2023’s addition to the Call of Duty franchise is nothing more than a buggy & poorly thought out asset flip being charged at full price.

(SPOILERS BELOW)

You know it’s funny, I was going to ramble on about this whole Call of Duty marathon that I went through over the summer since I wasn’t so familiar with the classics from this franchise, but after playing this shit, I just couldn’t be bothered. Modern Warfare III is bad, very, very, BAD. It’s so bad, it broke Activision’s lie in that they would be taking a break from annually releasing COD games just so that they could make a quick buck. It’s so bad that there’s morons online negatively reviewing the older Modern Warfare 3 because this game is that fucking bad.

Modern Warfare III Has a Boring Story & Boring Characters

So, piggybacking off whatever happened in the previous instalment (something about the cartel), Modern Warfare III has the members of Task Force 141 chasing the trails of Russian Ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov and his Private Military Group as he tries to instigate a war between the world’s superpowers. Sounds interesting? It’s not. You basically spend the entire campaign patching up Marakrov’s actions until Soap gets shot, then General Shepherd gets shot, then credits. Missions happen for the sake of them existing, the missions carry no weight and the script drags you along to the next mission just because. They barely last a decent length, and even though the game boasts around fifteen missions, you can beat the entire campaign in about five hours. There’s no goal, no struggle, hell for a game calling itself Modern Warfare, where’s the warfare? Also for a game focused on Task Force 141, you play as like 10 different characters that share little correlation to whats happening. Characters like Soap & Ghost get like a mission each and barely leave any imprint on anything that happens throughout the game (minus Soap leaking blood on the ground). Farah from the 2019 Modern Warfare gets a lot of focus in this game but barely does anything but make her feel sad. Hell, characters that died in the last game return without explanation, and they continue on like normal. Can Soap get that same treatment?

But the worst example of character assassination is Makarov. In short, he’s a pussy. He spends the entire game committing terrorist acts, but nothing happens. Makarov hijacks a plane, but Farah covers it up & the plot moves on. Makarov nukes a military base with a chemical weapon, but the game moves on like it was a water gun fight at Six Flags. This Makarov’s so focused on getting attention on him & his actions, that Activision & Sledgehammer forget what made the older Makarov so dangerous. In those older games, he fed on the animosity between an ultranationalist Russia and an America hungering for conflict. He only needed to stoke those fires ONCE and World War 3 was in full force. I had a friend even tell me that this Makarov feels like a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain trying and failing to hatch an evil plan.

Modern Warfare III is Yet Another WarZone Shill

So are there any attempts at breaking new ground in gameplay? Well they decided that they didn’t want to actually program most of the levels so they decided to pull small chunks of the maps from the WarZone mode and call it a day. Within the 15 mission campaign, only 5 missions are proper, linear missions that COD veterans are used to, 2 missions being just interactive cutscenes, and 1 really crap AC-130 mission, leaving 7 missions to use small sections of WarZone maps as “Open Combat Zones”, where freedom of gameplay is key. On paper, this could be a great way to instigate players to seek out multiple creative solutions to solve a mission, or potentially rewards players for going beyond & thinking outside of the box. However, this is Activision, and you know that this isn’t here.

Here’s your average “Open Combat Zone” mission. In theory, you drop into a map, and slowly build your character up with armour, guns, equipment, and turn yourself into a one man army. What ends up happening is that you spawn in with a fairly easy objective, an enemy will spot you from across the map, you get downed by an enemy, and you have to restart the whole mission, no matter how far you are from completion. Missions will last about 10 minutes on one run and end before they get good. Your allies will condemn you for exploring the area and not sticking to the target, telling you to focus on the target, and the only way they’ll shut up is to mute the TV. Also why are there vehicles? They add nothing, they alert enemies, and the maps are too small for them to matter. The enemy variety is always the same, being Makarov’s PMC’s (minus once when they’re in suits, like why?) Also with all these useful/necessary weapons lying around, I have to ask 1.) Why is 141 going into these crucial missions so under-equipped, and 2.) Why isn’t Konni Group (Makarov’s guys) using these broken weapons? In short, these missions feel like single player WarZone, and are used to promote the multiplayer mode. Nothing more, nothing less.

Modern Warfare III is a Buggy Mess

Look, I understand that game development is a long process, and I don’t hold the balme with anyone at Sledgehammer for dealing with Activision’s bullshit. I do know that Activision’s a greedy bastard that needs these massive experiences to be pumped out yearly, so I can excuse the one or two glitches/bugs that occur but looking at the state of the game, I’m appalled by why they decided to release it in this state. Graphically, the game is amazing, which is the one thing i’ll give this game credit for (alongside the performances). However, I feel like I can’t enjoy what’s being presented in front of me when my game is giving me an accidental fuckup every five minutes. These can range from:

• A cutscene introducing a fan favourite character was shown with no audio, and when the cutscene ended, the audio was louder than prior.
• A generic goon apparently having super sight, and spotting me from behind five buildings, a hill, and twenty men.
• Showing me a prompt to put my gun away being immediately followed by someone shooting me for not putting my gun away.
• A generic goon getting up from a bullet wound in his head.
• A generic goon making out with the wall because he tried running to where there was gunfire.
• A generic goon disappearing into the ground.
• Three Soaps providing cover fire.
• I failed a mission because a civilian shot me, and I defended myself.
• Enemies will walk over their dead comrades like it’s nothing.
• General Shepherd misfiring his weapon and causing a mission failure.
• A scripted helicopter accidentally blowing up and causing the mission to soft lock.
• My gun requiring me to load an entire magazine into a common enemy to down him in the snow level.
• AND SO MUCH MORE!

Also, the game is not built for stealth. Whenever you’re spotted, all nearby enemies will act like they hear gunfire and attack you in a herd mentality. Enemy alertness will also come & go on a whim, and I swear it’s less like a game of cat & mouse, and more like a random number generator on when they choose to give up.

Modern Warfare III is Modern Warfare II…again

Now let’s talk gunplay. It’s the same from Modern Warfare II. The way everything feels, how the characters move. I could leave it at that since I barely noticed a difference between the two games, which makes me think that Activision had this planned as either DLC for Modern Warfare II or were in the process of giving Modern Warfare III time to develop but realized they like money and rushed development. Even after finishing the campaign, I couldn’t drag myself to play the other modes. I mean, what differences in the multiplayer make it worth playing? A new mode and the return of other modes like Invasion? The reworking of classic maps? What about the return of the “Battlefield-like” War Mode? To me, if I didn’t get the game for the campaign, I’d have no reason to play, let alone buy the new Modern Warfare for its multiplayer options.

There’s also Zombies but your team is limited to three people instead of four and it’s ANOTHER REWORK TO THE WARZONE MAPS! Like at this point, I’m done. I don’t hate War Zone, it’s a fun time, but if i’m sold a $90 CAD experience that’s reworking off from a free game, it becomes apparent where Activision want their priorities.

He Who Dares, Clearly Doesn’t Work at Activision

So, that was terrible. Modern Warfare III is a key example of corporate greed that exists to abuse the fanbase for more money. It’s Modern Warfare II but with missing features, maps, and also confidant gameplay.

2/10

I might be harsh on the overall rating but it get’s a 2/10 for the two things it does right, being the graphics & performances, but I paid for a game, not an animated movie. I know there’s gonna be a fourth game, and I dread what Activision will do to it’s poor employees when it probably drops next week or something. Fuck this game, and god hope that whatever Treyarch’s working on has some love & affection in it.

(One more note, I love how when you die, it rehashes the generic ass script as important death quotes, like it’s the greatest fucking thing ever conceived on paper)