Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Review from Cav - Monday, 16 January 2012 @ 1:04am

What the hell has taken me so long to publish this review?

Well actually I had 400 plus words written on ’Why the world doesn’t need another Modern Warfare 3review’, as I was convinced that all we gamers got was Modern Warfare 2.5… but them my old nemesis, Father Time, let go of his choke hold, and Saint Nick came along to tag in and give me a much needed break. That’s when I got the opportunity to give MW3 the time it deserved. I have now deleted those 400 words as my interpretation of the game is slightly different.

Initially you will see that there are no real visual or audio improvements. It’s funny to want a visual improvement, but not know EXACTLY how much improvement you want and how you want that delivered, seeing as the console you play it on hasn’t been upgraded. This may be a different story on PC and would love to hear from MW3 PC players to see what they say.

Reminds me of a scene from an Action Man cartoon

The single player storyline ties up really well. I don’t want to spoil it for those who either haven’t bought the game yet, or those of you who have bought the game and still haven’t left the multiplayer long enough to get into it. This was a positive as I felt that the way the game played barely differed from MW2. But that is where the real question lies: Do Modern Warfare fans want ‘different’ or do they not want to leave their comfort zone? This is where my initial thoughts lead me to believe that MW3 could have been implemented as DLC, for both Campaign Missions and Multiplayer Maps and Modes …… but where’s the money in that? But hang on… won’t that reduce pre-owned sales? This sounds like a whole other article to me.

This was my favourite scene from the Campaign... not that I hate France

What’re the two biggest complaints you hear over your headset while playing multiplayer?

“FUCKING CAMPING PRICK!”

“USELESS NOOB-TOOBER”

Let me just say I don’t care too much for Sniping anymore, but it’s a fine art when you can drop a round from a GLA through a window from across a courtyard to take out someone seeking cover in a building. I mean you only have two shots, you don’t wanna waste them. The maps available don’t really have open spaces like previous games, which is great for claymores and shotguns and shite for tubes and snipers.

Multiplayer gave us some welcome improvements, with my vote for the best being Kill Confirmed, a game mode made to piss off campers, well, campers without friends anyway. The aim is to collect the dog tags of your fallen allies or enemies to enter deny or confirm kills respectively. There is an element of camping that goes with it, as players will sit and protect tags and pick you off,so sniping could work if you are organised and have co-operative team mates. I do also like the ability to spend Prestige Points on gaining double XP for you or your weapons. This helps out when up againt players who do nothing but play COD.

Yes, honey, I'll pick up some bread and milk on the way home - kinda busy right now

Spec Ops is once again a solid outing with heaps of levels to try both online and off. There are Missions and Survival mode to choose from, both ranging in difficulty. Upgrades are well spread out and knowing your maps is a must. I did find one map where all I did was sit at the top of a ladder and just knife enemies as they climbed up. There was a nice pile of bodies and a cache of weapons to collect. is that cheating? No, I call it strategic positioning.

Now onto Elite: Did I sign up? No. Why? I can't tell you really. Yes it has the advantages, IF you go Premium. To me, all it's just for fanbois to shake their e-penis and get the maps without having to make sure you have XBL/PSN etc points in your wallet. I suppose we all gotta make money somehow and this isn't a bad way to do it from those who rarely play anything other than COD.

Pros

• Improved MP playlists
• Great story
• Elite can be an advantage

Cons

• More of the same, nothing really blows you away
• Extra money to pay out for Elite