Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
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Gameplay Reveal Trailer | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
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Critic Reviews for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a disappointing anniversary for a series that really should take a break.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reheats and reserves the same multiplayer from Modern Warfare 2 with some extra maps and tweaks as garnishes. This smooth combat remains gaming comfort food, but slower unlock progression makes it harder to get excited about.
Operation Deadlock mixes Zombies with Warzone's DMZ mode, and while the combination can create some heart-stopping battles, you have to be willing to grind to see them.
Underbaked, rehashed, and cobbled together from multiplayer parts, Modern Warfare 3’s single-player campaign is everything a Call of Duty story mode shouldn’t be.
Zombies feels more like a limited-time Warzone event cobbled together from existing ideas and assets and that sentiment permeates throughout MWIII. Each pillar is an inferior patchwork of past ideas from its stunted campaign to its multiplayer that, while the strongest mode, is comprised of systems lifted wholesale from MWII with maps from 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This year’s COD is a threadbare expansion masquerading as a sequel and an embarrassing way to mark the series’ 20th anniversary.
Modern Warfare 3 takes a risk using recycled content to sell nostalgia, but the payoff is enticing gameplay with classic features.
In the end, Modern Warfare 3 begs the question of whether this annual cycle should continue or not. Almost half the game feels shoehorned in, such as the forgettable campaign. Meanwhile, the other half has mixed results in the case of the multiplayer maps. But if players engage with the truly special parts of MW3, such as its exceptional improvements to gameplay and spectacular alternative modes like Zombies and Ground War, they’ll find there is a worthy experience in there somewhere.