Activision premiers Modern Warfare III campaign opener, details “Open Combat Missions”

There’s a lot happening in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, not the least of which are the new Open Combat Missions.

Going loud

Not only is this fall’s Modern Warfare III continuing the world of its rebooted namesake, but it’s also set to intro something altogether new for the franchise. That would be the Open Combat Missions, single player levels that exist inside the main campaign, but shake up the rigidity of Call of Duty’s usual structure.

Effectively, Open Combat Missions more or less let players tackle objectives how they want, instead of forcing ‘just’ stealth or running firefights on them. Also unlike traditional CoD missions, the Open Combat sections of the game will be more skewed towards open-world experiences.

Players will be able to go into much more of the maps than usual, dive bodies of water at will, take on foes with their personal preference of weaponry. That freedom is not without a tradeoff though. Not that there won’t be save-points, but the usually reliable checkpoints will be few and far between in Open Combat Missions.

Here’s the full story, from developer Sledgehammer Games’ David Swenson:

Open Combat Missions do seem like they’ll offer something genuinely new for Call of Duty fans. A little more flexibility is a good thing, and letting players take on missions how they want to can only be a positive. We’re not so sure about those gaps between save-points though. That could be a recipe for frustration if the game serves up a dose of higher difficulty.

If you didn’t get enough of Open Combat Missions though, there’s a full report on them via the Call of Duty blog. It’s way too much to print in this article, so you can find it all here.

And as for that campaign opener

Detailing Open Combat Missions is kind of the biggest story of the day, but then there’s also that campaign tease to show off. You’ve likely already seen glimpses of this one, as parts were shown off for the game’s reveal, but this is much better look and a big chunk of the gameplay.

As usual for a title in the set, Modern Warfare III is looking spectacular. The game will kick off with a sea-based infiltration, complete with monster set-pieces and some harrowing action.

Ready to rock after seeing that? Well you still have a little ways to go, as Call off Duty: Modern Warfare III isn’t due to hit the Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC til November 10th, 2023.