A very late review on Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, one of my favourite iOS games and one of my favourite Modern Combats of all time. Here is my review on MC3.
Aesthetics[]
Put simply, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation's graphics are fantastic. Environments look rich and detailed, with a fair amount of realism to them. Weapons also look detailed, and small things like scratches on weapons and shells flying out of the weapon when fired (a new feature added in Fallen Nation) make the guns very appealing.
In terms of aesthetics, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation definitely raised the bar over its already visually impressive predecessors, pushing the iOS and Android devices to their very limits.
In terms of smoothness, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation provides a smooth experience from start to end. Whether you are blasting enemies in the campaign, to combating other players in online multiplayer, Fallen Nation remains a very composed and smooth game.
Aesthetics score: 9.9/10
Gameplay Variety[]
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation has the same basic controls as its predecessors. It has a joystick that controls the character moving forwards or backwards, and you swipe on the screen to change the direction you are facing.
In terms of gameplay variety, there are plenty of gameplay varieties in the multiplayer, including a variety of fun game modes.
However, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation's gameplay variety does bog down in the single-player campaign, especially when compared to its successor, Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour. I feel like there are too many moments in the campaign where you find yourself having to kill endlessly responding enemies, with only a few missions where I have to do something different, like in Cold-Blooded.
Overall, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation has a good amount of gameplay variety, especially in the multiplayer. However, in terms of gameplay variety overall, the single-player campaign's gameplay holds MC3's gameplay variety from greatness.
Gameplay Variety score: 8.9/10
Single-player campaign[]
The single-player campaign of Fallen Nation definitely took the cinematic level up to 11. There are plenty of cinematic cutscenes in the campaign of Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, and the great graphics complement the "cinematicness". Just from witnessing the first cutscene of Operation Blockbuster, where your helicopter is flying in to a ravaged Los Angeles as you head towards the NSA building, to dropping from a carrier up in the sky in the opening cutscene of Dragon King of the Sea, there is no denying that you can feel that a professional game is in your hands and wants to be played.
The storyline of Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, in my opinion, is the best in the entire franchise. It has all the elements of an intense single-player campaign for a shooter - it has memorable characters, it has a variety of different locations (from Los Angeles to Alaska to Pakistan to North Korea to Siberia), and the main villains - the KPR Alliance - is a powerful force that is out to destroy the US. And as mentioned earlier, the cinematic cutscenes just add to the overall experience. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation has a storyline and cutscenes that rival those found on consoles, and plays a lot more like Call of Duty than previous instalments.
However, the aforementioned gameplay variety does take a little bit away from the real experience, but most of the time there are heart-racing moments that gloss over the mediocre gameplay variety in the single-player campaign. Overall, Fallen Nation is a brilliant, smooth experience in the campaign that makes it one of the very best single-player campaigns ever found on a mobile device.
Single-player campaign score: 9.8/10
Multiplayer[]
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation's multiplayer plays rather similarly to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Unlike Black Pegasus or Sandstorm, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation allows you to customise your class. Skills have returned from Black Pegasus, and there are loads of them. From perks that give you a much longer sprinting duration to perks that increase the effective radius of all explosives, there's a skill for everyone in Fallen Nation, and in my opinion, there are only a few rather annoying perks, like Armor, but for the most part, skills give you a fair boost during gameplay.
We had to unlock weapons and then purchase them using credits, which basically was XP but converted into money, which I really wish they could have implemented into Modern Combat. I hated how rich noobs in Zero Hour could just purchase 200,000 credits and obtain the Compakt-665]. Guns were nicely balanced, and there were loads of them. Pistols to LMGs and everything in between, and all weapons were nicely tuned and balanced. The Intercept-L200 was unstoppable at long range, while the Defiler, N4010, and Roar 3000 were unstoppable up close. Guns had a great feel to the rate of fire, damage, and effective range they could be accurate out to. Overall, guns in MC3 feel better than they used to be. Ever.
Couple those with the debut of kill streaks, just like Call of Duty, and with the fast-paced gameplay, and with the better gear you unlock the longer you play the game, you have a multiplayer experience that will keep you coming back for more for weeks, and even months.
Kill streaks were well-balanced and there were loads of them. And not only that, at a 20 kill streak, you could blow the entire map and kill everyone - including teammates - with the Nuclear Missile.
Multiplayer on MC3 is amazing. Unfortunately, the servers are down, so if you just downloaded MC3 for the multiplayer, you're too late for the party.
But in its heyday, it was fabulous.
Multiplayer rating: 9.6/10
Overall rating[]
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation is almost as good, if not equally as good as its predecessor. It has the same fast-paced action that its predecessors featured, but expanded on it, which was a risk that worked amazingly. The graphics and storyline of MC3 can't be missed. Its honestly sad that this game might be deleted by Gameloft soon in the future, just like what happened to Sandstorm.
Overall rating: 9.75/10 - AMAZING