The plot featured enough predictable story beats to benefit from my nostalgia for the franchise.
However, there was a noticeable lack in big, memorable action sequences for itself.
Multiplayer has been some of the most fun I’ve had in COD in a while.
Simon “Ghost” Riley in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 campaign.
I was even pleasantly surprised to find Modern Warfare Zombies to be a good time.
Multiplayer perfectly executes blending old maps with modern gameplay.
The campaign balances nostalgic callbacks with a new story.
Modern Warfare Zombies is a drastic improvement over DMZ.
Open campaign missions do not have an effect on the story’s outcome.
Lacking in big, memorable action sequences.
Simon “Ghost” Riley in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 campaign.
The final act of the campaign’s pacing feels rushed.
The franchise is decidedly punctual, launching a new premium title annually for the last 20 years.
I have some thoughts.
Ghost and Soap carry out an interrogation.
What is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3?
This became a problem, however, when Call of Duty: Warzone launched in 2020.
Modern Warfare 3 is also released under an ongoing market agreement between Activision and PlayStation.
A hijacker during the Modern Warfare 3 campaign.
Activision announced a potential timeline of Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo IV joining Game Pass sometime in 2024.
There were a fewbugs and issues in Modern Warfare 3.
Beyond the one visual snafu, there wasn’t anything performance-altering in the campaign on Xbox Series X.
An underwater explosion during Modern Warfare 3.
When it comes to multiplayer in Call of Duty, I prefer the competitive experience of playing on PC.
This is where I ran into significantly more performance issues.
Despite updating my drivers, I still experience random game crashes.
Captain Price radios to Ghost.
That certainly isn’t a knock to Modern Warfare 3, though.
MW2 was only just released a year ago, and IW9 is nowhere near being an outdated engine.
The attention to detail, especially concerning remastering classic maps for multiplayer, is particularly notable.
Makarov addresses Konni group.
Recognizable support characters such as Kate Laswell and Farah Karim join the battle against returning villain Vladimir Makarov.
Without diving into spoiler territory, there was one standout from the campaign that struck me as unusual.
Even as some missions offer flashback sequences.
Farah and Alex discussing war in Urzikstan.
It’s probably, at least in part, why I’m a huge fan of Call of Duty.
Modern Warfare 2 had a few of these huge, dramatic sequences.
It’s an absurd sequence, totally gratuitous and just fun.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer lobby with map voting.
So of course, Sledgehammer Games had some pretty big shoes to fill when it comes to the campaign.
I was looking for those blockbuster moments that would remind me I was playing Call of Duty.
But there really wasn’t any.
Domination on Afghan in MW3 (2023).
That is not to say that the campaign is boring.
The lack of this big climactic moment was compounded by the pacing in Modern Warfare 3’s final act.
Sledgehammer Games' previous title, Call of Duty: WWII, suffered from a similar pitfall.
The Hellhound easter egg in MWZ.
Modern Warfare 3 sits in that same trap.
It can’t."
I spent approximately 10 hours in Modern Warfare 3’s campaign.
Teams cooperatively exfil in MWZ.
That turned out to be less than true in practice.
These were supposed to be explosive narratives with branching paths and different endings depending on your choices.
However, we never actually see any of that in the game itself.
Mission select in MWZ.
Operators and weapon blueprints aren’t all that multiplayer is made up of, however.
The maps and playlists are vital to the multiplayer experience.
Modern Warfare 3 (2023) remasters maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009).
MW3 (2023) accessibility short list menu.
to the point that my friends were probably tired of hearing it.
Now here we are, running around on Favela.
Initially, I considered the TTK a chance for players to actually engage in active gunplay.
Graves watches members of Bravo 6 board a helicopter.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 zombies
Zombies and Call of Duty go hand-in-hand.
The Modern Warfare series has never had a Zombies mode in the past.
There’s been Spec ops, and there was even that really weird alien extraction mode once.
Not in my Modern Warfare!
It blends gameplay similar to what was released with Modern Warfare 2 (2022)’s DMZ.
Urzikstan is overrun by the dead, with the map divided into 3 different zones of increasing difficulty.
Of course, the red zone is the most dangerous.
The quests are fairly simple, ping a contract.
Exfil a key card.
Your squad mates can not help you progress your challenges.
You have to grind them out on your own.
It leads to a ridiculous grind that does take away from the experience at least a bit.
The simplified menu offers preset accessibility solutions.
These include simplified controls, low motor strain, audio/visual support, and motion reduction.
There is also a dialog box that displays what changes you might expect to see.
It doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t a DLC.
At the end of the day, I believe it is.
