It’s a rehash, a remix, a remake. The same as the last one which was the same as the one before it. Not visceral enough, not gritty enough, not powerful enough. The graphics are rubbish, the AI is rubbish, the sound is disastrous. And don’t get me started on the plot: risible, re-rinsed nonsense that wouldn’t satisfy even the most ADD-riddled minds.
Right?
Well, wrong. Despite long-standing, enduring preconceptions that it would be exactly as I outlined above and the overwhelming, unshakeable thought that I was already going into this determined not to enjoy what was left of Infinity Ward’s latest, I actually came away thinking ‘you know what?, that was pretty good.’
[drop]Not ground shattering, not earth moving, not genre-defining. But pretty good. I mean, let’s be honest, there’s a core market out there hungry for more Modern Warfare and after nukes and rampaging Russians in the last two the developers had to up their game to keep people crowded around the water cooler talking about the key stand-out moments.And there’s a few.
Yes, I actually laughed out loud when I went sliding down a hill on my arse, and – physically – yawned when I was steering a little droid around shooting at dots in the distance, but MW3 is more than the sum of its parts because, looking back, the fairly dull first act is really only there to set the scene and remind you of lots of bits of previous games, if not always intentionally.
Getting shot at the end of a mission I’ve slogged my way through was interesting in the last game. This time, it’s just annoying. It doesn’t make the bad guy in the cheap suit any more threatening because – get this – I already wasted about a hundred of his buddies (and at not nearly such close range) but it re-introduced the character and in a game desperate to show off some exposition, it just about works.
It’s a real mess of a plot, mind. I lost track how many times I was supposed to be this guy or that guy and why this guy and that guy were doing what they were doing, and every time the level structure switches you out to someone else at the end of the section (or in the case of one mission, during the actual level) it’s disorientating and confusing.
I can hardly remember when my own birthday is, don’t expect me to remember half a dozen key protagonists barely introduced and almost certainly going to die a grizzly death, too.
[drop2]But there I was, swapping weapons, lobbing grenades and sprinting for cover. I can obediently follow a massive white ‘FOLLOW’ sign like the best of them and if I zoom in the gun snaps to the nearest enemy – both of which are most handy because it means I don’t need to think, just do, and stuff can come at me all it wants.I thought the graphics were pretty good, too. Yes, I’m hugely grateful that it’s still running at sixty frames per second and couldn’t care less whether it’s using up every pixel my TV is offering, but despite The Internet moaning that the game reuses assets and doesn’t have a unique visage for every single character I don’t really care – it’s snappy, slick and – especially during a rather sudden sand storm – rather splendid to gaze upon.
So forget the haters. MW3 isn’t anything sophisticated or even particularly deep, but it’s exactly what I thought it would be and – I assume – that’s why it has sold so well. People wanted more, and they got more, and the developers certainly delivered on that score. It’s certainly more interesting than Battlefield 3, which tried so hard to ape CoD but was more bothered about stabbing rats.
I had fun. I can’t really remember what happened and the flashbacks that inferred one of the myriad of player characters was something overarching and rather important felt incredibly retconned (I did a mini-sick in celebration of the amazing writing) – but I left the game thinking ‘yes, that was a blast’.
Of course, I’ve not played multiplayer. That’s bound to be rubbish.
You can read our full reviews of MW3 here (single player) and here (multiplayer).
fattyuk
lol fanboys will be fanboys where ever you go. Its abit too 2009 to take it seriously any more.
RFC2007
Both MW3 and BF3’s campaigns were junk.
That is all.
TheDemocrodile
theres no substance to the SP campaigns, its all linear, all shiny, all explodey filler, the real meats the multiplayer where if you love your running at 15mph killing and dying all in a 30second period MW3 is for you, if ou prefer a slightly more realistic (read: not) shooter with people running at 15mpsh but this time avoiding jets bf3 is for you, simple as really.
gideon1451
It’s no better than any CoD game from the past, but it’s still as fun.
Kaminari
It always disturbs me when a news site (that is referenced on Metacritic no less) suddenly tries to shove some personal opinion down my throat. There’s a fine line between journalism and propaganda, which is sometimes very blurry on TSA.
Narayan11
I liked MW3. It does what it says on the box. You hope that the campaign doesnt get too confusing (but it does), that you get a rush (its never boring), and that european live locations finally makes the player connect with the american game (i cant walk now through Waterloo tube station without thinking…i wasted so many baddies here! or looking at the Eifeel Tower the same way), and when it ends i wish i was smoking a cigar too. But like most entertaining movies, i got up and left after the credits, not feeling ripped off as i got what i paid for. Any sort of comparison to BF3 or other games, would be the same starting to compare Rambo to Arnie to Chuck Norris. Does it really matter?
matt2u2
corvettezr1-13 is a known cheater on several Playstation 3 games including Black Ops, Red Dead Redemption and Modern Warfare 3. This bitch uses a modded PS3 console and a modified controller. He is just another example of a cheater that slipped through the cracks.
kengao
Sometimes simple is just more enjoyable, according to the majority it seems.
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Thank you very much.