Why ‘Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’ maps are doubling down on 2009
As the beta for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 makes its way to Xbox and PC today (October 12), NME spoke to developer Sledgehammer Games about the decision to launch with maps from 2009’s Modern Warfare 2.
As announced earlier in the year, Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer maps – aside from those in its Ground War, Invasion and War modes – are all taken from 2009’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
This includes the likes of Rust, Terminal, and Favela, which have been regarded as fan-favourite maps since their debut 14 years ago.
Speaking to NME, multiplayer creative director Greg Reisdorf explained that Sledgehammer wanted to bring back “one of the greatest launch sets ever,” but the studio initially didn’t know how many maps to bring back.
“We had a lot of debate over like, do we bring a few over? Do we bring five? Eight? Which ones do you leave out? We ultimately landed on the decision to make it a set,” said Reisdorf. “It makes them feel so good because of how you’re going back and forth between the maps. You’re going from Derail, to Highrise, to Rust, and having that experience across all of them.”
Reisdorf added that the maps have been modernised with “the latest visuals, audio, and effects,” along with some changes to how the maps are played. “So things like Favela or Highrise, you’re able to get into spots that you were never able to get to in 2009,” he said.
The director also shared his thoughts on what made the original Modern Warfare 2 so popular.
“It had some of these rough edges that allowed you to feel like you were breaking the game, but you weren’t,” said Reisdorf. “It was also the time I started at Sledgehammer, so that’s what people were playing on the floor in 2010.
“We were just playing that over and over again. There’s just something about the audio, the hit markers, the guitar riffs that go off, so that’s all stuff we’ve looked at and brought a modern version to Modern Warfare 3.”
Elsewhere, Reisdorf and design director Zach Hodson also spoke to NME about the game’s lengthy time-to-kill (TTK) and player feedback that’s already leading to changes.
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Andy Brown
NME
