Modern Warfare 3 : Review

Too late for a review for this game? Possibly, but I wanted to give this game a fair shake and I think I’ve done that. Compared to last years’ title, this felt like a limp hand shake.Now by Sledgehammer Games!This review will be split into 3 parts for each section of the game, and with a final score at the end.So Call of Duty. We all know what these games are about right now. This is Modern Warfare 3. The trailers have been going wild with… THIS IS WORLD WAR 3, “look how clever we are with the inverting of the “M” in MW3 to make it WW3!”. So, naturally, I got a little bit excited near the launch to see how they’d end the MW storyline which I’ve followed since the original CoD4. I’m actually one of the people who plays the single-player campaigns in these multiplayer titles, and have been doing so since CoD3.

So naturally, let’s begin with the campaign!Campaign:The game starts by bringing you back to the CoD universe. It opens with scenes of the world under siege and of main protagonist Soap McTavish being wheeled towards medical attention. You then get thrown into the first mission where you play as a character by the name of Frost, I think, these characters aren’t that memorable, I’ll get to that point later. The first mission starts off pretty cinematically with buildings being hit and you crawling out of a downed vehicle. The campaign isn’t much different than what you’ve come to expect, you’ll play as multiple characters in various settings all taking place throughout the main events of the fictional World War III.

All these characters are dealing with the conflict of such an event with the main Modern Warfare characters going after the man who started it all, Makarov. The campaign isn’t bad at all, you’ll shoot stuff, rappel down ceilings, bomb doors, all the good stuff you’ve come to expect…however, it isn’t particularly captivating. The plot isn’t as bad as MW2, but even I feel that MW2 was a greater experience. Only 3 keypoints in the campaign come to mind as being pretty good, the subway and plane sections, and lastly, the final mission which is brilliant. Other than that, nothing sticks out.Characters die in these games. It’s not a surprise.

However, they’re handled pretty badly in this one. The main fault is that these are the most shallow characters in the series this generation. The way they handle the death of a major character in this game is also very poor, and I feel should’ve happened in the very beginning and it would’ve been better. I’d hate to imagine anyone feeling anything towards any characters in these games (especially this one), but looking up CoD deaths on Youtube proves me wrong with comments claiming people cried! Really. The campaign also features many deaths of the innocent. Civilians die quite a bit around you, and there’s even a mission where you see them getting executed in front of you but can’t intervene because of orders.The campaign in all honesty is disappointing. It isn’t exactly bad, but shouldn’t be the ‘WW3′ title, WW3 was unexciting. They can do better, they’ve proven it before with their other campaigns. However, they must be commended for nailing the final mission, I enjoyed myself quite a bit in the final moments of the game and the ending is just great. They also need a reward for a scene where you shoot a hyena about 5 times directly in the face, that’s just insanity and I laughed at this ‘over the top’ nonsense!Spec-Ops:Making this short, Spec-Ops is great. If there was one thing I’d single out when recommending MW3, it be the Spec-Ops mode. It’s fantastic. It was one of the best parts of MW2, and this is no exception. This time it’s split into 2 different sections, one being mission mode, and the other as survival. The mission mode is a lot of fun, and since these missions don’t have to partake in any plot, the developers just focused on making these fun, and they are! I play Spec-Ops mostly by myself, but it’s because my friends are usually sucked into the MP to try something else, a curse really. But the improvement in this title is that you can search for randoms as a partner, which wasn’t in the original MW2. There are less missions than in MW2, which must be noted, but then again, you won’t have that immature trophy of acquiring 69 stars on Spec-Ops!Survival is the new addition and it is the CoD equivalent to a ‘Horde’ mode. It is a lot of fun. The waves are varied, and I love the boxes selling weapons and perks. Wish you could invite 3 friends like in the ‘zombie’ mode featured in BO but I guess one partner will have to do. Still, it’s a blast and is definitely a welcome addition to the game.In the end, Spec-Ops is what I’ve enjoyed the most.

Multiplayer: It’s CoD multiplayer, it’s about as fun and addicting as ever, however, it does have problems. The maps aren’t that well designed, they feel very small and have a lot of areas for campers. Their appears to be lag problems which will result in switching of hosts more often than the other titles. You also lost any sense of customization featured in Black Ops, no custom emblems, no customizing your character, and no wager matches or CoD points. I feel this is a step back and a missed opportunity, I know that Treyarch isn’t the same developer as IW but I still find it very odd that they can’t even share what they’ve added to the experience!? There are no nukes to be found in this game, thank the lord, but you’ll now have to deal with ‘Juggernauts’ who equipped a riot shield during multiplayer. Aren’t we lucky.

Positives would be that leveling up is still as addicting as ever with many ways to gain XP. Something I really did approve of is the fact that your gun levels up with you, it’s great and is a welcomed edition to the formula. Lastly, I have to mention ‘Kill Confirmed’ it’s such a simple twist to the ‘Team deathmatch’ but it’s great. You have to collect the tags left by enemies in order to score points, it makes scrambling for these items in the battlefield just a lot of fun. You won’t see me playing Team Deathmatch anymore, it’s been bested.Conclusion:MW3 isn’t a bad game, it’s not. It’s far from it. But there isn’t anything stellar about it either. If you still haven’t bought this title, I’d wait for the eventual Black Ops 2 from Treyarch. I think they’ve proven how to make a fun Call of Duty game.Modern Warfare 3 gets a 7 out of 10.About TamarindLAZLuis Zamora has written 12 post in this blog.70% of my existence is made up of video games. It's up to you to decide what the other 30% is.