Modern Combat 3 Review

Gameloft's Modern Combat 3 is the company's closest approximation of Activision's Modern Warfare yet, right down to the butt-rock guitar riff that plays when you complete a mission or level-up your multiplayer avatar. Over the course of the 5+ hour single player adventure players will ride gunner in an AC-130 gunship, man a turret off the side of a helicopter, lob grenades out of a truck to throw off ATV-riding pursuers, and of course breach & clear plenty of rooms full of enemies.

The storyline, thin as it is, follows that splinter extremist groups from North Korea, Pakistan and Russia have banded together to form the "KPR," and somehow managed to take over a large swath of the United States. As a member of Phantom Squad, the player undertakes a variety of high-risk covert missions to help turn the tide.

The virtual controls frustrate less here than in other mobile FPS titles, thanks in part to generous auto-aim, but also because Gameloft has implemented powerful customization options. Players can move any button anywhere on the screen. The controls felt much better to me after I moved Grenade and Fire closer together, and after moving Sprint away from the left edge of the screen.


Every time Modern Combat 3 has come up around office, the conversation has gone the same way: "Ha, oh man is that the cheap copy of Call of Duty?" But then, after putting the game in front of them: "Oh wow – that looks really good. How much did you say it cost again?"

What the game lacks in originality it makes up for in sheer quality. But make no mistake, MC3 is extremely derivative and offers up virtually nothing FPS fans haven't seen before. The game runs off a proprietary Gameloft engine and looks absolutely fantastic. More importantly, on an iPad 2 the action remains fast and silky smooth throughout. When playing on an iPad 1 I did encounter instances of slowdown, but nothing gamebreaking.

The lengthy single player switches up the environment and scenarios often enough to keep me thoroughly glued to my iPad's screen, and the extremely robust multiplayer options, while not my cup of tea, will likely keep FPS addicts busy for months to come.


The bottom line is that some gamers are philosophically opposed to playing an FPS with virtual touch screen controls. It's hard to blame them. Even after customizing my button layout, I died more than once because I missed the fire button - a feat of failure that would never happen with a controller. It doesn't feel good.

But for gamers that can overlook this, they will find in Modern Combat 3 a huge, intense, and polished shooter. Modern Combat 3 is the best FPS on mobile devices, especially if you're a multiplayer-minded gamer. MC3 features 12-player online multiplayer across six maps. All the "standard" modes are represented, including team deathmatch, capture the flag, and zone control. All the CoD-style progress systems are also in place: level-ups, weapon challenges, killchains, perk customization and more. Best of all? All online multiplayer is free, included as part of the game's $7 asking price.

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