I’ve actually been waiting impatiently to play this game since seeing the trailer a couple of months ago, I really liked Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, it was one of the first games I reviewed, and was one of the games that helped me accept mobile gaming more. Not without it’s faults, it was still a fun game. So I had certain expectations for this game. I’ve (sort of) polished my skills as a reviewer, lets see how Gameloft has polished it’s game since then.

America is under attack by the Korean-Pakistani-Russian Alliance (KPR). I actually found that to be a pretty funny alliance, what wasn’t funny however is that these people came in hard. Hacking our satellites, destorying our coms,  and dropping WMD’s all over the place, not cool guys. Before all the defecation hit the oscillation, we heard “chatter” identifying a target where the KPR was supposed to steal some very important “intel”. This is where you come in to save the day.

From here on out it’s action and yelling, which is always fun, you can’t really have a time for strategy when your “helo” is flying to the “lz” while getting attacked from the rooftops of the city. As I reached the room where the “intel” is located, I couldn’t help but wonder, “these goons have been here the entire time, we actually arrived late, and they couldn’t steal the very important “intel” before I got there?”. That might be pretty cynical of me, but it’s hard to believe that before I came in guns blazing, these people were on a break checking Facebook or something with the computer right in front of them. (That’s actually something I wonder in a lot of games, I’m weird like that).

However “I’m not here for the story, I’m here to shoot people and gesture my way through some quick time events”. If that’s all you care about in reading this review, then trust me, there is a lot of that :). The second mission is actually you in an AC130 raining terror from above on the terrorist terrorizing your city (try saying that five times). So whether you’re playing for the story or not, you will have fun, that’s a given. Lets not forget that aside from the action packed campaign, there is the everlasting entertainment of pwning your peers in online multiplayer! <—(Cheers and applause)

One of the things I liked about the second MC2:BP was how quickly I got used to the control scheme. For those who’ve never played using a touchscreen, it’s a little tricky. In this game they offer a few ways to change the layout or scheme, even moving around the virtual joysticks and resizing them. Once you’ve found the best layout for you, (and it will be different for everyone so play around with each one for a bit) you’ll be set and kicking KPR’s ass out of your country.

Improvement-wise, this game does look better than MC2:BP, and plays a little smoother. The campaign is pretty fun, and varied, by varied that means that they have one of those escort missions that everyone just loves…all joking aside there is a good amount of variation in your missions, enough to keep you from saying “same sh*t different plate”. Multiplayer also offers 6 maps and 7 game modes to entertain you further. Now on to the stuff I thought wasn’t so good.

I have this problem with some Gameloft games due to the voice acting, and the cheesiness of the story. I understand it’s a war game and you have to throw around some of the terminology we’re used to already, but sometimes it just comes off really cheesy.  While that can be amusing, sort of like a comic relief during all the chaos, it can become annoying quick. The words I put quotation marks on are some of the words that I don’t want to hear for a while (Recap; chatter, intel, helo, lz, frosty). That sucks because this holiday season, a couple of the really big games coming out are going to be throwing those words around like people offering free samples at Sams Club. However that was actually one of the expectations I had before playing this game. So that’s one of my expectations they exceeded.

One slightly small issue that I had, as well as a lot of the people that rated the game in the app store, was that you can earn credits in the campaign and multiplayer that will unlock certain rewards or upgrades, but you don’t earn much by playing. However, you can certainly buy some as an In-app purchase. I understand that a lot of people will buy credits to buy the better gear and pwn with ease (I’ve done it before, I’m just as guilty). But earning it could be a little easier too, they could give a little more credits to the people who do it the hard way. Pretty please 🙂

All in all, this game is a lot of fun, certainly going to be one of my favorite for a while. It’s available in the app store for 6.99, available soon on the Android Market (or through Gameloft’s site).

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

4.5 out of 5

Whats Legit?
+Improved on an already great series
+Action packed

What’s Perpetrating?
-Voice acting was slightly annoying
-Gameloft does not make the credits rain fairly

Till next time, “stay frosty”.