Each year we get new Call of Duty. This time it is called Modern Warfare III, which is a third game of a rebooted saga. Modern Warfare 1 and 2 offered top-notch entertainment and amazing single player campaign, was it the case this time around?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Single Player Compaing Review – bad, short and copy-pasted from Warzone
The story arc of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III didn’t have an easy legacy to build upon. It followed the exceptional campaign of the 2019 series reboot, which I regard as the pinnacle of the franchise. The subsequent installment, though still quite solid, has polarized fans, with a split between those who praise it and those who criticize it. Moreover, the legacy of the original trilogy looms large, largely due to its quality and the significant heritage it left in the form of memorable games that fans fondly revisit, including epic moments such as the notorious “No Russian” level. There is always a factor of fondness when we reminisce the old trilogy that we played when we were younger. Activision set a stable trajectory with the new trilogy to forge a memorable legacy that would redefine the brand’s direction in gameplay and story-driven content. They achieved this to some extent, as the new Modern Warfare series includes what is considered by some to be both the franchise’s most remarkable and least impressive campaign to date.
Sadly, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III comes as the worst of the Modern Warfare series and maybe even the worst Call of Duty up to date. Everything is wrong with it. We can complete the entire campaign in under four hours on higher difficulty settings, and it’s worth noting that a significant portion of this time is taken up by movie-like cutscenes. This wouldn’t be an issue if the quality of these segments hadn’t noticeably declined. This decline isn’t in the graphics, which are fine, but in the storytelling. The narrative is superficial, failing to stir any significant emotions, even in moments meant to be impactful, like the deaths of key characters, and overall it feels nonsensical. I would put it on pair with COD: WW2 campagin that felt like it was put together tow days before the final release of the game.
The extensively advertised open combat model is a huge letdown. It was announced that half of the campaign would be in this mode, promising an unprecedented level of freedom of movement and an open world for the COD series. Regrettably, the reality is merely dropping the player into a slightly larger open map where one runs around collecting weapons. It resembles an attempt to transplant the Warzone mode into a single-player campaign, or rather a shortcut taken in design. Perhaps the developers intended to motivate players to replay missions multiple times, each with different gear and tactics. However, this completely missed the mark. Let’s face it, if someone wants to play Warzone, they’ll just play Warzone. This open-world element stripped the campaign of what was its greatest strength: the epic scale and sensation of an action movie blockbuster.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Multiplayer Review
Most players opt for Call of Duty because of its multiplayer mode, but in this installment, it also falls short. In Modern Warfare III, the Time to Kill (TTK)—the time needed to finally eliminate an opponent—is the longest in the series and inconsistent. The developers explain that they wanted to give players more room for skill development, arguing that increasing the TTK by boosting health points by 50% would allow players more space to enhance their gameplay abilities and enjoy the game more.
The only change worth noting is the Zombie mode. While the only thing it has in common with the previous games’ mode is the name, it does provide some refreshment. Now, it’s simply a DMZ stripped of the PVP element and with zombies instead.
The verdict
Unfortunately, Modern Warfare III is one of the worst, if not the worst, installments of the series. The new concept for the campaign didn’t catch fire, and the developers also failed in terms of the story. Multiplayer has been unnecessarily complicated, and the new Zombie mode only slightly redeems it, although undoubtedly the huge fan base that bought COD just for this mode will be dissatisfied. This installment should have been a major DLC expansion rather than a separate game.
