Analysis: CoD: MW3 gameplay trailer hits home in the United States, Europe

Written by Matt Swider on May 24, 2011

CoD MW3 News: There's a lot going on in the CoD MW3 trailer and we've replayed the YouTube video a dozen times to give you the play-by-play.

Last night's Call of Duty: Mondern Warfare 3 reveal trailer took us from United States to Germany, with both countries under attack and more devastation in between than we could keep track of in one viewing. This minute-and-a-half trailer opens with New York City under attack, specifically Manhattan's south side. From this vantage point along the East River, the camera moves inland to the Financial District along Wall Street. There, the flag-draped, world-famous New York Stock Exchange building is shown with a tattered, torn and partially burned American flag. With a flip of an ammo cartridge between two members of the US Armed Forces, then a submarine firing a series of missiles, the trailer turns to England.

At first, England experiences the same sort of chaos set against the backdrop of Big Ben and Parliament. But the trailer quickly turns its attention underground, where a pickup truck is racing alongside a subway, only to slam into the lead train car. This sends the train hurtling into the many support columns that line the Tube.

In France, American forces arrive in Paris via helicopter to storm the streets that surround the Eiffel Tower. At the same time, there's a helicopter gunship shooting at a terrorist-driven van that's driving through one of the city's museums with a glass ceiling. Sorry, tourists. The paintings of Vincent van Gogh might be van Gone when WW3 begins.

Germany, the final place depicted in the trailer, is less about one or two recognizable landmarks and more about a narrower city environment. This leads allied forces to repel down the side of a tall building in the gameplay video, but doesn't stop a tank from rolling through the debris-filled streets. This segment of the trailer ends with the charred remains of a car hurtling toward you while in the first-person perspective. Now, that's a large piece of debris.

The trailer then ends with a message while cycling back through scenes from all four environments: "It doesn't take the most powerful nations on Earth to create the next global conflict. Just the will of a single man." From the final seconds, this teaser trailer hints at gameplay involving scuba diving and a speedboat, both of which would be new to the Call of Duty series. We'll find out more in two weeks, when both E3 2011 and our demo time with CoD MW3 begins.