Modern Warfare 3

Highs

Exciting Cinematic Storyline

Spec Ops Integration

Fast Paced Combat

Lows

Short Campaign

Stale Multi-player 

No New Innovation.

The Modern Warfare branch of the call of duty series has always been seen as the better part of the series by most gamers, so there was a certain level of excitement for this game in the months prior to its release. The original Modern Warfare is the best online shooter to date on the Xbox 360 in my opinion, everything about that game was new and fresh, and that game did genuinely change the FPS genre to a great extent, this is evident with how many games have tried to replicate its success but failed, also it is thanks to that game that the Call of Duty series become the highest selling series of this generation.

Killstreaks have crippled the series

The foundation of the Modern Warfare series is perfect, its what has been put on the foundation which is the problem. Modern Warfare 2 first introduced the entire killstreak "problem", killstreaks were in the original Modern Warfare but were unique at the time and were balanced perfectly, but in the games that followed they were over powerful which ultimately lead to the Call of Duty series' biggest problem, theyre not based on skill any more, but I'll discuss this problem later in the review, to start with I want to begin positively.

The storyline is a very mixed bag but I'll start of with what it does right, the actual feel of the combat when moving through the campaign is excellent, it is slick, fluid and fast paced which helps to give you a adrenaline fuelled experince when fighting in all the games locations. Explosive spectacles have been a feature of all the Modern Warfare campaigns and this one doesn't disappoint, the fight will take you all around the world, from London to New York you will be literally taking the world by storm. Don't for a second think that this game has toned down the explosiveness of the campaign, the series has never been scared the push the boundries of what is exceptable but this game takes that to a whole new level, I won't spoil the story but lookout for one of the best spectacles i've ever seen in a game towards the end of the campaign, if you want to know what this is highlight the following blacked out text, (London Bombing). 


The main two problems with the story that stop it from getting the credit it would otherwise deserve are that the campaign is entirely too short and is unbelievably clichéd. I played this game straight through on the highest difficulty as I do for most COD games but still I got through it in only a couple of sittings, you could complete this game on easy in about 5-6 hours and for a game of this calibre that is unacceptable. In gaming you accept a certain level of cliché because it is incredibly hard to be completely original in this modern age but this game takes it to the extreme, go and watch any war film or think of any you have seen before and this game will have elements of that film in it, especially the cliché that the Russians are always the bad guys looking to start a world war or bomb a city.

Survival mode is a welcome new feature

The game is split into 3 main sections, you have the story, (covered above) the spec ops mode and then the multiplayer. Spec Ops was first introduced in Modern Warfare 2 and was without a doubt my favourite part on that game, it was the only part of that game that was in the least bit inventive. Spec Ops makes its grand return in MW3, featuring several improvements, such as more missions, more variety to the missions and a Spec Ops survival mode, all these improvements once again make Spec Ops an excellent part of the franchise and I can easily see it been made into a full game once the COD series dies down.

But finally onto the part everyone wants to know about, the part that gets people to buy the latest COD game every year and the part that has made the COD series so much money and that is the multiplayer. The multiplayer in MW3 is amazing uninspiring and a massive disappointment, this is the year that the COD multiplayer had a real competitor in Battlefield 3 and MW3 has been blown completely out of the water by the Battlefield online experience, in nearly every way Battlefield's multiplayer is superior and has shown some severe limitations that the COD games have. Whilst COD forces you into small maps where you have to fight in straight lines Battlefield allows you to go where you want and fight in large open spaces and fight in any style and no just camp like everyone on MW3 seems to do. The problems with the MW3 multiplayer are unfixable in my opinion, the multiplayer hasn't changed for 3 games, MW2, BLOPS and MW3 are essentially the same game, they all look the same, play the same and have all the same problems.
 "this is the year that the COD multiplayer had a real competitor in Battlefield 3 and MW3 has been blown completely out of the water by the Battlefield online experience"

Alternative

Alternative

The main most prominent problem that the MW3 multiplayer has is that it is not based on skill in the slightest, anyone can do well on that game by exploiting the perks and killstreak systems, to prove my point do a little test the next time you play MW3, start the game with no killstreaks or just don't use the killstreaks when you get them and see how well you actually do and I think you will be surprised how poor you are at the game in reality. People who play the COD series cannot do well in the Battlefield series yet people who play Battlefield can walk into the COD online experience and dominate and thats because to play Battlefield you need skill and tactics, not silly perks or killstreaks.

For me this game is part of a dying series, a series that has been killed by unoriginality and a lack of creativity, and was inferior to Battlefield 3 in nearly every way, and with Rainbow 6 Patriots and Far Cry 3 coming out in 2012 I can't see Call of Duty ever regaining its crown.

6.8/10                                Buy/Rent....Rent