Coming off the heals from one the of best multiplayer first person shooters for Mac, Modern Combat: Domination, comes the next installment from developer Gameloft, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($6.99, App Store Link). Modern Combat 3 takes off from where Modern Combat 2 left off. The Fallen Nation in Modern Combat 3 is America. Russia, Pakistan, and Korea, the KPR, have joined forces in a mission to destroy the U.S. In addition the the single player campaign, Modern Combat 3 also brings some of the best multiplayer gameplay for any FPS on a smartphone.
Gameplay
Fallen Nation has a thorough single player campaign as you fight your way through 13 missions including the AC-130 in which you take control of a battle-plane taking out enemies from below. In Modern Combat 3 you fight you battle in a wide variety of environments and cities ranging from Los Angeles to Pakistan. One of the other things that’s noticeable in Modern Combat 3 and plays a big part in the single player campaign is the environment. While you’re tying to fight your way through and concentrated on your enemy, there are a number of distractions such as tanks plowing through walls, buildings falling in on you and helicopters trying to take you out from above. There are different types of gameplay in Fallen Nation such as 4×4 chases, destroy, helicopter, and escort.
Modern Combat 3’s multiplayer shines as much as much as Modern Combat: Domination did. Multiplayer allows up to 12 players, 6 different maps, and 7 modes. The more assists and kills you get in multiplayer, the more you can earn in the form of currency to buy attachments for your weapons. The multiplayer is fun and since you can have up to 12 players at a time, there’s a lot of action, so it’s really fast paced. Right now the servers are a little buggy so it may be hard to connect or you might get disconnected, but that should be fixed soon.
Controls
The controls are another part of Modern Combat 3 that make this game great. They’re really solid and tight. While playing, I didn’t experience too much wrong with the controls with the exception of the camera which, is a little hard to control, especially when spawning. There would be enemies right in the spot where I re-spawned and at the same time I would have to control the camera. One other issue I had was moving the camera around, I would sometimes press the “fire” button instead, but after a while of playing it, you get more used to it. I tried to switch to gyroscope aiming instead, that seemed to be a little more difficult because you have to keep very still to have accurate aiming of you’re using the gyroscope. There are three different virtual stick configurations to choose from. I stuck with the default one, which in my opinion has the best layout.
Graphics
The graphics look really nice as they do in any Modern Combat game. Everything from the environments, weapons, characters, to the cut scenes all look great. The retina display on the iPhone 4 and 4S makes the graphics even more eye pleasing to look at. Gameloft always 1-ups themselves when making the Modern Combat series, especially with concentration on the graphics. They push it to the limit and always tend to go beyond that.
Verdict
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, again sets the bar for what a first person shooter on iOS should be. There are a few miscues such as the A.I. and the controls, but that’s not enough of a problem for the game not to be great. Again, the mutilplayer mode is great. You can spend an endless amount of time playing it, especially because it’s one of the few FPS for the iOS with a solid multiplayer mode. The single player mode which has 13 different mission usually lasts around 7 hours, maybe longer depending on the difficulty you choose. For the $6.99 price tag, the latest Modern Combat, Fallen Nation is one of the top FPS out on the App Store. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation is out now for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Price: ($6.99, App Store Link)
Pros
- Great Graphics
- 13 missions
- Multiplayer mode
Cons
- Controls take some getting used to
- A.I. is a little tough on some levels more than others
