Starting with the original Call of Duty, this is a game that’s been putting us in the boots of larger-than-life soldiers in some of the most intense combat moments you could imagine for a long time. Let’s reflect on some of the most memorable moments that have defined the series.

SPOILERS AHEAD, read at your own risk!

15. Menendez’s bloody rampage | Time and Fate | Call of Duty Black Ops II

Very rarely do you get to know the exact motivations behind a psychopathic villain, but in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, you get to witness Raul Menendez’s plight from his own eyes–bloodshot, rage-filled eyes. In a CIA raid to capture Menendez, his sister Josefina is taken from him, sending the antagonist into a murderous frenzy. With nothing but a shotgun, machete, and blind rage, you rampage through the nearby town, slaughtering every soldier that stands in your way. Bullets can’t hurt you, you shrug off grenades, and you attack your victims like a man possessed. What a rush.

14. Saving the ‘President’ | Atlas | Advanced Warfare

Mission 2 of Advanced Warfare is a bit of whirlwind. One minute you’re meeting your slain best friend’s father at a funeral, the next you’re rescuing the Commander-in-Chief from a hostage situation at Camp David. What’s going on? When your shiny new prosthetic arm malfunctions and a colleague shoots the POTUS in the head, it suddenly becomes clear – this overblown, oh-so-CoD mission is just a VR simulation. It’s a miniature twist, and a nice introduction to AW’s future-tech. Also, Kevin Spacey’s all over it, which is always fun.

13. The United States getting nuked from space | Ghost Stories | Call of Duty: Ghosts

To kick off the new setting for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Infinity Ward brought out the biggest guns they could get: a weaponized space station orbiting right above the United States. As the astronaut Baker, you and your partner witness the Federation hijack the station, gun down its crew, and launch nuclear missiles towards southern California. But what you have to do gets even more insane. As in, get-blown-out-into-space, shoot-any-bad-guys-you-see, then commit-suicide-to-save-the-world kind of insane.

12. Deciding the fate of Alex Mason | Suffer With Me | Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Black Ops II did something that no other Call of Duty campaign had done before: it let you make choices. But one of those choices might’ve passed without you even knowing it happened. The young Mason and Woods have tracked down the murderous extremist, Raul Menendez, who was betrayed by his allies. With a blinding cloth draped over his head, Menendez is displayed in front of Woods, who has a sniper rifle in hand, ready to gun the madman down. You’re given control. You take the shot. But as you inspect the body, you discover that you shot Alex Mason instead! Dun dun dun. Guess you should’ve shot him in the leg, a subtle choice which gives you a completely different ending.

11. Back to WWII | Demon Within | Black Ops 3

CoD fans have spent years campaigning for a return to the battlefields of the past – in cheeky fashion, Black Ops 3 gave them what they wanted. Entering the mind of the dying Sarah Hall (don’t ask), you’re thrust into 1944’s Siege of Bastogne, taking down Nazi threats with tech a century ahead of theirs. Quickly, things get weird(er), as the world starts folding in on itself, Inception-style, gravity begins to turn off, and zombies and direwolves start popping up. It’s all very meaningful, I’m sure.

10. Hijacked plane sequence | Turbulence | Modern Warfare 3

And there we were thinking Modern Warfares breathless airplane-based bonus mission Mile High Club was pretty special. But then MW3s Turbulence comes along and takes in-flight combat to the next level – protecting the Russian president from hijackers in the claustrophobic space of a jet is high-stakes stuff on its own. Then, the engines stall out and the dive sends you into a sequence of zero gravity shooting and a crash landing that rips the aircraft fuselage in two. True action film fare.

9. De-Nazifying the woods | The Forest | Call of Duty 3

A wonderfully paced, rising crescendo of a level. At first requiring a softly-softly snipey-snipey approach, with the relative peacefulness of the forest creating an edgy atmosphere, the player never quite knowing where the next Nazis going to spring from. Then it kicks things up a notch, with the battle intensifying as it moves between tight burrow-like trenches and wide-open spaces. Finally and a complete contrast to the cautious way the mission starts youre given a mortar to play with, allowing you to merrily blow apart any of Hitlers helmeted hobgoblins unfortunate enough to still be lurking in the forest.

8. The Airport Massacre | No Russian | Modern Warfare

“Best” is perhaps not quite the right word for this entry, but it’s undoubtedly one of the series’ most effective, affecting missions. No Russian places you in the shoes of an undercover agent in a terrorist cell. Quickly, you understand just what that asks of you. You enter an airport and are told to mow down everyone you see, regardless of who they are. It’s a video game mission that’s sparked protest, academic study and genuine soul-searching. There’s very little else like it in the medium.

7. Beach landing | The Battle of Pointe du Hoc | Call of Duty 2

Starts with a fellow soldier in the landing craft having a fear-induced puke. BLEEUURGH. This is quickly followed by the sound of bullets whizzing through the air. Then clouds of red mist as those bullets thud into flesh. Soldiers fall to the ground. Spray from a near-miss explosion obscures your view. Then the ramp is down and youre running on to the beach. MORTAR BOOM. Down you go. Cue semi-deafened shell-shocked horror of war moment as you survey the scene around you. When you regain your senses the metaphorical implications of the vertical cliff face ahead of you become apparent. Your role to this point is one of spectator, but its still a breathless couple of minutes.

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The post 15 of the best Call of Duty moments in the history of the series appeared first on Game News.

The full list:

1. Diablo III
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
3. Mass Effect 3
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
5. Skylanders
6. Battlefield 3
7. Max Payne 3
8. Assassin’s Creed Revelations
9. Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games
10. Saints Row: The Third

Keep in mind there’s a bunch of things this list doesn’t factor in, such as Collectors Editions, Game of the Year re-releases, and digital downloads. Still, when Australian gamers are reaching backwards for their next gaming fix, it’s either an interesting indictment on their tastes, or on the standard of games released in 2012. What’s your take?

The post Australias best sellers of 2012 come from 2011 appeared first on Game News.

2011 was indeed a great year to be a gamer. Heres our buyers guide of the top must-own games from the calendar year. Have you played them all?

Portal 2

Portal 2 review (opens in new tab)
Portal 2 screens (opens in new tab)
Portal 2 videos (opens in new tab)

Batman: Arkham City

Batman: Arkham City review (opens in new tab)
Batman: Arkham City screens (opens in new tab)
Batman: Arkham City videos (opens in new tab)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review (opens in new tab)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens (opens in new tab)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim videos (opens in new tab)

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword review (opens in new tab)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword screens (opens in new tab)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword videos (opens in new tab)

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings review (opens in new tab)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings screens (opens in new tab)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings videos (opens in new tab)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex: Human Revolution review (opens in new tab)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution screens (opens in new tab)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution videos (opens in new tab)

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception review (opens in new tab)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception screens (opens in new tab)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception videos (opens in new tab)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review (opens in new tab)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 screens (opens in new tab)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 videos (opens in new tab)

Super Mario 3D Land

Super Mario 3D Land review (opens in new tab)
Super Mario 3D Land screens (opens in new tab)
Super Mario 3D Land videos (opens in new tab)

Dark Souls

Dark Souls review (opens in new tab)
Dark Souls screens (opens in new tab)
Dark Souls videos (opens in new tab)

The post Best Games of 2011 appeared first on Game News.

Modern Warfare 3 versus Battlefield 3. It’s the new fanboy war du jour. Both games have their supporters, and both sides will go at the opposing game’s throat like a rabid vampire wolverine at the mere mention of its title. And frankly, now that both games are out, that needs to stop.

So having respectively reviewed MW3 and BF3, Charlie Barratt and I have decided to finish the argument once and for all. We’ve played through both games. We’ve discussed each game’s strengths and flaws at length for several days. And now, in conference with Mr. Barratt, I have produced this feature summing up our collective feelings. You’ll find no apologist arguments here. You’ll find no excuses. You’ll just find the experiences comparatively celebrated and lambasted as they deserve, warts and all. Want to know what we concluded? Read on.

Campaign

Modern Warfare 3

A fast drum beat is exciting. An even faster drum beat is technically impressive. But when a drum beat becomes even faster than that, it turns into one long droning note. Modern Warfare 3, although consistently exhilarating, falls somewhat towards the end of that scale at times. How you feel about that will come down to how you feel about big, glossy, summer action movies. This game knows that its audience wants fast thrills delivered at an insane rate – thus, the pacing of nearly every level is now utterly relentless. Billions of easy-to-kill enemies pour onto the screen from every corner. You usually don’t go for more than two seconds at a time without killing someone, and when you do, it’s only because a stupendously large – often stunningly-realised – set-piece is exploding around you. Every level basically plays like the most frantically full-on part of the last level of any of other game, so frenetically so that at times it actually feels more like an old-school Doom or a Serious Sam than the recent CoDs.

It might be somewhat moronic, but at least it’s gleefully moronic, smashing you so hard and so fast in the face with the adrenaline hammer that you’re too constantly wired to stop to think or care about anything outside of what you’re currently doing. It’s still CoD of course, but it’s a super-charged Turbo Edition. That said, the level design now frequently has a rather different, improved feel, the barely-disguised tunnels of previous games now replaced by many more multi-leveled optional routes and opportunities for flanking. It’s actually somewhat less of a shooting gallery than CoD has been lately, even threatening to feel more like a free-flowing FPS at times. It’s like eating a giant bag of candyfloss in one sitting. An exciting, desperately giddy pleasure at the time, but not terribly nourishing long-term and liable to make you feel a bit woozy afterwards. And it’s doubtful you’ll want to go back and do it again. It’s vacuously exciting, and if that does it for you then you’ll have a great time. Though don’t expect to remember much bar the stand-out set-pieces in any great detail by the end.

Battlefield 3

Where Modern Warfare 3’s campaign gameplay is gleefully moronic, Battlefield 3’s is just moronic. Futilely trying way too hard to emulate well-known Call of Duty tropes which its rival has, ironically, evolved away from slightly in its latest entry, the combination of insanely rigid scripting, clairvoyant, overly aggressive AI and a total disregard for the player’s involvement make Battlefield 3’s campaign an utterly indefensible misery. Managing that rare balance of being both boring and infuriating at the same time, it’s a master-class in hackneyed linearity and non-interactive pseudo-drama.

It has a couple of stand-out moments that feel like its own. The North-by-Northwest-inspired plane attack towards the end is rather good, as are the semi-free-roaming tank bit and the obligatory night-vision sniping section. But overall, Battlefield 3’s campaign is a big pile of potentially cool ideas bludgeoned to death by disregard of player input and a whole load of sloppy, buggy, bargain bin execution. Imagine being forced to do a Rubik’s Cube underwater with oven gloves on, while being repeatedly shouted at and punched in the face, and stopped and tied up every time it looked like you might be getting somewhere rewarding. That’s basically Battlefield 3’s campaign. It’s bad. Don’t play it.

WINNER: Modern Warfare 3

Multiplayer

Modern Warfare 3

Like most things in MW3, multiplayer is essentially a highly-focused distillation of everything that has previously proved successful for the series. It’s fast, it’s punchy, it’s instantly gratifying on a second-by-second basis. And from the time we’ve put in so far, it seems one of the tightest, slickest iterations yet. Our favourite improvement? The ability to set up streak rewards for support play rather than just the simple hunt for a high K/D ratio. Not only does this finally acknowledge and reward players below the 1337est of the 1337, it also shifts the emphasis of CoD’s multiplayer away from simple brute aggression and will (hopefully) pave the way for a more thoughtful overall game in the future. Similarly, the rather excellent game analysis feature of the Call of Duty Elite service could help casual player just as much as hardcore Prestige-whore.

On top of that addition, the total line-up of game modes is now a rather excellent package, turning CoD’s core shooting mechanics into an eclectic spread of quirky, radically different themed experiences. New addition Kill Confirmed is rather a fast and frantic hoot, and the Private Match pre-sets for custom games like Infection and One in the Chamber really emphasise MW3’s predilection for witty, arcadey fun over the more serious multiplayer offerings of old. That said, the core shooting really has not evolved, so don’t expect anything particularly fresh in that area, despite the multitudinous forms it now comes in.

Battlefield 3

Make no mistake about it. In terms of depth, intelligence, camaraderie, emergent, minute-to-minute variety and the sheer, gratifying sense of the importance of your actions, Battlefield 3 is miles ahead of any other multiplayer shooter on the market. There’s a reason that BF was a resolutely MP game for years. Its multiplayer is so vast, so full of content, so packed with things to do, tactics to master, and dynamic, organic, purely player-driven spectacle that it really is a full-sized game in its own right. It’s what you really buy when you pick up a box with the word Battlefield on the front. Everything else is just window dressing.

The best way to describe BF3 multiplayer is as an ecosystem. With more possible weapon and equipment variations within each of its four classes than many shooters have within their entireties, the actions available to a player and the differences each can make to the evolving shape of an overall battle are boggling in scope. Make the right shot in the right place, kill or repair the right tank, airlift or resuscitate the right guy, and you can tip the whole war. Snipers attack and defend ground troops. Ground troops support and maintain each other and their vehicles. Ground vehicles bully the hell out of enemy objectives, while air vehicles survey and reshape the whole warzone from above (including taking out those snipers). Battlefield fights are long, drawn out, and as intensive on the brain as they are on the trigger finger. What they never are though, is anything less than thrilling, unpredictable, and deeply, deeply satisfying on an epic scale few games ever match.

WINNER: Battlefield 3

Next: Who’s best at co-op, looks and innovation?

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The post Modern Warfare 3 vs Battlefield 3: The final verdict appeared first on Game News.

If the $300 price tag for the Ear Force DELTA Modern Warfare 3 headset announced earlier today sounds too expense, don’t worry. Turtle Beach has announced four officially licensed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 headsets that offer something for all gamers — even those only willing to spend $100 on their auditory accessories: Ear Force BRAVO ($179.95), CHARLIE ($129.95), and FOXTROT ($99.95).

All the headsets will be cross-platform compatible with Xbox 360, PS3, and PC and come “with multiple feature sets, special packages with bonus content, and price points to ensure that no player is left behind.”

The complete list of features for the top-of-the-lineEar Force DELTA headset (opens in new tab)is long and bullet-pointed, but includes voice morphing, dual-pairing Bluetooth wireless chat (answer the phone while you game), and an ear guard with a blast limiter (limits blasts).

Turtle Beach has promised to announce additional details on the Ear Force series later. Our only concern is that the headsets release may eclipse MW3 itself, and headset owners may forget to actually purchase the game.

Above: The more affordable and sensible FOXTROT headset will only cost you $99.95

The official specs for each of the Turtle Beach Modern Warfare 3 headsets follow:

Ear Force DELTA (EFD) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3-Optimized Programmable Wireless Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Headset with Bluetooth Chat. The top-of-the-line EFD headset comes packaged in a specially-themed carrying case and is pre-loaded with unique custom Modern Warfare 3 presets and voice prompts. Ear Force Delta is the ultimate Xbox 360 and PS3 weapon for the most avid Modern Warfare 3 players. MSRP: $299.95.

Ear Force BRAVO (EFB) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Programmable Wireless Universal Gaming Headset. Featuring the same custom Modern Warfare 3 presets as the EFD, the EFB provides players with the same optimized experience in a universal headset that’s the perfect Call of Duty® companion on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. MSRP $179.95.

Ear Force CHARLIE (EFC) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Multi-Speaker Surround Sound PC Gaming Headset. With eight amplified, acoustically-angled speakers delivering discrete surround sound, this tournament-grade, Modern Warfare 3 optimized wired headset is the perfect choice for competitive PC gamers. MSRP $129.95.

Ear Force FOXTROT (EFF) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Universal Gaming Headset. For Modern Warfare 3 players seeking effortless cross-platform performance, the EFF provides gamers with high-fidelity amplified audio along with several key features to set it apart. MSRP $99.95.

Jul 19, 2011

Turtle Beach has promised to announce additional details on the Ear Force series later. Our only concern is that the headsets release may eclipse MW3 itself, and headset owners may forget to actually purchase the game.

Above: The more affordable and sensible FOXTROT headset will only cost you $99.95

The official specs for each of the Turtle Beach Modern Warfare 3 headsets follow:

Ear Force DELTA (EFD) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3-Optimized Programmable Wireless Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Headset with Bluetooth Chat. The top-of-the-line EFD headset comes packaged in a specially-themed carrying case and is pre-loaded with unique custom Modern Warfare 3 presets and voice prompts. Ear Force Delta is the ultimate Xbox 360 and PS3 weapon for the most avid Modern Warfare 3 players. MSRP: $299.95.

Ear Force BRAVO (EFB) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Programmable Wireless Universal Gaming Headset. Featuring the same custom Modern Warfare 3 presets as the EFD, the EFB provides players with the same optimized experience in a universal headset that’s the perfect Call of Duty® companion on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. MSRP $179.95.

Ear Force CHARLIE (EFC) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Multi-Speaker Surround Sound PC Gaming Headset. With eight amplified, acoustically-angled speakers delivering discrete surround sound, this tournament-grade, Modern Warfare 3 optimized wired headset is the perfect choice for competitive PC gamers. MSRP $129.95.

Ear Force FOXTROT (EFF) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Optimized Universal Gaming Headset. For Modern Warfare 3 players seeking effortless cross-platform performance, the EFF provides gamers with high-fidelity amplified audio along with several key features to set it apart. MSRP $99.95.

Jul 19, 2011

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