Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Review. An Aged Recipe Offering Cheap Thrills. Is this Good Enough?

Late 2011, Activision, launched “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3”, promising more explosions, stronger emotions, more weapons and a better multiplayer game play.

To tell the truth, I feel torn apart. Having enjoyed endless hours of action with all the predecessors of Modern Warfare 3, I consider myself a fan of the series. However, I have spent many hours arguing with my friends, who are fans of Zelda and Mario games, accusing them of wasting money for games that do not offer new thrills. I always tell them that Nintendo offers the same game again and again. So, now you may understand my predicament, as I enjoy a game that makes Zelda seem unique and original!

Single Player Mode
Let's start with the single-player mode. The story literally begins a few minutes after the end of Modern Warfare 2, where the whole planet is in the midst of war. Russia has invaded the United States, there are terrorist attacks across Europe, and wounded hero “Soap” is transported by Captain Price and Nikolai to India. From then on you have in your hands a frantic adventure of exciting “Hollywood blockbuster standards” action sequences. You chase London tube trains, you will penetrate into African slums, you will destroy the entire Russian fleet leading a submarine, you will fly planes and more. I will not tell you any lies, I enjoyed it. The campaign is quick, impressive and although not much different from the campaigns of Modern Warfare 2, it will satisfy your lust for action…provided you do not need anything else…

The audiovisual game is doing well, with planes, weapons, and explosions that look and sound convincing enough, but there is no element of human drama, something that is in abundance for example in the “Saving Private Ryan” game. The world of Modern Warfare 3 is "inhabited" by soldiers, not people who just happen to be soldiers. This is not war but a game of GI-JOE soldiers.

Modern Warfare 3 has a few but meaningful changes, but is that enough?

Game Changes
The biggest change concerns map structures. Maps are smaller, so the gamer is obliged to move continuously. Games who love to play with sniper weapons do not have a chance! Also, there are not many high-rise buildings and sites that provide unfair advantage to whoever possesses an advanced sniper weapon. These changes guarantee continuous and fast action. You better have eyes in your back.

Furthermore, weapons have changed a lot. Assault rifles are a sure choice. SMGs are probably the best choice for fighting indoors but not for distant targets. Shotguns are used - almost exclusively - for fighting at very close distances. Sniper rifles are not recommended.

Another change concerns pointstreaks (killstreaks). Each class may now have its own strike packages, which are divided into three categories. The assault package is the classic CoD package with Predator Missile and Stealth Bombers. The support package is a good choice for anyone interested in supporting their team, with Ballistic Vests, Advanced UAV and SAM Turrets. The big difference here is that the counter is not reset when the player dies. Finally, the specialist package is for lone cowboys....

The third main part of the renewed MW3 is “Spec Ops”, a co-op mode where a team of two people is trying to accomplish small tasks irrelevant to the campaign. A new addition is the Survival mode, where two players face waves of increasingly better equipped enemy hordes. By gaining points, the team can buy better weapons, call for air support and use innovative military equipment. Although the Survival mode is pretty neat, it is not impressive.

Graphics have remained constant. They resemble the ones of CoD 4. Four years later, the graphics of the series remain almost the same. However, let us not forget that we are talking about a very capable graphics engine, light and flexible that it can still offer us beautiful environments. Multiplayer maps like Fallen or Arkaden are extremely beautiful and well made.

The audio of the game passes unnoticed. Audio is recycled from previous games. The voice-actors do their job well enough - although even after so long, I cannot get used to the voice of “Soap”. Brian Tyler’s music is the classic "heroic" music.

Finally, although the Modern Warfare 3 does not provide many surprises, a slightly aged recipe is still able to offer great excitement, especially in multiplayer mode. Modern Warfare 3 is, in short, a “fast-food” game– tasty and colourful .