A Little Love for Modern Combat: Domination (PS3)

With all the games that come out each week, it's pretty difficult to give each and every one their due consideration. As a result, a lot of games, especially those in crowded and highly-competitive genres are simply overlooked. Being completely free to pick and choose the games I cover, I often find it fun and interesting to go a little off the beaten path and try out games that aren't getting a lot of buzz or critical attention to see if they have anything to offer. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised. Sometimes I'm horribly disappointed. More often than not, the experiences tend to be a mixed bag of pros and cons.

"Modern Combat: Domination" for the PS3 is a game that has a lot going for it but suffers from a few flaws that keep it from being really great.

First, the good stuff:

• It's $8 on the PlayStation Store
• It's a fairly competent multi-player first person shooter in terms of movement, the feel and use of the weapons, the level design, game modes and overall esthetic.
• It pretty successfully combines a lot of elements from other shooters like kit customization (based on in-game currency) and a persistent leveling/unlock progression. 
• There are bots to get up to speed and practice against before going online.
• There's a respectable amount of control customization, including PlayStation Move support.
• It's $8! :)

On the down side:

• Load times can be a bit long/annoying (especially when playing on servers that change maps frequently).
• Automatic Matchmaking doesn't always work and sometimes doesn't pick the best server option in terms of network performance.
• Network code seems a little janky. The game plays fine if network conditions for all players are at least decent, but it doesn't handle lag particularly well. Think back to how shooters of the late 1990's and early 2000's played online if you have that point of reference and you'll have a good idea what to expect. In fairness, these problems can often be solved by simply switching to a different server/host.
• There are only five maps.

For me, the problems with this game are outweighed by the things it does right, and it's difficult to ignore the value proposition of getting a game that for the most part does a lot of the things you'd expect from a modern, multiplayer first-person shooter for $8.

It's already been patched once since its release, which seems to have fixed a few minor bugs/glitches and I find myself hoping that the developers will continue to improve it and possibly make some new maps available through a DLC pack or two.

It's no "Battlefield" or "Call of Duty" but it's not a bad game and is certainly worth a look for fans of the genre. There's a free demo on PSN and I haven't had any trouble finding plenty of people to play with since the game's release.

A lot of people will probably dismiss "Modern Combat: Domination" as a "me too" multiplayer shooter, and in a lot of ways it is, but the price is right and it's got some charm, so don't hate. :)