Hands-on with Modern Combat 5, Gameloft's upcoming IAP-less shooter

June 12, 2014

Gameloft has been teasing Modern Combat 5 for weeks now through the occasional live stream and scintillating trailer. We got some time at E3 2014 to put our dirty little thumbs on it. The biggest (but far from only) change in Modern Combat 5 is that there are no more in-app purchases. Players won't be able to buy their way to the top and will have to earn their unlocks like everybody else. As always, Modern Combat sports bar-setting graphics with some particularly great water reflection and disorientation effects.

The stage we looked at hasn't been seen until E3, and featured all of the action you'd expect: explodable cars, lots of bad guys, plenty of cover, and an AI sidekick with snappy one-liners and the ability to revive you with some marginally plausible syringe. New challenge missions called Spec Ops stand separate from the primary campaign with their own particular win criteria and are generally more bite-sized. The one stage we saw focused on sniping, and highlighted a slow-mo bullet time where players could change the trajectory of their shot mid-air. Back-up drones can swoop in and paint targets that are otherwise outside of view and offer other support. Gameloft also hinted at organized and persistent squad-vs-squad multiplayer, so you can earn some particularly awesome rewards so long as you can wrangle your buddies. Online play will be six-on-six and include the usual modes, like deathmatch and capture the flag. You'll also find familiar weapon customization options like scopes, stocks, and grips.

Expect to drop $6.99 on Modern Combat 5 when it launches this summer across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. How many of you are going to pick it up? Are you more likely to grab a game if it doesn't have any in-app purchases?