Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Reviews
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a disappointing anniversary for a series that really should take a break.
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.
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.
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.
Player freedom drags down Modern Warfare 3's biggest moments.
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.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 isn't an outright bad game, but it's also not a particularly good one. Taken on its own, it's a slightly above average first person shooter with a poor campaign, but in context, you can see how hurried and limited in scope this game really is. The multiplayer is effectively a classic map pack, Zombies and Open Combat Missions are game modes built within the existing Warzone map, and the campaign's pacing and story come up short. It all adds up to a lacklustre experience and even a sense that Call of Duty is at risk of losing its identity.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is a game made of other games, a hybrid that seeks to convince veteran fans with fantastic multiplayer. However, neither the homages, nor the "innovations" of the campaign and the zombies manage to disguise the obvious. This game is nothing more than a wild recycling of ideas made in a hurry.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 feels unfinished. The campaign feels like a spin-off of something much bigger, and the zombies don't quite fit in the open world. The multiplayer acts as a redemption for a product that should have stayed in DLC.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III turned out to be what many feared: a sort of DLC of the previous chapter developed by Infinity Ward. Although undoubtedly fun for fans of arcade and fast-paced multiplayer shooters, Sledgehammer Games has done nothing but focus only on the nostalgia effect and few notable innovations, also creating an uninteresting and barely sufficient campaign.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3 campaign is a by-the-numbers experience with few of the thrills or high-points the series is known for.
Even with an embarrassingly bad single-player Campaign, the Multiplayer and Zombies experiences are enough to cement this game as one of the franchise's greats.
To me, the multiplayer experience we got is a Call of Duty game worthy the franchise’s 20 year anniversary.
Overall, it balanced out and the rest of the campaign was well done. As I mentioned, most players really care more about multiplayer than the single-player campaign. For me, I’ve always liked how the single-player story motivates you to play the multiplayer. And so it really does matter to me. I don’t know if my objections here mean that I don’t like the game overall. I feel like I’m a superfan who nitpicks endlessly while still pouring a lot of time into playing Call of Duty every year.
Despite preying on our nostalgia with strong gunplay and classic maps, added grind, barren zombies, and a heavy price tag make this yet another skippable entry.
Folded-in features from battle royale can only go so far in saving this rushed production.
That's really the story for Modern Warfare 3 across the board. The campaign is made up of Warzone content, the multiplayer is comprised of maps that are 14 years old, and the Zombies mode uses a map that will be recycled for the battle royale. $70 is a high asking price for what's here, but those that do decide to take the plunge will find the best Call of Duty multiplayer experience in years and an intriguing open world Zombies mode that, while not quite as fun as the classic round-based Zombies maps, can still dish out memorable moments with friends.
Although a lackluster campaign and reused content holds it back, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has a few great tricks up its sleeve. The multiplayer engages in a way its predecessor missed the mark, and open-world Zombies is exactly as entertaining as it sounds. There's more to be desired as a whole, but as rushed as it was, MWIII has solid elements that can be enjoyed.