People love to hate it, but the Call of Duty franchise is successful
for a reason. No other first-person shooter has the same flair for
visual spectacle in its singleplayer campaign, and few can match its
utterly addictive multiplayer. While Call of Duty games have become
formulaic at this point, as evidenced by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
3's muddled narrative and at times frustrating design, Infinity Ward
and Sledgehammer Games have refined and polished the Modern Warfare
experience to produce the best of the series with the third installment.
PC Campaign Commentary
Modern Warfare 3 comes to us by way of an older engine, but still looks
great. Sure, it's not among the very best out there nowadays, but it
performs well. At any given time the screen appears ready to burst with
effects and visual madness. Entire battles are waged before you;
buildings burn and crumble while a steady flow of explosions batter your
senses. This is Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare 3 collects these
moments of boom in abundance, presenting them in all their 60
frames-per-second glory.
Modern Warfare 3's singleplayer campaign hits many of the same highs and
lows as its predecessors. Amazing setpieces serve as backdrops for
giant firefights yet again. This is no understatement. Few games retain
the crazy roller coaster pace that this does level after level, with
brief moments to breathe set between the next eruption of gunplay. The
shooting feels extremely responsive and well-tuned, and the
battlegrounds challenge your awareness at all times. You're always
given different situations that mix-up the gameplay just enough to keep
things interesting. The game presents a formidable challenge, as always,
on the Hardened and Veteran settings – something that the more hardcore
players will want to delve into.
Still, Modern Warfare 3's campaign suffers from a run of the mill story
and the patented Call of Duty monster closet syndrome, a common shooter
ailment that occurs when infinitely spawning enemies pour from around
corners, doors and stairs without end. At several points enemies even
appear to completely disregard their own safety if it means they can run
past your allies and just shoot you in the face. The story is
difficult to follow as usual, and while it does wrap up the arc begun by
the previous Modern Warfare games, it isn't ultimately all that
interesting or satisfying. Moments of emotional weight fell flat as I
found it difficult to muster up feelings of sadness about the death of
one named soldier after witnessing the countless deaths of hundreds of
other Americans.
If singleplayer is good, then Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer is
fantastic. Like the other Call of Duty games before it, this entry pulls
you in with its persistent leveling system and frantic combat. All of
the sixteen new maps are fun to play and, with a whole new slew of
challenges to complete, rewards constantly pop up and keep you hooked
with the next little endorphin rush. No matter whether I play for five
minutes or five hours, multiplayer in Modern Warfare 3 always makes me
feel like I'm accomplishing something.
Some of the rewards you're constantly unlocking are killstreaks and
perks—series stand-bys—which are a few great examples of how Modern
Warfare 3 refines the series. You still unlock weapons by leveling up,
but weapons also have levels as well. Leveling up a gun adds Weapon
Proficiencies, which are essentially perks for your weapon. These
proficiencies take things like the hip fire accuracy perk from the
previous games and add it to your weapon unlocks, giving you the ability
to focus on other perks when customizing your class.
