Modern Warfare 3 is the latest title from the massive Call of Duty franchise, developed by Infinity Ward (the studio that brought us Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2) and Sledgehammer Games. Modern Warfare 3 starts from where the storyline finished in Modern Warfare 2, the game follows multiple characters as they encounter fire fights around the world which has been plunged into World War 3. Will Modern Warfare 3 be another hit title or will the series finally start to show signs of becoming old?
Let’s find out and kick-off its HOTs and NOTs
HOTS
Presentation
Modern Warfare 3 is a visually pleasing game. By no means are the graphics going to take the best graphics crown this year, but they still deliver a high-quality visual experience. The graphics have been slightly upgraded from Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 although this isn’t where the main improvements have come from.
Infinity Ward has however made a massive improvement when it comes to the in game sounds. Gun shots sound heavy and more realistic than ever before. Gun shots echo throughout corridors, teammates shout out across fire fights and not to mention the games explosions; all the sounds work well together to produce an engrossing atmosphere that intensifies even the smallest of shootouts
Another area of improvement in this year’s instalment is the animation. The best example of this is when changing between weapons, the on screen character doesn’t just suddenly pull up the second gun, instead the character either unfolds the stock or checks the gun slightly before the player is able to use it. This means that changing weapons does take slightly longer than in previous games but it makes the game look and feel more realistic.
Spec Ops Mode
Often known as the third mode of a Call of Duty title, the co-op section is once again full of entertaining over the top scenarios for gamers to tackle either by themselves, with a friend or a random player from somewhere around the world. The majority of the missions won’t take players too long to complete but they are all enjoyable enough to warrant replaying the levels, especially with friends.
Spec Ops doesn’t just offer missions this time around, there is also Survival mode for gamers to sink hours into. With even a short game of Survival mode lasting around half an hour gamers will find they will spend plenty of hours defeating wave upon wave of increasingly harder AI. While it does sound similar to the Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombie mode in fact there is a surprising amount that is different. Weapons, explosives, perks and even killstreaks can be brought in between rounds and this variation means the gameplay is wildly altered. In addition compared to Zombies there is more variation in the waves; some are just standard ground troops, other includes dogs, juggernaut and a few consist of attack helicopters.
Hollywood Blockbuster Storyline
It’s what Call of Duty fans have come to love and believe me when I say that Infinity Ward has gone all out for Modern Warfare 3. They have created another immensely gripping and action packed storyline: from start to finish players won’t be able to put the controller down as there is always something happening or about to occur. The gameplay is nicely broken up between events with different paces; this means the gameplay never feels like a constant endless flow which would eventually become tedious.
Two Players? No Problem
The best feature that has been taken from Call of Duty: Black Ops has to be the split-screen multiplayer feature. No longer will you be forced to pass the controller after a couple of deaths between players. As it was copied from Black Ops and other games before that it’s not a brand new revolutionary attribute but it is one that provides a lot more fun to a couple of players on the same console.
Listened To the Community
For Modern Warfare 3, Infinity Ward has really listened to what the gaming community had to say about both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2. Targeting all the major complaints about the two games they have removed the most complained about perks, Commando and the One Man Army, and also brought back sniping to a reasonable level.
Explosives are another area which players often used to say were too overpowered but this issue is no longer. Now they have to explode in the right area to kill someone, in turn this means there is a lot less cross map ‘noobtubing’ and random frag grenades flying around the multiplayer maps.
Some people may complain that sniping has been brought back but with the game being faster paced it is a lot harder for snipers to quickscope opponents one v one. Also with the fact sniper rifles didn’t shot straight constantly in Black Ops no-one can truly complain about them being ‘fixed’.
New Additions in the Multiplayer Mode
The Call of Duty franchise has become known most for its addictive online multiplayer component but what has Sledgehammer games and Infinity Ward brought in this time to keep the game form being just a re-skin of a previous game? The biggest change overall has to be that previously named killstreaks are now point streaks.
While players can still gain rewards from kills they are also encouraged by this change to go for objectives too, as they will obtain points towards rewards from doing an objective. The point streaks come in three categories; Assault, Support and Specialist. Assault and Support both offer some new point streaks but otherwise split the old killstreaks into two groups for different types of players. Specialist however doesn’t give players point streaks but new perks after getting kills, upgrading the player rather than given them air support. The change sounds small but now every player can customise their multiplayer experience that bit more.
There are also new modes for players to experience. Kill confirmed takes the standard Team Death Match and mixes it up by adding players’ dog tags. The dog tags are then used to confirm or deny kills, which is how points are earned for teams. Another new mode is Team Defender where as a team players must try to control the flag while mounting up kills. It is like the classic king of the hill type gameplay merged with the Call of Duty game mode capture the flag. Both add new unique experiences and adds to the variation on offer in the multiplayer portion of the title.
NOTS
Short Campaign
Like previous Modern Warfare titles don’t go into Modern Warfare 3 expecting a lengthy campaign. Despite the fact that the storyline is thoroughly entertaining and providing a lot of replay value it is on the short side. Average players will be able to complete the game in 5-8 hours; so for some that’s one sitting. It is not a long campaign but fortunately it seems Infinity Ward has focused more on making it a very intense game and making it action packed enough for it to be replayable.
Online Issues
There have always been problems with the Call of Duty multiplayer and it seems MW3 hasn’t gone far to solve this. The majority of the issues can be fixed via patches and to Infinity Wards credit some party connection issues have already been addressed. Unfortunately there are still issues with spawning on MW3. Spawning has been a known issue for a long time but it seems Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games haven’t been able to solve it. Another slightly more irritating problem is that numerous players have had their ranks put down randomly. Whilst it isn’t the worst thing ever after spending the time to rank up to unlock that next gun only to find the game has deranked you can be frustrating.
Verdict
Modern Warfare 3 takes what fans loved from previous games and has built upon that solid base. It offers a fast paced, fun, and addictive multiplayer, a great cooperative section and an action packed, intense storyline that means I can see myself playing Modern Warfare 3 for months to come. While the graphics haven’t been improved much from Black Ops the game still looks impressive and other improvements have been made throughout the game. If you’re looking for an extremely fast paced action packed first person shooter look no further!
[Editor’s Note: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was reviewed on the PlayStation 3. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
In my opinion, Infinity Ward should issue a warning to anyone that wants to buy this game. It should read thus:
“This game’s multiplayer is an exact copy of Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer. Contains little to no innovation and if MW2 had the same maps as this game, then by all means they could be called the SAME game. Such is the similarity between them. If you still wish to buy it, please click here.”
Believe me I always think that when I buy a game I don’t actually “spend” money, but rather I “invest”. This time, however, it was the same as throwing 60 bucks to the trash can.
No company has any excuse to make the single component someone would want to have in a game so they don’t feel compelled to download and crack it – the multiplayer – an exact copy of the multiplayer of another game. NO EXCUSE.
What a biased review 4.5 out of 5 yeah right.
This game is a piece of shit i wouldn’t play it if you payed me to, i swear i lost about 5 years from my life expectency from the stress this game put me through.
I think a fair score would have been 3.5
Don’t get me wrong the game itself isn’t all that bad but the following issues need to be adressed
1: For gods sake up grade the graphics, i don’t care if you say you have improved them i don’t see a difference
2: Don’t f***ing copy and paste all your games Activision. your the richest game producer in the world but yet you give us the same piece of shit every year wrapped up differently.
3: Your game is uber unrealistic, i know its a video game but come on it seams like you enjoy making bullshit like this just to appeal to the 10-15 year old demographic as they don’t know any better. If this continues in 5 years these kids will go to war with their little heads filled with COD logic.
4: Activision are greedy as f**k. All they do is shit out a game every year rip us off then charge ungodly amounts of money for DLC half of which is just old maps revamped. And i us the word revamped very lightly.
5: Activision pays off its reviewers has anyone seen the ign review? 9.0 out of 10 with the only mark against it being a cliched story. while BF3 also got 9.0 out of 10 even though its only mark against it was a cliched story as well. But the reviewers openly said that Cod was stale, the graphics hadn’t really improved and that the sound quality was terrible ie guns. BF3 did all thoses things right but ign for some reason didn’t include those features in its review. i smell something fishy.
5: COD’s community is the worst of any game. There is no denying this if i wanted to play with 12 year olds i would go down to my local playground i don’t want to purchase a R18 game and see it filled with kids! Even if you take out the kids Cod fanboys don’t know shit. they will complain about a gun/perk/killstreak/equipment being over powered then when it gets nerfed they will complain about it being to weak?
6: Most COD players are sheep. ever wonder why so many people play COD when it isn’t the best game around? because of peer preassure, its true. If you talk about games cod will always enter into the conversation and because some people play it all their friends play it to be with their buddies reguardless of the fact COD sucks
That is why i will never play any COD again
call of duty modern warfare 3 is like a redo of black ops with the mw2 afterstory line…..the secondarys suck…screw pistols if i want a secondary it should be a shotgun.. thats why i played mw2… and secondly, why would i want to use a shotgun if i know that my only back up is a machine pistol or a semi auto pistol… verry weak infinity ward… very… weak.
@ Not a cod fanboy
Please do not post assumptions as if they’re fact’s. In your opening Paragraph you call Oliver bias, admit you didn’t play it (or that was the implied idea I got from your statement) and pull a score from the air.
Even look at your points…
1) Graphics do not make a game better in any way.
2) Activision is a publisher and merely publishes the products. Yes they do have a say, but these problems should be addressed to the developers. Ultimately Activision has published many games that were different. A prime example would be Singularity last year.
3) I don’t even grasp your logic here… While this could easily be their target market, I think many people would agree with the following statement. If you go to another country with the mentality in this game, you don’t have much right to retain your life anyways.
4) Personal preferences for or against a company has no bearing on a review. If you’re looking for a site that will say things like “Capcom charged for costumes, 1/10” or “Littlebigplanet 2 didn’t include all of the original DLC so they’re double dipping! 1/10”. You will ultimately never have a game that will be deemed playable.
5) People for year’s have said that IGN’s score system makes no sense. The average for MW 3 should be .87 (or 8.5) and not a 9. However if any of the things you said matter, CoD wouldn’t be as popular. Many people just play with friends which ultimately mean more to them. A lot of reviewers keep their feelings in mind and scores go accordingly.
6) People are going to constantly tell you something that just isn’t factual to you. Many people disagree with GTA IV being that good of a game and many people think Uncharted 3 is absolutely perfectly. Last time I checked games are meant to be fun and if that means playing a game you hate to be with your friends, it would be more enjoyable than the only gamer playing Bodycount.
Just something to keep in mind I suppose.
6) EVERY GAMES COMMUNITY IS JUDGED BY THE WORST EXAMPLES. There is no game where people just simply go “this community is epic”. Ultimately when you have so many gamers playing a game, this will naturally happen.
the creators are mean they only give free copies to people who r good and have money yo get it if needed but the people who do not have the money get nothing
I agree, a game should be fun to play with especially like this one with friends. Anyone who says the graphics need improvement need to check their eyes. COD has some of the best ever produced. I wasn’t a fan of Black Ops at all. MW3 brought back the elements that made it popular. The sounds, visuals, and fluidity/movement in the multiplayer are a welcome back. Is it a copy of what they have already made? Maybe, but that’s what people want so they give it to them, hence the sales records. I have BF3 and put it away to play MW3. I haven’t even finished the mid point on the campaign for BF3. I don’t have to squint to see what’s going on and who I’m killing with MW3. I think it’s a great game to play.
Okay guys, I hate seeing people screaming over the Internet ‘CoD MW3 SUCCCKKKS!!!! wahh wahh.” Yes it is a lot like MW2, but I don’t remember MW2 having the Eiffel Tower fall down, or having a tank fall through a parking lot. All I was thinking when I played the campaign was this is so EPIC! I had fun, isn’t that what matters? Let’s get to Multiplayer…I have had no problems, other then the occasional lagging game, but how can you complain about Multiplayer when they’ve made noob-tubes normal and grenades don’t just come flying out of no where and kill you? I love this game. Another thing Battlefield is a completely diffferent game, if you like it more, congrats go buy it and play it, right? Well it seems like people rather come on the Internet and whine and whine and whine. One last thing who is their right mind honestly gives a fuck about graphics? Borderlands was a cartoon, literally, I loved it.
Another thing- BO multiplayer sucked…All I remember from BO was a chopper gunner destroying my whole team and you’d never spawn inside…I don’t even remember the BO campaign yet I remember clearly the MW2 campaign. Sniping in multiplayer was terrible. It was just a bad experience.
sorry to say this but BO multiplayer is more balance then MW3. i mean really, the overpowerd ump 45 is still there (it seem like they didnt really touch that gun at all), they brought back quick scoping for some odd reason and made it seem like its way easier to pull off then before oh and it’s like a one shot kill ANYWHERE ON THE BODY !!!!,and you can camp so hard behind a car or a brick wall its like every time a weapon is shot its seem like its shooting from the forehead and they can see you full screen and you can see the tip of there head. oh and the kill streaks (like my fav ac-130) can be used to its effect because there’s so many building to hide in (lol that’s a good and a bad thing though). MW3 need to fix this asap ! tbh multiplayer was terrible and was just a bad experience.
i see most of my friends who play mw3 just play it for the story line achievements and spec.ops then go back to playing black ops.