Highlights
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 brings back iconic maps from Modern Warfare 2, creating a sense of nostalgia and anticipation.
- The remastered maps feature controversial changes like functional doors and swimming mechanics, altering the original feel of the maps.
- While the changes aim to update the maps for modern gameplay, they may be more imposing than expected, raising questions about why they were brought back in the first place.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has attracted the attention of many with its bold choice to use the launch maps of 2009's Modern Warfare 2 in its own map roster. Many of these maps are considered some of the most iconic CoD multiplayer stages of all time, giving the upcoming game an instant boost of nostalgia and anticipation before even releasing.
While these remastered maps in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are quite faithful adaptations of the originals overall, they do feature some controversial changes that aim to bring the maps up to speed with modern CoD gameplay. With the introduction of things like functional doors, swimming mechanics, and brand-new lines of sight to many maps, some players may find that these seemingly small changes will add up to create a completely different feel to the originals.
The Creeping Changes To Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's MW2 Maps
In total, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will feature 16 of the core maps of the original MW2 when it launches in November. It is clear that Sledgehammer Games has been respectful to the original maps in recreating them, with maps like Highrise featuring the same hidden spots and areas that gave so many MW2 maps their charm and memorability.
As players have already seen with recreations of other Call of Duty maps in more modern titles, some changes have been made to MW3's portrayals to match the slower pacing and movement of today's Call of Duty identity. Doors are one of the most talked-about changes to MW3's maps, with functional doors being non-existent in the original Modern Warfare 2.
To compensate for this, the decision has been made to change once-empty doorways to include doors that can be strategically closed or opened by players throughout a match. While a seemingly innocuous change, doors can completely change how buildings and certain choke points are held on a map, isolating a lot of areas much more than they were in their original portrayals.
Other changes have come to maps such as the water around Sub Base, which players can now swim in, with most maps also experiencing a litany of minor tweaks like new windows or doorway sizes being changed. To make up for the increased probability of players taking advantageous positions indoors, new lines of sight have been opened up in a lot of maps, further altering their original identity.
With Sledgehammer Games stressing how it wanted to give fans "new ways to experience classic maps," it is clear that these subtle changes might be quite glaring when added together. Modern Warfare 3 is then faced with the difficult choice of maintaining the recognizability of its maps while bringing them up to pace with modern CoD gameplay, and these minor changes need to be kept in check.
Of course, Modern Warfare 3 cannot completely rely upon nostalgia for its core multiplayer, and so it is for the best that many maps will be given unique twists. On an individual level, each of these changes has a great purpose in making Modern Warfare 3's maps play better, but altogether they may bring into question why older maps were brought back to begin with. In all, MW3's maps and their changes offer the best middle-ground between the different demographics and playstyles of the franchise, yet they may become more imposing than Sledgehammer Games hoped for.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is scheduled to release November 10, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
