Review: Modern Warfare 3

It’s a year since the last Call of Duty came out that means we’re due another in the blockbuster selling franchise but is Activision’s decision to release yearly editions stagnating innovation and making the game stale as per Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk’s? Does this latest edition in Modern Warfare whip up something new and enticing?

The first time I loaded up this game I asked myself the question is this Modern Warfare 2? Graphically there was very little improvement and the whole gameplay experience felt incredibly same-y. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good quality game but for those expecting any wholesale changes you’ll be disappointed, this is much more like an add-on pack that addresses minor issues in order to streamline the game experience rather than a fully fledged sequel.

Fans of previous Call of Duty’s will no doubt love the third entry in the MW series, as the old phrase goes “don’t fix what ain’t broken”. There’s certainly more emphasis on the multi-player aspect of the game with the level rank increased to level 80 and the single player being at a mere 6 hours long and that is even when you play on veteran. That said the single player offers all the show-stopping set-pieces that you’d expect and does deliver some fun moments where you get to use more than just your gun. There’s several recognisable locations including Paris and London but at times it feels like the environments were under used, take London, for example Westminster is fully rendered on screen yet all you get to do is to walk past it, no spectacular set-pieces here. The story continues on from the previous MW’s and the game even references both it’s predecessors. It’s a nice bit of continuity.

There’s a good variation of weapons in both the single player and multi-player and a good chance to get to grips with a wide variety of them as you play through the campaign. The multiplayer offers a more in-depth variety with the various weapon with upgrades you can unlock as you gain XP online. The A.I. in the single player respond fairly well, throughout the campaign I found that they did help clear enemies, occasionally they could get in the way but for the most part they weren’t entirely unhelpful! All in all the single player feels like a warm-up act for the main show, the campaign isn’t to be missed but anyone buying the game solely for the single player would almost certainly be disappointed.

The multiplayer builds upon the infrastructure of the previous MW’s. One key difference is the upping of the level cap, another nice change is the ability to have a kill streak which counts the amount of kills you make rather than having to get a continuous streak without dying. There are plenty of XP rewards and you can rank up through the early levels fairly easy and there’s so much to be unlocked you’ll constantly keep going. All the usual modes are back such as demolition, deathmatch, domination etc and there’s not too much of a change except that on all the modes (except the ‘hardcore’ modes) you can have party chat unlike on MW2. The issue of migrating hosts is still present but without dedicated servers this was always going to be an issue. The game runs smoothly and in both the single and multi-player I noticed no major frame rate drops. As with the previous COD’s as well as weapon unlocks/upgrades you can unlock extra perks, titles and emblems which all add to your own personal experience. The new maps offer a good variety of different styles, personally I enjoyed the map in the mall, (lots of cover!), but there’s more than enough variety to keep you going back for more.

The lost hours of the single player aren’t solely made up in the multiplayer but is fleshed out by Special Ops mode. There are 16 timed challenges to face altogether, and each focusses your abilities on an individual skill. You can face these alone or with a friend, it’s a shame that Special Ops is only 2 player. You can face a mid-flight airplane jacking or even storm a submarine and each time your efforts are star ranked according to speed, accuracy and ability to identify the most valuable targets quickly. The Special Ops mode carries with it a unique levelling and ranking system, separate from that found in the multiplayer mode, which plays directly into the new Survival mode by governing the equipment you have access to. Survival mode that isn’t too dissimilar from Nazi Zombies except that instead of armies of the undead you get just the armies. You have to survive against wave after wave of soldiers and with each round, as you’d expect, the game gets progressively harder. You have to adjust your tactics according to which map you play, for example if you’re on a bigger map if you get over-run by enemies you have the option to run away to find new cover. Remember though if you’re doing co-op almost always make sure you’re not too far away from the other player so you can avoid the dreaded being downed and not having enough time to reach your co-op partner and revive them! These are nice additions and will get you coming back for more, the only downside is the fact that Special Ops and Survival are two player only. It could have benefitted from having more players, like the 4 players in Zombies.

Modern Warfare 3 might not be technically innovative or full of brand new ideas but it’s by no means a bad game, it instead feels like a very modest update. It plays well and it’s enjoyable and fans of the previous games in the series are sure to love it. The multiplayer is fun and addictive and is what gives the title it’s extended playtime. Many of the changes are subtle but effective, MW3 offers a more streamlined experience than previous affairs but there are points where you may ask yourself just how much of a sequel MW3 really is. For now Activision can sleep easy but as the yearly outings of Call of Duty continue how long before the lack of innovation and new ideas leads to yet another over saturated and stale franchise? Activision don’t bleed me dry again.