Modern Warfare 3 Review
MW3 Review: A ( Single Player) / A - (Multiplayer)
I know a lot of you out there have been anxiously awaiting the first reviews of Infinity Ward’s latest installment in the Call of Duty series. Well you’re in luck. Since the games launch, I have managed to spend a few hours with the title and wanted to give you some feedback on what I have found so far.
First of all, I want to be honest and say that this review is solely based on around 3 hours of gameplay. Unfortunately, I am NOT one of those privileged critics at IGN or GameSpot who had their hands on the title weeks in advance to render a more thorough review. On the contrary, I had to wait in line on release day to get my hands on a copy in order to write this review. Therefore, none of the opinions expressed below are written in stone. As I get an opportunity to spend more time with the game, I will be sure to update this review. So be sure to bookmark this page. Now, without any further delays, on to the review.
The Single Player Campaign
As you might expect, the events of Modern Warfare 3 pick up exactly where Modern Warfare 2 left off; with the United States engaged in a bloody war with Russia. Players who are having a hard remembering where MW2 left off, might do well to view this video that IGN has prepared. While the first few minutes of the game uses flash backs to recap the events of the previous game, the player is thrown into the action in short order.
One of the things that I found most striking about playing the single player campaign is how familiar the gameplay feels. I don’t mean this in the negative, however. On the contrary, the gameplay comes across as very naturual and well thought out. After not playing the campaign for Black Ops for well over a year, I found myself getting readusted to the gameplay style in a mater of minutes. I’m sure the same will hold true for other season COD players.
In the graphics and sound department, I did notice a slight improvement when compared to previous installments. That being said, since the game is running off the same graphics engine as MW2, one can’t expect any huge leaps in the visuals. Where I was impressed, however, were with the realistic depictions of major US landmarks. For some reason, the visuals just seem all the more realistic when they are depicting things such as New York’s Financial District and other landmarks that we all know and love.
My Tentative Review for MW3 Single Player Campaign: A
Multiplayer
While Call of Duty has always had a solid single player campaign, for most players the true COD experience has always come from the multiplayer. It’s not uncommon to find players that have owned ever version of Call of Duty but who have NEVER played the single player campaign. Fortunately, when in comes to multiplayer, MW3 does not disappoint. One of the things that you will notice immediately, is that multiplayer “feels” very similar to MW2. Unlike COD Black OPS, which in my opinion never quite played like a COD game, you can immediately see the care that Infinity Ward and Sledge Hammer put into the game.
At the time of launch, the multiplayer experience includes a total of 16 maps, each varying in both size and geographical location. If players can take their eyes out of the cross hairs for a few seconds, they will notice that the maps included in the game take players to various parts of the world from Europe, to England, to Africa and a bunch of other locations in between. My favorite map thus far happens to “Hardhat” which is reminiscent to “Rust” from MW2, offering fast-paced, close quarters combat.
Of course, all of our favorite game modes return in this iteration of the series from Team Death Match, to Search and Destroy, and of course Free-for-All. Infinity Ward also through in a couple of other very interesting game modes such as Team Juggernaut where players defend their team’s Juggernaut in order gain points and become the next Juggernaut. All of these new game modes (a total of 6 in all) really add some needed variety to the game.
Now despite my love of MW3′s multiplayer experience, I do have what I consider to be a major complaint. That is, players who pre-ordered a subscription to Call of Duty Elite in order to attain “Founder Status”, seem to have an unfair advantage in multiplayer. For those of you who are not familiar with Call of Duty Elite, I suggest taking a look at my FAQs page. That being said, one of the main perks of pre-ordering COD Elite is that players are granted an XP boost when leveling up in multiplayer. As result, the players who decided to pre-order where leveling up at alarming rates on launch night. In under an hour after the game was released, I ran into players that were already on level 15. Players who chose not to pre-order are going to have a tough time catching up. Only time will tell if Infinity Ward rectifies this problem. That being said, below is my tenative review of Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer.
My Tentative Review for MW3 Multiplayer: A-
(points were deducted solely due to the unbalanced xp leveling)
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38 comments
whatever2020 says:
November 8, 2011 at 2:45 pm (UTC 0)
MWF3 is stupid and dum bbf3 going to blow mwf3 out to the water graphics are much better on bbf3 and hell call of duty is much better then mwf3 they should give our money back how stupid they should of done better stupid nerds fuckers
david says:
November 8, 2011 at 8:55 pm (UTC 0)
After 4 hours of playing i realised its just the same as mw2 apart from different skins and different maps. Its just an expensive map pack.
Jc says:
November 9, 2011 at 4:28 am (UTC 0)
Your both rite..
Joe Mama says:
November 18, 2011 at 10:02 pm (UTC 0)
“You’re both right”. You should pay more attention in school and stop playing video games so much. Unless you are out of school and live in your parents basement.
Rob says:
November 9, 2011 at 4:34 am (UTC 0)
MW3 blow don’t waste your money
John says:
November 11, 2011 at 8:55 pm (UTC 0)
u blow and suck at the game thats y u hate it hahaha
Shannon Elizabeth Keenan says:
December 1, 2011 at 11:54 pm (UTC 0)
u both suck
Rhys says:
November 9, 2011 at 8:55 am (UTC 0)
mwf3 is epic omg its by far the best game released this year bb3 is wack compared to mwf3 jog on you haters!!!!
alex says:
November 11, 2011 at 7:29 am (UTC 0)
We have the right to hate, ive been playing call of duty since the second one came out, and the last 3 have been disapointing to say the least. The gameplay is the exact same every year, the only difference is the theme, there aren’t even any changes in the graphics! There are less changes in cod than fifa, fifa has actualy improved graphics and the gameplay has comepletly changed, hence why i switched to battlefield> Its way freaking better than this crap called call of duty, until they start selling for a resonable pirce, say 20$, im no longer supporting thier reluctance to improve, so call of duty can JOG ON
Bryan says:
November 9, 2011 at 1:49 pm (UTC 0)
Honestly after playing this clown ass game for 3 hours last night after the great hype mwf3 gave was a waste of 3 hours of my life I’ll never get back . It was the biggest let down I’ve seen since world at war ! The overall concept is retarded with the poor main menu set up and the midget maps ! If anyone wants it I’ll give it to them for a $ 1.00. Lol. Black ops is the answer
Martin says:
November 9, 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC 0)
Hello Btyan, I agree!
Alex says:
November 10, 2011 at 2:18 pm (UTC 0)
wat do you min about the game am going to get the game tomorow is it a wast of money
Martin Bernitt says:
November 9, 2011 at 2:56 pm (UTC 0)
MWF3 is worth then the previous once. The maps have been a little bit bigger but the graphic have been reduced in quality a lot instead. I’m expected a lot more for MW3. Just got new maps, same functionalety as before and decreased graphic quality.
Regards Martin
Alex says:
November 9, 2011 at 4:14 pm (UTC 0)
They could have added these new maps and modes to MW2 and it will be the same as having MW3. They could have at least improve the graphics. Don’t waste your money on getting it new, wait for a used one and save some of your $$$$.
animas says:
November 9, 2011 at 6:22 pm (UTC 0)
do not buy it , black ops is better…
is just a expensive pack of maps for MWF2
Mike says:
November 9, 2011 at 10:03 pm (UTC 0)
Its okay, but i didnt see anything special. Cod 4 is still the best Cod ever. NO COMPARASION!!!!!!!
Martin says:
November 10, 2011 at 10:23 am (UTC 0)
Thats a perfect point m8. I played all MW, but in the end I deleted all including Black Ops and I play just CoD4 MW. Its just aboslutely balanced a perfectly built game.
marshall says:
November 26, 2011 at 5:45 am (UTC 0)
Ya for sure, they #$%&(# it up by adding too much pointless shit, I hate the perks in mwf3, there are too many people using assasin because its the only useful one
john says:
November 10, 2011 at 1:16 pm (UTC 0)
zombies is the best, kino ter toten.
Alex says:
November 11, 2011 at 4:30 am (UTC 0)
I really like the MW series, and I love the campaign. The only problem with this game are the players. Noob-tubers aren’t as common, but camping is a big issue.
And Idk what’s up with the spawning, but at least 1/5 of the time I respawn, a guy is camping it.
But the format is good (similar to MW2, don’t have to re-learn the layout of the game set-up) and it’s easy to start a game quickly.
I’m not as big of a BF fan as I am a Cod. BF is good, but it’s not as fast-pace and the weapons aren’t as dope. The servers are unpredictable and it takes forever to start a game.
John says:
November 11, 2011 at 8:49 pm (UTC 0)
UR ALL JUST A BUNCH OF PUSSYS WHO GET UR ASS KICKED IN MWF 3 THATS Y U HATE IT!!!!!! IT IS NOTHING LIKE MWF 2 I HATED MWF 2 I HATED IT SO MUCH I BROKE THE GAME THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST COD SO FAR!!!!!!
Lixo says:
November 17, 2011 at 9:58 am (UTC 0)
u claim ppl hate mWf3 bc they get their ass kick but yet here u are complaining about mwf2 sucking? maybe u got ur ass handed to you in mwf2 as well that’s why you trash it . and mwf3 sucks ass unbalance as hell glitching campers short ass single player veteran mode is not even hard etc etc etc etc.
marshall says:
November 26, 2011 at 5:47 am (UTC 0)
douch
Shannon Elizabeth Keenan says:
December 1, 2011 at 11:52 pm (UTC 0)
i do agree with you there but BF3 is better than mw3
daniel says:
December 9, 2011 at 2:28 am (UTC 0)
your as dumb as this game is and your opinion is useless your idiot it is exactly the same as mwf2 and that sucked just the same
jawad says:
November 13, 2011 at 10:43 pm (UTC 0)
Hello i just want to say one thing well on theater mode when u go on it when u want to spectate every one else it is just 3rd persone mode if you can please upgrade second player and the only persone you can spectate on 1st person is 1st player so can you please upgrade the theater mode and second player mode that will be very helpfull
Lixo says:
November 17, 2011 at 9:56 am (UTC 0)
MWF3 sucks so bad worse 60$ i ever spend ppl camp guns suck ,shotguns are weaker then pistols unbalance glitches all over the place i might just sale this useless game i cant believe i left mwf2 for this none sense its the same thing as black ops and i hate black ops.
Shannon Elizabeth Keenan says:
December 1, 2011 at 11:50 pm (UTC 0)
Got be honest BF3 is way better than mw3 big time
Shannon Elizabeth Keenan says:
December 1, 2011 at 11:59 pm (UTC 0)
Also everyone say’s mw3 is crap and a waste of money but it is the best cod so far but i think BF3 is better. everyone which thinks that it is crap then they are obviously rubbish at the game, there are people which are more skilled and more better than you,
just get over it your crap at the game thts y you think the game is a waste of money and crap
and i do argree with John tht mw2 sucks, i broke my mw2 becuz it was tht bad
paul mcculloch says:
December 5, 2011 at 1:41 am (UTC 0)
i loved mwf2 the maps were awsome like rust to wasteland you had to think what was best for the map like sniping fr wasteland ump or somit for rust highrise we all sniped at the start was awsome quickscoping kept mwf2 active for a good few years but the new mwf3 is kinda shit in terms of smal maps they all feel the same just run about with a boody ump or p90 non has alot of space to snipe i think it was to rule out boosters but they could have just took out tactical insertion for free for all like black ops but sadly havent you do spawn alot infront of ppl but remember ppl they will bring out map packs and hopefully wasteland and highrise is 1 of them the point in the graphics getting better is that if it aint broke dont fix it they have went a step back im not even that big a cod fan but i do like the sniping in it and the prestigin after i hit 10th il probs go back to gears and hope they have a new leveling system if your a big fan of mwf2 youl like this if not dont buy it stick to black ops
daniel says:
December 9, 2011 at 2:26 am (UTC 0)
this game is the biggest piece of garbage I have ever spent $60 on!!!! If I could turn back time to when I was standing in line at game stop I would go back and slap the spit out of the little 19 yr old nerd standing behind the counter for lying to me teling me and eveyone else that he helped on the way to getting ripped off! The servers are retarded, when I back out of a game it does not by any means throw me right back in it. The spawn points are by far the worst in COD history, I mean what kind of moron comes up with this incomparable BS? THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IS INSTEAD OF BUYING THIS GAME IS TURN TO YOUR LEFT WHEN YOUR LOOKING AT THIS GAME ON THE SHELF AND PICK UP BATTLEFIELD!!!!! Have a pleasant time gaming out to call of crappy if your as stupid as I was for purchasing such a waste of money
Ebonron says:
December 14, 2011 at 9:24 am (UTC 0)
So after reading this I kinda got intrested in all of the comments. It made me realize that most first person shooter gamers are much more stupid than they sound over the headset. If you have bought every Call of Duty just because you thought the gameplay in multiplayer would be different, you are an idiot. Modern Warfare 3 is just the same as good old Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The only differences you will ever see are new weapons, maps, skins, perks and kill streaks.
First of all though it may be “just an expensive map pack” you are missing the whole point in the game. Sure multiplayer is badass in the CoD series, but if you are just playing multiplayer then you are missing out on what really is involved with the game. The reason their are new maps is because the story in single player changes with the events that take place.
Second, the makers of Modern Warfare 3 probably did not concern themselves with multiplayer as much as they did the facinating single player storyline. Multiplayer is kind of like an addon to the whole package. Yes I do understand that alot of gamers do not really play the single player in these kind of games but if all they want is straight up multiplayer I would advise against buying it. Buy blackops and keep buying the map packs that they keep coming out with, and stop trolling on a great article.
lilburner says:
December 14, 2011 at 2:45 pm (UTC 0)
i agree by far the best cod so far so if you hate it suck it and get off your not ready step to my level
sina says:
December 22, 2011 at 6:21 pm (UTC 0)
i love call of duty
Teh Wii says:
December 24, 2011 at 8:43 pm (UTC 0)
LOLZ, Skyward Sword is so much better than Any COD game, LOLZ, you people have no life.
CJ Ash says:
December 30, 2011 at 5:59 am (UTC 0)
I absolutely LOATHE the “new” online multiplayer from MW3. What is this RICOCHET or Bust BS?! Why do I HAVE to play Ricochet if I want to play hardcore AKA realistic gameplay. Now you just have retards running around into my bullets and I die for it. I have to pay for others peoples mistakes. AND, they can just jack my care package I cant do a damn thing about it!! So frustrating, I’m switching to Battlefield.
peepeepoopooman says:
January 13, 2012 at 2:58 am (UTC 0)
I am not sure if this is the place to complain to the makers of the game? I have been playing this shit since it came out and why now would the online mode stripe me of my stats if I leave a game?
david says:
January 24, 2012 at 4:12 am (UTC 0)
i live in perth western australia.
couple of problems;
why is there no customer support available?
have played game for a couple of days – have not been able to join or play most online multiplayer options as ping is too high. Wait for ages to join a game then am told no connection – tedious.
A paying customer should be able to see a selection of multiplayer games that wil allow resonable competion – orange ping (150) is the way to give the other team lots of kills.
too many hackers online – punkbuster needs alot more work.