened Edition may not be available at all participating retailers anymore, but if you do find one and you have at least $100 to spend, do it. Because not only are you buying the game, you’re also paying for Call of Duty Elite Premium, in addition, you get Call of Duty Elite Founder Status.
I got MW3 Hardened Edition for my PS3 shortly after my birthday.
Since January, Beachhead Studios has been providing Xbox Live subscribers a chance to download 3 content drops on Call of Duty Elite. On Februrary 28th, the two content drops that arrived to Xbox Live subscribers on Jan 23th, were released to PlayStation 3 owners. I had a chance to play these two maps called Liberation, and Piazza.
So, how were the maps?
Liberation: Liberation is a huge map. It’s perfect for snipers. The problem is that the map doesn’t really have variety. Rushing from A to B will result in being killed by a sniper from afar. The map design makes the map look a little rough. Some parts are darker than others which makes Aiming Down the Sights a little harder because some character camos blend in very well into the overall color palette. The other problem that I have is the flow of the map. You would think that the map design is a circular flow, but that’s not the case because the middle of the map have a few places where players can camp and shoot you from the building, or when you come out of one of the bunkers at the center of the map. My biggest gripe is some areas such as the turrets locations don’t really have a good, and wide area for where the turret is placed, so you end up sitting there for nothing, unless you find a player coming through the tunnel or whatnot.
I like the map, but it’s not for everyone. And definitely not for every situation.
Piazza: I don’t know if I like this map or not. Let me make things clear before I get started here. I love most of COD4’s run n’ gun maps, especially maps like Crossfire, and District. Piazza is more or less much like District, but except that it’s in sunny, daylight time. Piazza has too many complicated areas to be considered a run-n-gun map, and the worst part is that the spawn system sucks. Forget camping; you will always find someone to be spawning right behind you. It’s a beautiful map, it’s easy to see enemies in places, but in other places it’s not so easy. The spawn system really kills the map entirely.
The only thing that’s good about the map packs so far is that there’s an Elite Playlist designed exclusively for Call of Duty Elite members.
Stay Tuned for more impressions of Modern Warfare 3’s maps in coming weeks and months. The content drops so far are part of the content season that Activision is holding throughout the entire year.
