This year sees not only the return of the Call of Duty franchise, but the Modern Warfare name. A name that is so important that most have dropped the Call of Duty prefix completely. So, to many this is an imperative year, and with Battlefield 3 launching just weeks before it, Activision was aware of this fact too.
Thankfully Activision, Infinity Ward and the many other studios who have chipped in to help, have delivered.
Around The World In 80 Minutes
I've always enjoyed the Call of Duty single-player campaigns. They're never the most intelligent of shooters, there's not a great scope for adventure or exploration, and the enemy AI is that of a Hoover with a shotgun, but those campaigns provided big dumb action.
Modern Warfare 3 isolates these moments and packs them into its single-player campaign. It offers a non-stop-set-piece-fest that will keep you playing from start to finish wondering what is in store next while still catching your breath over what you've just seen.
That last sentence may seem as dramatic as a Call of Duty soundtrack, but if you view this game in the way it's being intended to be viewed, you'll experience one of the best single-player war games that has ever been created.
One of my only criticisms is that it's all over a little too quickly. Every moment feels like one that has been created to try and get as much enjoyment out of the player as possible; aside from one small trip to Africa, it only makes the time fly past even faster.
I found myself more interested in the story in Modern Warfare 3 than I have any other Call Of Duty game. It won’t win any awards for writing but it did enough to hold my interest and make me care about the characters and what they go through throughout the game.
If you've ever enjoyed a Call of Duty single-player game, then you'll know what to expect. There are stealth missions, slow motion breaching sections, turret gunning, soldier-following and air striking. Modern Warfare 3 might not add anything new, but what it does is perfect everything that's before.
Lost Spark
Considering four years have passed since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released, you'd be excused for thinking that not much has changed to the multiplayer side of things. Fans of the series would argue that there have been a host of tweaks and updates that have either ruined the game for them or vastly improved it.
Starting out online with basic kit and lack of perks is as frustrating as ever. Fighting more levelled-up enemies seems to go against everything that online multiplaying should be - balanced. The more you play, the more you unlock and the easier it becomes to be competitive.
Multiplayer
Sadly, we've all been here before and, although the online multiplayer is as solid and well constructed as it ever has been, it just seems to have lost its spark.
The same issues I've had with the past couple of CoD games are all evident here. Maps seem a little too tight in order to create a sort of forced battlefield instead of natural clusters of fighting. Although this offers a non-stop, action-filled gaming experience, it also means you'll die a lot.
The Spawn-Die issue remains and for those starting out their multiplayer campaigns, there will be little time to get kills within the spaces between deaths.
Those who crave more of the same won’t be disappointed, though. Fans of the series can relax knowing that Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer is as good as it's ever been, it just won’t convert those who are finished with the series. As disappointing as the lack of any step forward is, there's no doubting that CoD's multiplayer game is still a good one.
