The Modern Warfare 3 Files: Exclusive First Details On The Biggest Game Of 2011

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is coming Nov. 8, 2011, Kotaku has learned, delivering with it mammoth battles that engulf a dozen cities around the world including New York, Paris and London.

Multiple sources have shared details of the game’s story, art, sounds and game modes with Kotaku, noting that the game will reshape the landscape of the Call of Duty franchise, bringing an impressive number of eclectic settings, deep multiplayer gaming and a story that ties up nearly all loose ends from previous titles, including the final moments of key figures in the series’ history.

While we haven’t seen the game in action ourselves, we’ve gone to great lengths to nail down as much as possible the veracity of our sources. We believe that the imagery and chief details are accurate. That doesn’t mean things can’t change before release, but this appears to be a full run down of where Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software is on Modern Warfare 3 as they add the final polishing touches.

The game opens moments after the cliffhanger ending of Modern Warfare 2 with the US struggling to stave off a surprise Russian attack. The singleplayer campaign will ping-pong players around the world as they take on the multiple throwaway roles as a Russian Federal Protective Services agent, SAS Operative, tank gunner, and AC-130 gunner as well as key characters from previous instalments and new recurring characters. The game will feature about 15 missions, kicking off with the invasion of Manhattan by a Russian force and wrapping up with a final encounter in Dubai.

The plot, as described, seems to be keeping with developer Infinity Ward’s habit of delivering complex, short sequences punctuated by lots of gunfire and scene changes. The game also has players take control of several vehicles, returning gamers to the AC-130 gunship as a gunner and plopping them down in a tank as part of a U.S. armoured Division.

The singleplayer campaign, which appears to wrap up most of the unanswered questions and character fates of the first two Modern Warfare titles, also introduces new characters who appear to be destined for future Modern Warfare games, especially two Delta Force operatives codenamed “Frost” and “Sandman”.

Multiplayer in the game returns with a chunky list of playable maps as well as two types of Spec Ops modes: “Survival” and “Mission”.

Activision, the series’ publisher, still hasn’t officially unveiled any details about the game, though executives have said that a new Call of Duty game was coming this year. Last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops, developed by Treyarch, sold more than seven million copies in the first 24 hours and within six weeks reached $US1 billion in sales.

We’ve contacted Activision for comment and will update the story when and if they provide reaction.