New Modern Warfare 3 ‘Face-Off’ multiplayer mode announced

Activision today announced a new multiplayer mode coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in the second DLC collection due out later this month.

The new "Face-Off" mode is a one-on-one or two-on-two deathmatch featuring four brand new maps custom built for more intimate combat.

"Normally in itself one-on-one isn't particularly creatively innovative, but what we've done is design the maps deliberately for this style of play," Modern Warfare 3 executive producer Mark Rubin told Eurogamer.

"In normal map development you have large maps that have long sight lines, then when you make smaller maps you shorten the sight line – the engagement distance becomes smaller when the map becomes smaller," Rubin explained. "But with these Face-Off maps, because it's not six-on-six, we've made the sight lines longer for the size of the map that it is. You actually end up engaging quicker and having a more exciting experience on the map."

"You still get a really new feel and experience out of the gameplay; not just the heavy, frantic experience you would get out of a normal multiplayer match," he added. "You get more tension build-up on these smaller maps."

The first two stages, "Aground" and "Erosion", will be available for free to all Xbox 360 players on May 15. The Face-Off mode will be released on PC and PlayStation 3 though no date has been confirmed.

Aground is "set on a shipwreck off the coast of Scotland", Eurogamer notes, while Erosion "sees you running around Roman ruins in Italy while Mount Vesuvius erupts in the background."

Two more maps,"Getaway" and "Lookout" will then be released on May 22 as part of the main DLC Collection 2 release.  Again, it will be a timed Xbox 360 exclusive.  Getaway "plays out in a beachside mansion in Brazil", while Lookout is "set in a forward observation post in Afghanistan".

In addition, Modern Warfare 3 DLC Collection 2 will also offer three new standard multiplayer maps.  Two maps, Sanctuary and Foundation, have already been released via the Call of Duty Elite service, but a new map, "Oasis", is set on a beach resort in the United Arab Emirates.

"It's actually in or near one of the levels from single player – the one that takes place in UAE. You can see part of that level in the background in this level. It's all new geo but it's in the same area," explained Rubin.

That's not all; there are also two new Spec Ops co-op missions coming too.

The first is titled "Ironclad" and is set immediately after the Hamburg mission from the single-player campaign.  You and a comrade attempt to make it back to the landing beach after the initial assault.

"It has that asynchronous combat that we've been focusing on, where one player does one thing and another does something completely different," Rubin said of Ironclad.  "One player is on the ground and has to clear obstacles and engage in basic infantry combat. Then you have another guy driving a tank and you both have to support each other and get back to the beaches."

The second Spec Ops mission is called "Killswitch" and takes place in an all-new area set in a Russian dockyard..

"One person is on the ground sneaking through and the other is in a sniper perch, sniping for the other player. You have to get through the level and detonate an EMP at the end."

With a new mode, six total new maps, and two additional spec-ops missions, Modern Warfare 3's Content Collection 2 looks like a promising release late this month.

[Eurogamer]