CoD: Modern Warfare 3 Fans Split Over Beta Footage Showing In-Game Movement

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 players are once stoking the flames of the classic ‘how much movement is too much’ following the end of Modern Warfare 3 beta testing.

The evergreen argument is fresh on everyone’s mind these days. Modern Warfare 2 offered very little in the way of natural movement techniques, but the other two games in the rebooted series have made a clear effort to speed things up and keep players elusive.

It’s hard to argue against the effect of slide-canceling when it comes to Call of Duty’s skill ceiling, but some wild clips from the beta have players wondering if their favorite franchise has gone too far to please the “movement” community.

CoD: Modern Warfare 3 Fans Split Over Beta Footage Showing In-Game Movement

Various clips have circulated around social media showing off exactly how effective precise movement can be in the heat of combat. While this has largely been the case in every Call of Duty game since Advanced Warfare, the effect has been amplified coming off a year where the mainline CoD game gave the advantage to “sentinel” style players, as it were.

Twitch streamer Nahv put on an absolute movement clinic against one poor soul on Highrise and uploading the clip to Twitter put him right in the center of the ongoing war.

As a seasoned Call of Duty player, I recognize a skill difference when I see one. This may not work at the highest level of the game, but it’s absolutely a viable way to dominate a public match lobby. Still, detractors came out of the woodwork to discredit a rather simple clip. All in the name of pleading their case for CoD to abandon advanced movement in general.

“Hear me out: make the arcade shooter that wasn’t always an esports game fun again, and not just a chaotic sweaty mess?” one user argued. Several others offered similar thoughts, making it clear that they’re not happy with how things are shaping up.

Others were stepping up to defend the changes that Sledgehammer made for this game though. A good point came from Twitter user DayVeeyy who chimed in with a levelheaded assessment of the situation.

“If [a] player is better at utilizing movement to create advantages, he should always beat a worse player. MW2 was terrible because it removed tools for better players TO BE better,” he said.

Video games have grown to be more competitive over the years and Call of Duty isn’t immune to that. The developers shouldn’t have to put limits on the ceiling of someone’s natural skill just to appease those who don’t play as much. This debate will likely continue when Modern Warfare 3 releases in November.