I finished it in 5 hours. My tired thoughts below.
Previously my modern military shooter ranking looked like this: Treyarch COD >>> IW COD >>>>>>MOH2010 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Homefront >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> infinity and beyond >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> BF3
MoH Worf Fighter floats somewhere in between MOH2010 and Homefront.
I loved the narrative, characters and tone of the previous game. I'm the kind of person that likes cheesy Bay/Emmerich America F*ck Yeah stories and Tom Clancy thrillers with Russian bad guys. I dislike schmaltzy "americanisms". I don't give a f*ck about America's heroes and flag and all that.
And yet MOH2010 made me care about those guys. Not just because they had badass beards. The ending was devastating.
Warfighter almost completely lost that charm. Now, I understand the story was written by actual Tier 1 guys and many levels are based on real events. But I didn't care at all about anything! There's nothing wrong with the Tom Clancy side of the story, but I don't think any developer ever screwed that one up. All the stuff about Preacher's wife is just horrific. A bad idea with awful execution. And the ending went full Spielberg with schmaltz, a far cry from MOH2010's chilling end sequence.
I also missed the jumping between teams. In MOH2010 you get four different perspectives. In Warfighter you mostly play as one dude in a COD-styIe world tour. In 2010 you switched teams at key points. You played as a marine, then switched to the pilot that rescued him, then cleared the mountainside as Dusty for the hurt pilot. It made so much sense, despite hoping all over the valley! Warfighter lost coherency and there's no meaningful relationship between the characters.
Finally, the chaos went up a notch. It doesn't feel as down to earth and authentic as MOH2010. It's still nowhere near COD's Bay-isms or Homefront's cruelty. But it just, you know, doesn't feel as good as before.
By the way, this must be the first shooter where the driving levels are the best parts of the game... Even weirder is that they were developed by Criterion and the game seems to load a different executable for them. They're truly stunning. I wouldn't mind a full game like that!
The art and sound are as strong as in MOH2010 and this time they have one hell of an engine to work with. However I'm not sure what happened to the water. For a game that features so much of it, it sure looks bad! The atmosphere and graphical design of the locations are incredible. I especially enjoyed the Sarajevo levels.
Warfighter was obviously rushed. It must've been hell to learn a new engine and deliver a new campaign in just two years. It's unpolished and I couldn't escape the feeling that the whole thing was held together by duct tape and prayers. Thankfully the shooting and movement are very similar to MOH2010's. I was afraid it may share BF3's jankiness, but it's all fine.
It's a very decent shooter by itself but pales badly in comparison to its predecessor.
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