Modern Warfare 3 DLC on the Horizon

Originally published as Modern Warfare 3 DLC on the horizon on Technorati

A friend of mine sent me a link from Joystiq.com about the latest news from Activision concerning Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Care to hazard a guess?  I'll wait...

Yes!  It's a DLC announcement to the great joy of throngs of COD fans!

In a nutshell, starting January 24th for the Xbox is the first of 20 planned DLC releases for Call of Duty MW3 on the Xbox console.  What that means for PC gamers is unclear but we're likely to see a few DLC packs available between now and the September cutoff.

Of course most of the first DLC packs will be aimed at multiplayer but there are other treats in store according to this quote...

"The first pack is traditional multiplayer maps, but we want to do Spec Ops missions, missions, Spec-Ops Survival, new game types, new game modes, and really look at adding things that we've never done before,"

Extending the playability of a good game is generally a positive but it seems that lately we've ended up with either an attempt to milk a franchise or paying for content that should have been in the original release.

Don't get me wrong, MW3 was a great single player experience and the cooperative (SPEC OPS) play mode at least as good as Modern Warfare 2. So good that I'm of the opinion that it forced EA to include a cooperative mode in Battlefield 3. 

Multiplayer, well, it's entertaining and it looks very good considering the age of the engine it runs on.  New locales to chase your online buddies around is fun but it's still the run and gun type of experience.  With little choice in your online play choices thanks to limited options, you can end up in a dissatisfying multiplayer experience a bit too often.

I can get that same experience for free with Team Fortress 2.  If you haven't guessed it yet,  this is where my enthusiasm sours a bit.

Modern Warfare 3 seemed a bit shorter than Modern Warfare 2 in both Single Player and Spec Ops.  Now Activision announces plans to offer additional missions for spec ops and what I can only interpret as single player as well.  I don't know how that would work unless COD has finally turned into a full fledged RPG with side quests (objectives) unrelated to the main storyline. 

My question is, why would anyone want to pay more for content that really should have already been there? This game cost is $60 US and hasn't really dropped since launch.  Even Steam and Amazon didn't have any price breaks till Christmas day and they weren't well publicized and didn't last for long. 

Do I enjoy the game? Yes.  Is it worth it to spend another $10 to $15 each time new DLC becomes available, I can't say so.  Instead of a compliment it seems DLC is becoming a required accessory to get the full experience. 

It's kind of like buying a new car and having to wait for it to be painted before you can drive it home and then get charged extra for it.

I bought DLC content for Call of Duty: Black Ops which was a mistake since all I got were more multiplayer maps I didn't bother with.  It did come with additional cooperative maps but they were just rehashed versions of the same maps from Call of Duty: World at War.

I have to agree with my friend who wrote...." They can kiss my a--. I felt okay paying $35 for the game on sale, but DLC for MW3 ain't gonna happen for me. Least not till they change out that engine."

It's hard to argue with that.  MW3 is a good game but felt more like DLC for MW2 than anything new.   Part of that was the brevity of the single player storyline and the similar look and function of the IW5 gaming engine.  MW3's IW5 engine is really just a tweak of the 3 year old IW4 engine used in MW2. 

If you're a diehard COD fan then this is great news and by all means sign up for Elite and/or breathlessly await the release of each DLC pack between now and September.  I won't be joining you and I'm confident I won't regret the decision.