Written Friday, May 13, 2011 by Richard Walker
Kotaku has managed to get its sticky fingers on the very first tangible details for Modern Warfare 3, with the story, locations, game modes and release date all finally locked down and revealed. So, strap yourself in... There's a lot to get through.
First of all, the game will feature gigantic battles that will unfold across major cities like New York, Paris and London, with multiple sources claiming that Modern Warfare 3 will reshape the landscape of the Call of Duty franchise, with an eclectic range of settings as well as deep multiplayer and a narrative that reportedly ties up all of the loose ends in the series, kicking off directly after the events of Modern Warfare 2.
You'll start the game fighting off a Russian attack, before globe-trotting between destinations as an SAS Operative, Russian Federal Protective Services agent, a US Armoured Division tank gunner and an AC-130 operator once again, alongside key characters or recurring faces from past CoD games. There'll be 15 missions in all, starting with the Russian invasion of Manhattan before ending with a grand finale in Dubai.
Two new characters reportedly set to debut in Modern Warfare 3 are members of Delta Force, codenamed 'Frost' and 'Sandman'. Multiplayer will also be predictably huge, with a reported 20 maps on the disc, spread across the same single-player locations of New York, London, Paris and Mogadishu. Spec Ops will also return with two distinct modes called 'Survival' and 'Mission', which is pretty self-explanatory.
Furthermore, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software are collaborating on various aspects of Modern Warfare 3 as speculated in previous reports. There's plenty more over on Kotaku, including a slew of spoilers that we won't post here, because, well, they're spoilers, and we don't do spoilers. However, bear in mind that none of this information has been officially confirmed by Activision as yet, although it does look remarkably authentic. Take it with a wee pinch of salt, as always...
Modern Warfare 3 is apparently coming on November 8th, 2011. Gird your loins, people!