Problems with Modern Warfare 3
I think Modern Warfare 3 has some very large design flaws, and I think a large part of those flaws are probably that they are purposefully implemented that way.
1. Level Design - Upon playing the game, you'll notice that all the maps are "circular"; they're all designed to curve around into other parts of the level. This in itself is not a bad thing, but what is bad is that the circular design puts up artificial walls where there shouldn't be any. See those chairs and tables arranged in a pile? They are there solely to prevent you from taking a corner position that would put you out of the enemies line of fire. This also applies to verticality; there are very few elevated positions, and they provide relatively limited fields of fire. The net effect is for a very "MLG" style feel; like they wanted to eliminate camping spots and focus solely on the gunplay. This actually makes for a very poor game; even though CoD is not technically a cover based shooter, cover is essential for moving forward and taking position, especially against an entrenched enemy. And the circular design does very little to alleviate this problem; there are still choke points, and a coordinated team can hold a very fortified position with only a couple of snipers. Without cover, and with the levels forgoing complexity in favor of the circular pattern, these points become much harder to assault and much easier to hold, despite the designers' best intention.
2. Stylistic choices - this ties into the level design, but I feel its' worth it's own section. Does you see that Restaurant? Doesn't it look like it might be entertaining to hide in there and have a gunfight? Too bad, it's arbitrarily off-limits. It's baffling how many times the game will put potentially neat shit just outside of the play field. What's more baffling is that it commits the sin of the ajar door: when you see an ajar door in a game, what does that make you think? That you should be able to open it, right? Well, you should be, but, you can't. Little details like these are all over the place; the most interesting things in the game sit just outside of your grasp, while the game itself is formed into straight paths with long lines of sight, and overlooked corners. Why are these exploding cars right outside of the play area? Why can I jump on top of this truck and this truck, but not that truck? And who designed these levels? I know "realistic" combat hardly ever presents you with a layout you'd like, but this is hardly realistic, and I don't think the levels would stand up to a city planner either.
3. Weapons - I don't actually think there's too much wrong with the weapons. They do seem to play a kind of "rock paper scissors" in terms of of damage and who wins a gunfight, but it's difficult to tell whether this is by design or simply due to laggy net code. Sometimes it literally feels like you will lose a gunfight solely due to the other player having a stronger connection. This feeling is hard to shake when the game "burps; it'll jump ahead about a second or two, during which you will be attempting to sight and fire at your opponent. When the burp is over, you'll be dead, and the killcam will show you as not having gotten off a shot, despite squeezing out half a clip on your own screen.
4. Spawns - your enemy will spawn right behind you. You will spawn right behind your enemy. In theory, I guess this is used to prevent camping. In practice, it means your enemy will spawn inside your teams' "perimeter", giving them a free shot at your exposed backsides. This is annoying enough without the fact that the enemy team is generally on the other side of the map, so spawning them right up your asshole has that special feeling of "we could've spawned anywhere, but we like it in your bumhole". If this is an anti-camping feature, why is it needed in a game where the maps are already designed to eliminate camping? I don't know, I didn't make it, but it is frustrating. Spawn me with my team, spawn the other team with their team, I'll be happy.
5. Quickscoping - still totally a thing. Why? Who knows. To give the ADHD spazzes something to feel skilled at, or worse, to cater to the demands of the "hardcore" crowd.
I feel like Modern Warfare 3 is endemic of very bad wave of console game design. The "system" is technically better; the perks and the guns and the what have you. But the gameplay itself sorely lacks, faulting in a few areas it shouldn't have. The real tragedy here is that the problems evidently come from the game designers listening to the vocal "Fans"; the ones that do nothing but sit on the forums and bitch about "So and so weapon is over-powered", "killstreaks are too powerful", etc. And the developers preferred method of dealing with this is "Nerfing", or tweaking weapons stats so that an "over powered" weapon is less powerful, damage modifiers for the characters are higher, level design is more streamlined, etc. And the designers really shouldn't be listening to these fans at all; in most cases, they're blaming lack of skill and tactical thinking on the game itself, when in reality, it's fine for most. Eliminating elements of randomness may make a game more intense in the upper levels of play; but for us pubbers and assorted scum, it makes for a shitty game where you might as well quit the instant you see a 6 man team enter the lobby. That randomness adds dynamic, adds a lack of control that you must both defend against and exploit; the lack of that dynamic makes most firefights more of a forgone conclusion than an actual fight.
