There’s a lot of unneeded controversy surrounding the Call of Duty franchise these days. People seem to hate it just because it’s the “cool” thing to do. I’ll tell you this, the franchise is one of the most solid on the market and doesn’t deserve such hate. Even after three entries in the Modern Warfare series it’s still going strong.
Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is just as strong and enjoyable as one would expect and there are powerful set-pieces that take place all over the world. While it does nothing to reinvent the wheel, it makes up for that by making the entire campaign one explosive thrill ride you don’t want to end. There’s no level as shocking and controversial as ‘No Russian’ from Modern Warfare 2, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try. There’s one level where they obviously went for shock value by involving a young child and happy family, but it paled in comparison. To be fair, it doesn’t matter. This is the strongest entry in the Modern Warfare series to date. It ends what turned out to be a trilogy – closing curtains on sub-stories that spanned all three games.
Of course the main reason why a lot of people buy Call of Duty games is for the multiplayer. Since previous entries had such a solid multiplayer experience they didn’t go out too far out of their way add on that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – right? All the fan favorite game modes are back and just as enjoyable as ever, but there are two new additions – Team Defender and Kill Confirmed. In Team Defender your team is tasked with grabbing and holding a flag. It’s pure chaos. In Kill Confirmed you leave the safety of your camping spot to collect the dog tags of your downed friends and foes. The player holding the most at the end of the round wins.
If competitive multiplayer isn’t your thing, there’s still a solid cooperative experience to be had. Spec Ops mode makes it’s return. In Spec Ops you and a buddy tackle certain campaign levels side-by-side. There’s also Survival mode – which is a re-skinned Horde mode.
Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a very welcome addition to the franchise. It outshines the previous games in nearly every way.