Terminal Lance #162 “Mike Whiskey Tree”

This could possibly be the most realistic game ever created. Okay, not really.

If anyone’s curious, Modern Warfare 3 uses Army ranks in the game, hence the reason there’s only three rockers on the SGTMAJ chevron.

I’ve always thought it would be strangely appropriate to make a military game that isn’t actually combat-related. Of course, when people think of the military they think of combat and action, but how often does any of that actually happen? Even for the infantry, not that much. Regardless, videogames can never truly capture the nature of being in a war, or even just the military, for the simple fact that they only focus on battles and combat. However, the Marine Corps experience isn’t necessarily about bullets and yelling, but rather about everything in between. No game will ever relate to you how uncomfortable your PPE is, how your eye-pro fogs up in the right weather, the weight of your rifle that you must carry with you everywhere–even when you’re not on the battlefield. Games don’t show the little things that make being in the military what it is, they only show what people want to see.

As a result, most military-centric games are reduced to a somewhat disjointed series of combat experiences and elaborate action sequences; and usually you’re not playing as the average 0311 Lance Coolie with sweaty balls, a drinking problem and a knocked up wife–but rather a Navy SEAL or SAS member on some covert action… you know, cause that’s what we do right?

Anyway, I think it goes without saying that I’ve recently acquired Modern Warfare 3. I haven’t finished the single player campaign and I haven’t had much time to play multiplayer, but I like it thus far. It is, really, another Call of Duty game. Lavishly high-budget action with high production values and a fast-paced, close-quarters multiplayer element is the series’ bread and butter–and this one is no different. Needless to say, if you like Call of Duty, you’ll probably like this game, as nothing has really changed. There’s a couple new additions to multiplayer, but nothing that’s going to re-define the genre.