Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Title: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: November 8, 2011
Date Played: January 2011
Time Played: 40 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
Its been four years since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare changed the gaming world as radically as its forefather Doom did in the early 90's. 4 games, 4 years later and I am ready to see the end of this exhilarating tale.

It is apparent that Modern Warfare 3 itself is aware of how big of a phenomenon it is. Most games start out slow, with tutorials and hand-holding. Even its predecessors started out that way, not assuming too much and taking care of those new to the franchise. Modern Warfare 3 however, pulls out all the stops. It is the fastest zero to 60 in a video game since the time when video games had no story. Without any tutorials or much of an explanation you are thrown right into the action. Me being me, and playing the game on the hardest difficulty level, I died within the first 10 seconds of starting the game. Thats pretty unbelievable by 2011's standards.

I actually jumped into Modern Warfare 3 right after finishing up Battlefield 3, and I must say that these two games could not be more different. Battlefield 3 (as I have mention in my write up about it)  puts you in a role of a soldier, makes you part of a larger, greater oiled machine.  MW3, looks at all that and goes "eh f*k it".  Here you are no ordinary soldier, here you are a Rambo, a lone wolf, a macho man, a bro. And to be honest I kind of liked just being an ordinary soldier, because an ordinary soldier is easier to relate to. And there has been so much of this unstoppable special forces gameplay over the last several years that even though technically it is more exciting, it got kind of boring. I am tired of things happening on the screen being cranked to 11 the entire time, its not exciting anymore.

That being said though, I still had a lot of fun with Modern Warfare 3, mostly due to the same reasons I had a blast with Black Ops. The silky smooth 60 FPS framerate, and spot on handling are still as fun as they have ever been. However one can argue that I can get that satisfaction by going back and replaying one of the previous 4 games, and I wouldnt argue with that.

Modern Warfare 3 boldly wraps up the Makarov story that originated in Call of Duty 4. I must admit an unexpected move from cash-mongering ActiVision. By the end of the 6 hour cranked to 11 journey I was relieved to see the story end. I was getting tired of the sameness of it. Terrorists this, terrorists that, invade this, invade that. How much more crazy can you get?

Coined in MW2, Spec Ops mode makes its return, this time more brutal than ever with more missions and a horde based survival mode. Ive spent over 25 hours playing through all of the Spec Ops missions on Veteran (3 starring them) and through all (16) of the survival mode maps to get to at least wave 15. This time around you can purchase equipment and weapons while in the survival mode. This allows you to use the them outside of competitive multiplayer.  The ranking system has been expanded to Spec Ops as well, now you are able to take your rank from Spec Ops to Multiplayer and vice versa (a welcome change). I must note that Spec Ops is a lot harder this time around, with some of the missions taking hours and hundreds of attempts to complete. Comparatively the campaign took me 11 hours to complete on Veteran.

Overall there is nothing new in Modern Warfare 3; however it still is an extremely tight shooter, with sharp graphics and perfectly balanced controls. Bottom line is that its just as fun as ever, but the formula is starting to run its course. The multiplayer is basically the same thing we have seen for the last 4 years, just with new maps. If you have been a fan of the series, and want more then by all means pick up a copy of Modern Warfare 3, you will not be dissapointed. But if you are getting tired of the same formula, then be warned, it hasnt changed.