Call of duty: modern warfare 3 - review
Every year, I come to Call of Duty primarily looking to experience whatever the newest campaign has to offer but also to jump back into its familiar and fun multiplayer modes when that campaign ends. The Modern Warfare reboot series has been particularly exciting to jump into the past couple of years because of how it created new and exciting stories with beloved characters from the past while continuing to raise the bar of quality across all of its featured modes. However, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 builds its foundation on nostalgia, creating a sometimes frustrating conflict between the excitement of returning to the “golden years” of the original Modern Warfare trilogy and the somewhat less exciting addition of some of its newest features. Regardless, the biggest attraction to this game for me was seeing how the momentum created in the Modern Warfare 1 and 2 reboots would be handled in Modern Warfare 3.
Campaign Review
Trading Momentum For Nostalgia
2019’s Modern Warfare attempted to bring the original games into the current modern age of shooters. It did so by reintroducing beloved classic characters like Captain Price and Gaz while introducing new and compelling ones like Alex Keller and Farah Karim. We also experienced a deeper, more nuanced style of storytelling that blurred the lines between those fighting the wars and the people who are impacted by them. This title struck a great balance between the big, bombastic moments we expect from Call of Duty and the slower, more tactical, and confined experiences of the Task Force 141 missions. It set the stage and created the momentum that was carried forward by the Modern Warfare 2 reboot that would follow.
The Modern Warfare 2 reboot continued to introduce new and compelling characters like Alejandro Vargas and Phillip Graves while reintroducing the entirety of Task Force 141 and a new version of General Shepard himself. The story was truly exciting, as we see TF141 work with the Mexican Special Forces group to bring down several different antagonists trying to wreak havoc on the world. Though MW2 featured fewer bombastic moments than its predecessor, its tighter focus on TF141 and the drama with Shepard made for an exciting story with many twists and turns.
Modern Warfare 3 trades the momentum created by its predecessors for a play at nostalgic storytelling by bringing back Vladimir Makarov, the main antagonist of the original MW2 and MW3 games. This story doesn’t focus on introducing new characters; instead, it creates a singular focus on the familiar villain. This hard focus on Makarov works simply because of who he is, or rather, who he was in the original story - a ruthless extremist whose cold and calculated tactics made for a genuinely compelling villain. I really enjoyed this focus on him, as it served as the vehicle that made the reboot story compelling. So, while I certainly missed the established cadence of new character introductions, the gamble to instead put all of that focus on Makarov mostly pays off.
Makarov in the Driver’s seat
Makarov’s character entrance during the Operation 627 mission does a great job of reintroducing us to the cold and confident version of him that we knew in the past. We’re also shown added depth through his sinister charisma, something he didn’t quite show in the original game. As we see him regain control of the Konni army and assert dominance over those who would dare question his better judgment in the game's opening scenes, we’re forced to realize that this Makarov is not only meant to be feared but respected as a villain.
Missions like “flashpoint” illustrate how we’re always one frustrating step behind Makarov. This mission sees us fight through his inner circle, who are posing as police as they attack civilians inside of a stadium. After we fight to capture Makarov, it’s revealed that the stadium operation was a diversion to keep TF141 away from his real target, a nearby airport that is attacked as we fly away, rendering it too late for us to do anything about it. Even as we hold him in custody, he mocks our incompetence for having been outsmarted by him. Or how missions like “Passenger,” a take on the infamous “No Russian” mission from the original MW2, show how Makarov is not above committing atrocities against his own people to further his false flag operations. Through these missions and many others, the story does a phenomenal job of ensuring that we truly feel the weight of Makarov’s actions, making us feel invested in the efforts of TF141 to take Makarov down.
TF141 in Full Force
Though Makarov does demand much of the spotlight, it can’t be overstated how good it feels to have Task Force 141 back in full force. With Price, Soap, Ghost, and Gaz fully re-established, we get to experience their personalities and chemistry on full display, adding an important layer of depth to the story. And though that chemistry isn’t as deeply explored as it was in the MW2 reboot, it’s still done well enough to make the story worth experiencing if you’re looking for more TF141. In MW3, Gaz establishes himself as the voice of reason during many difficult moments. The bond between Soap and Ghost that was developed in MW2, coupled with their unwavering sense of justice, re-establishes them as the fan favorites they’ve always been. Last but certainly not least, Captain Price is an undeniable leader, leading his task force through the challenges of chasing down Makarov while fighting to protect them from the questionable motives of Graves and Shepard.
Speaking of Shepard, his egotistic anit-hero like qualities are in full effect in MW3, complicating this otherwise straightforward good vs bad story. His ambiguous positioning is best illustrated during the “Frozen Tundra” mission, where he’s inadvertently rescued from a hostage convoy by TF141, who were tipped off about a Konni group prisoner transport. In this tense scene, Captain Price asks him, “Is there a single shit show you are not a part of?” At the end of the mission, we see TF141, along with Laswell and Farah press him for information that may lead to Makarov’s capture. Shepard is hesitant to give it, as doing so goes against serving his own self-interests. He’s a man who “needs his name on a win,” using Graves, Laswell, and even TF141 to make that happen.
Open Combat Missions
The newest addition to the campaign this year are “Open Combat Missions”, where players are given the freedom to complete objectives however they see fit. Of the 14 total missions in the game, six are open combat, breaking up the traditionally linear level experiences of past Call of Duty games. The idea behind this is genuinely exciting, as taking on Call of Duty style missions in an open sandbox is a nice shake-up to the familiar formula. However, while the idea is exciting, it falls short of reaching its potential.
In the mission “Reactor,” we’re tasked with destroying three Konni helicopters that are attempting to make off with lethal gas. On one attempt, I opted for hit-and-run tactics, using an ATV to get close to the helicopters, plant c4, and quickly flee the scene as I would then detonate them from a distance. On another attempt, I opted to fight my way through the enemies guarding the objectives, placing and detonating the c4 once the area was clear. These aren’t the only ways to complete these missions though, as you’ll find many other weapon and gear upgrades as well as various tools geared towards helping you complete your objective however you see fit. If this layout sounds familiar, that’s because it is, as open combat missions use a combination of Warzone and DMZ elements from MW2 as its foundation.
The aspect of this level design that works is the player freedom that allows for creativity in how you approach the mission. The repetitive objectives, however, hold this new formula back from reaching its potential, making some of the missions feel predictable. Though I did appreciate how “Highrise” and “Oligarch” attempted to break up the repetitiveness in their slightly altered objective variety, they don’t quite do enough to make the experience of playing through all six of these missions feel worthwhile. So, while there certainly is fun to be had in Open Combat Missions, they ultimately left me wishing for the return of the classic linear levels the series is known for.
Is this campaign worth experiencing?
It feels like Call of Duty campaigns are getting shorter every year, as it only took me around 6.5 hours to complete two playthroughs of this year’s campaign. However, the issue isn’t so much the length; instead, it was how the story didn’t resolve in any meaningful way. There was no setup for a sequel that may answer important unresolved plot lines and an ending cutscene that felt somewhat forced. Despite this, I feel the campaign was largely successful in what it set out to do: to reimagine a beloved Call of Duty story with the revival of its most memorable antagonist and most popular heroes. Though open combat missions fall a bit short of their potential of pushing the campaign forward in a positive direction, all of its other surrounding elements do just enough to make this year’s story worth experiencing.
Multiplayer Review
Back to the Golden Years
Every year, I dip my toe into Call of Duty online multiplayer, hoping a little bit of the magic from the original trilogy has been recaptured in the newest iteration. Of course, I don’t judge each new game strictly based on how it stacks against the originals; that wouldn’t be reasonable. I do, however, go into multiplayer every year hoping to feel that familiar Call of Duty online style that only it can create, and so far, I haven’t been disappointed. This year, however, is a different story entirely.
This year’s Modern Warfare 3 includes all 16 multiplayer maps from the original Modern Warfare 2. When it was announced that these maps would be included, MW3 went from being a game I was pretty sure I would buy to an absolute no-brainer purchase. If you’ve been playing Call of Duty since 2009, you’ll know how special of an opportunity it is to not only be able to jump back into these classic maps but also to play through remastered versions of them. Fan favorites like Terminal, Rust, Estate, and Highrise feel like comfort food that we’ve not had in over a decade. It’s also really nice to know that a generation of players who may not have played the original MW2 can now experience some of the greatest maps in Call of Duty history.
The one thing I felt was missing from this package was the inclusion of maps that mirror the missions from the campaign. Though the maps from the previous titles leading up to MW3 didn’t quite reach the height of the original MW2 maps, they were still a ton of fun to play through as recreations of the campaign experience. This doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the remastered maps themselves; it would have perhaps just rounded out the multiplayer package a bit more. Regardless, including these maps does more than enough to justify committing time to this year’s online multiplayer.
Cutthroat: True to Its Name
The newest addition to multiplayer is “Cutthroat,” a game mode that features 3v3v3 team deathmatches, where the first team to three victories wins. Matches are quick, as they’ll only last for one minute. However, if you’re killed in the middle of the round, you don’t respawn until the next round begins. If there are still players left after time expires, the match turns into a sudden death capture the flag game.
Cutthroat lives up to its name as it truly is a very intense game mode that forces players to rethink their play style. The threat of not being able to respawn until the next round means you’ll think more carefully about how you’ll traverse areas, check your corners, and take out your opponents. If you’re looking for a game mode that will test your skill in ways you aren’t used to, cutthroat will be a nice change of pace!
Open….World….Zombies?!
Truth be told, I never spent much time in Call of Duty Zombies, but when I heard it would be going open world this year, I was beyond excited to try it out. The Zombies mode in MW3 trades the traditional round-based structure in tighter, more confined maps for an open-world, objective-based design based heavily on the “DMZ” game mode from last year’s MW2 multiplayer. It continues the theme of player freedom that we saw from the campaign’s open combat missions, allowing you to use the sandbox to mow down hoards of zombies in much larger spaces, all while doing it your way.
MW3’s Zombie mode is only available in online multiplayer. There is no way to play it offline. Initially, I was skeptical of the decision to take Zombies online only, as I’m typically wary of any game mode that previously existed offline that later ended up being strictly online. However, seeing how this year’s Zombies mode is based on DMZ, it makes sense that it would be an online-only mode. But does repurposing DMZ for Zombies justify it being online only? It depends on how you feel about DMZ. One could argue that Activision could have used this opportunity to make Zombies open world to create something entirely new from the ground up. Though this argument is valid, I feel the DMZ foundation makes Zombies incredibly fun to play.
You’ll load in with a team of three (including yourself) or by yourself if your server doesn’t match you with anyone. If you load in alone, you can go on by yourself or search for other teams to join, as there will usually be a few other teams scattered about the map. Within the first few seconds of the match, zombies will rise up from underground and attack you, as you’d expect. After a few more moments, you’ll see objective markers appear on your map. These objective markers lead you to contracts you’ll complete to gain XP and make story progress.
These contracts will task you and your team with objectives such as taking out high-value targets (HVT’s), raiding weapons caches, or escorting an armored vehicle through hoards of zombies as it destroys aether portals, just to name a few. The map will also be divided into three zones that determine the strength of the zombies within them. Zone 1 has the weakest zombies, while the zombies in zones 2 and 3 are increasingly more aggressive and difficult to kill.
If you and your team manage to survive the entire match, you’ll be given the option to fight to an exfill point to end the round. Throughout the match, you’ll pick up valuable weapons and upgrades, and if you want to continue to use them in future matches, you’ll need to successfully exfill with them. When the countdown timer hits, my heart rate begins to shoot through the roof, as the thought of missing the exfill to safety seems pretty terrifying, not to mention it’ll mean the loss of everything I’ve worked so hard to collect throughout the 30+ minute match. You can opt to skip the initial exfill if you’d prefer to keep fighting for more upgrades, but personally, I like to get out when that aether storm starts coming for me.
Performance - They’ve still got it!
We can always count on Call of Duty titles to have two things: superb visuals and top-notch gunplay, and MW3 has no shortage of either. Within the first few moments of the game, we’re treated to slick, photorealistic visuals as we enter the gulag in “Operation 627”. This high quality bar for the visuals is comfortably consistent throughout the entire campaign’s gameplay and cutscenes. And as usual, every gun in MW3 feels powerful, making combat feel just as satisfying as it always does. These consistencies help Call of Duty weather the ups and downs of its less popular choices year after year, and that’s no exception here.
Verdict
The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 reboot is a must-play for those looking to dive into the nostalgia of the original MW2 and MW3 games. However, if you’re looking for an evolution of what the previous reboots brought to the table, you may be disappointed. Regardless, the campaign ultimately achieves what it sets out to do by putting a modern twist on a beloved story we all feel nostalgic about. Open combat missions are fun, but their repetitive objectives make them feel predictable. The story itself is thrilling to play through but is held back by an unresolved ending and no setup for a sequel. The inclusion of all 16 original MW2 maps makes online multiplayer an undeniable hit, and despite this year’s Zombies essentially being DMZ, that formula actually fits really well within this game mode. With all of these ups and downs in mind, I walk away from this experience wondering what’s next.
The nostalgia baked into both the campaign and multiplayer works, but what does it mean for the future of Call of Duty? Perhaps the plan is to use nostalgia to improve player sentiment to help support what may be coming next. In all honesty, I don’t think that’s a bad thing if that’s the goal because, of course, Call of Duty can’t rely on nostalgia forever. Something new has to be coming, and I’m optimistic about whatever that may be. So, with all that being said, MW3 is a game I recommend, and I urge you to enjoy it for what it is because there is indeed a lot to enjoy here, despite its ups and downs.