Modern Warfare 3: the inside story of the world's biggest game - part two

The second part of our look behind the racks in the phenomenon of Modern Warfare. Today: the nonlinearity, artificial intelligence and influence doors

[This is the second part of our Modern Warfare 3 floors. If you have not read the first part, however, is here]

narrative inconsistencies

Modern Warfare 2 have been addressed. This was a message Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward were ready to take on our visit to their studies. MW3 spans the globe, but its list of characters was reduced and a more clear theme emerged. Especially, too, no conclusions at all sub-plots and intrigues that have developed over the last two titles.

But what about some other critics of the cod family? He always had complaints about linearity, with the series usually grouped in the "corridor shooter" of the kind called in derision Bret Robbins, creative director at Sledgehammer counters this:.

"When I think about the rules of the franchise in a design perspective, we want the player has always pledged to give them time to choose the time. We try to build our combat zones in a way that does not work. are options that can be found coaching routes, you can attempt a direct attack, may be left behind ... AI is very good to respond to such tactics they describe as "off line -. you're always moving forward, but the fight must feel organic. If you die and start over, you feel that you have options. "

Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey collected on the subject. "When you play a mission to Hamburg, you will see in this vast open beach and you can work your way through various channels, as long as you funnel at a specific time to know the story will -. Not an MMO "Rubin also talks about levels of Paris, there are roads along the streets and shop windows across streams, dozens skirmish points can be avoided if the correct lines are made

One thing that is not in dispute is the family structure. Like its predecessors, MW3 is divided between the battle of the important pieces together and silent Spec-Ops missions. The former are mostly experienced through the eyes of the U.S. Task Force Delta Derek "Frost" Westbrook, while the second working group are handled by 141, led by John Price.

also re-visits the subjects close to Modern Warfare. One of the missions, the Iron Lady, is a destructive AC-130 attack in central Paris, which requires the player to take out the enemy troops and tanks with guns up to 105 mm and 40 mm. It is, of course, the spiritual successor of the death of higher level than the original Modern Warfare. This time, however, the act of stealing closer interspersed with field mission simultaneous exchange views around player. It ends in a shootout in the middle of the huge Corinthian columns destroyed the U.S. embassy. Executive producer, Mark Rubin, suggested to me that there is also a classic take on modern warfare sniper mission, all camouflaged, but it will benefit the most complex urban and crowded.

"The levels are larger than anything we've tried before," said Rubin. "I mean, we have

only

installation disk -. That we are within a few kilobytes is a bit scary for a while we were well above, we. I thought I would never make it fit was particularly close to the elimination Tell artistic heritage, at one point we had 15 different kinds of plants in pots in the game -.. well Now we have 12 One of the most important things! what we did was roll our own algorithm. We saved 180 MB just by taking the textures that we have and with this understanding. Finally, it was enough to enter the record. "

The sense of constant budget permeates the entire project. Zach Volker, lead animator of Infinity Ward said that the team rejected an animation based on the physical process such as euphoria, it would be too expensive to calculate. Instead, we have increased the variety of animations by hand in the package Maya art.

"We compress our animations and thus take up very little space," said Volker. "Every new animation adds a couple of kilobytes. However, if we wanted the program to develop a new system of inverse kinematics for us so that the feet of the characters are always aligned to match the slope of the slope which we say: 'OK, he will have power to After the engine, what we all feel the pain? These decisions are based on the general direction of the game. If the missions are run much more aware, we will take whatever the design of technology. of units. "

World at War

This is not limited, of course, is the set of extension Globetrotters . Modern Warfare begins 3 hours after the previous title, with Washington seeking, and the attack on the Delta Force in New York being occupied. From there, the object of the game goes to Europe, where Russian troops begin to attack major cities like Paris, London, Prague, Berlin and Hamburg.

one big change from the streets largely rural local city MW2 recognizable and design teams have apparently used Google Street Map data and their own video and photographic equipment to capture the feeling famous places. "Not only are high levels in terms of footprint, but also go vertical," said Glen Schofield, another co-founder of Sledgehammer. "Cities provide a completely different style of fighting. We also use the military forces of different countries, SAS, GIGN France, and a mechanized unit in Germany, so there are a variety of fighting techniques."

Rubin also said, more variety in the responses enemy. AI soldiers have line of sight and can detect all objects as potential coverage, but will be grouped to form defensive lines, and if a member of that line is drawn, they dart for cover again to close the gap.

"Progress is subtle, but then there are plenty of aromatase inhibitors in every mission," he said. "In most games you fight a group of enemies as you move through the level - but in New York, a group of Delta Force with you, then there is a comprehensive US Army fight against the Russian army completely, and will fight, regardless of what makes -... will play differently each time the AI ??scripts only in their starting positions and moves first and then going to throw grenades or points of inflection of the coverage depending on how they feel the game gives each node to cover a value depending on where the player and the AI ??will try to keep the best setting based on the defense. "

In Sledgehammer, Condrey played a level never seen before called Scorched Earth, a devastated Berlin. "It is from much later in the game - a turning point," said Schofield Delta Force helicopters in the streets once in the flames. "It is a war in another urban area and fight alongside German forces too. "

Frost and Delta Force have fallen in the city and fight their way through an extraction point as possible on a roof. There is the construction of reservoirs and cleaning by soldiers swarming the streets. Gel makes the roof but it is too late for the evacuation of the enemy to establish a plan so you have to turn back into the street, and the fire of the allied fleet is a tank. Races with bombs and attack helicopters, sometimes drowning the constant fire, is a symphony of destruction.

• can also play one of Berlin's spec-op two-player missions. Law Bros bit, is that participants are trained in various areas of the city, and having to fight their way to a meeting in a building hit. At this point, the player jumps into a MH-6 Little Bird and provides coverage against fire, like the other made its way through the rubble, then switch roles, the player first climbed into another helicopter that first head on the roof, removed ground forces, and move towards a bomb to be diffused.

is a clear mission, the combination of alternative styles of play, and offer something a little more genuinely cooperative that simply run through a campaign map from side to side. And as scorched earth is a sensory assault of masonry falling and the sounds of gunfire.

The noise of war

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