Modern Warfare 3 SINGLE PLAYER review
ANOTHER YEAR ANOTHER CALL OF DUTY
This sequel to the highly popular Modern Warfare 2 starts shortly after 2 ends. Soap heading to a safe zone to be treated from wounds he got from fighting Shepherd. Shortly after all hell breaks loose and World War 3 begins. The story is weak, but it movie at a pace that it is alright. Stories have always been week for these games, but from a franchise standpoint, it's the most interesting. The NO RUSSIAN mission from Modern Warfare 2 feels more important this time around/ The Mastermind behind it all, Makrov, is featured much more often in this game than in Modern Warfare 2.
If you plan on playing Modern Warfare 3 without playing 2, I suggest you checking out what has happened in the past Warfare games. This can range from reading online or watching videos. Either way works so you wont be too confused on why New York City is a battlefield and why Makrov is so important. The events of this game seems to be running on fumes. It's getting blurry on which game is which. You can take all three modern warfare game and unless you really look for it you can tell between the games.
While most of the time you do pretty much do the same thing you did in the past games, there are a few missions here that is truly amazing and fresh. One mission you are in a plane as it's getting high-jacked and later you are in a back of a truck chasing down a speeding train. Some of the set pieces are the best of the series, but they are too few in between.
EVEN IN THE MIRROR IT LOOKS THE SAME
The graphics are pretty much the same as in the past games, but there are some improvements of the engine. It's nothing to go crazy about, but it's keeping the engine from showing it's age. The sound, however, are amazing. Each gun have it's own sound and it's very distinctive. The voice acting is just as strong as before. While it won't win some awards, it's good enough to make you believe that they are going through a war. The most impressive thing about the technology behind Modern Warfare 3 is that it never drops it's 60FPS, It's locked.Even when the game gets too chaotic it never drops. It's mainly because they are using the same engine from Call Of Duty 4, but it's still impressive that they can make the action as crazy as possible and it never falters.
The controls are as the same as before. You aim, shoot, load with the occasional melee. You can play this game with four buttons and still do a pretty decent job on it. Even on Normal. You follow, breach, repel, shoot this, shoot that, control this, control that. It's the staple of the Call Of Duty experience nothing we haven't played before. And that's the problem, it's beginning to feel stale. There are four missions in this game that stand out with the rest of the game. While you do just the same, the events that happens are just awesome. I was shocked a few times in this game, but nothing that will be worth remembering down the line. They tried to do another NO RUSSIAN, but at the end it just feels pretentious. It's no longer feeling fresh and if they want Call Of Duty to still be around they need to do something amazing like they did with Call Of Duty 4. Another yearly yearly game series, Assassin's Creed, changes something to the gameplay and it changes everything about the game, so it always felt fresh.
The game is not terrible, but it could have been so much more. No matter the location it will always feel the same. The difficulty on Normal is actually quite easy. Just stand back and watch your head and make sure your team does not block your path, which they will anyway. There are sections where cover will feel useless. There will be a guy that sees you, but you can see them. Even if you are atop of a building clearly away from eye view from the street. Sometimes your team will back you up. The team tends to forget that, unlike them, you are not invisible. They will tell you to do something that will need you to run out to pretty much get up front to enemy fire.
NOT THAT WAY!
The AI is weak. sometimes it feels like you are in a shooting gallery serving no real challenge. They just stand there waiting to be shot at. Your teammates are no different. When clearing a room they would say that the room is secure even though there are still enemies that needs to be dealt with. Sometime as you back away from a dangerous situation they will be in your way not moving causing you to die unfairly. The only smart AI in the entire game is the civilians. They run and hide and use cover much better than the solders.
The biggest highlight of this game is it's ending. It's remarkable. Without going to detail it's got that super rare treatment in games today. Closure. What happens next in the next Modern Warfare is now a mystery to me.
MORE CONTENT, BUT IS IT REALLY WORTH IT?
Along with Single Player there is Spec Ops Mode. You have a choice of two options. Survival, which will send you to a map of your choice and you try to survive wakes of waves of enemies. It's basically Hoard Mode from Gears Of War but with a Call Of Duty twist. The higher the wave the harder it gets. The other mode is Mission Objectives. Here you do missions that may or may not have to deal with Story Mode. The Difficulty is depend on you, but even at regular they are no push overs. It's all great fun with only one person, but it'll be a blast with friends. Also it seems in Survival mode the enemies upgrade when you do making it much more harder. I found this mode much better than the Story Mode.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is just more of the same. You put the disk in on the console of your choice and if you play the painfully short single, you know what you are getting into. I didn't play Multiplayer because I didn't have a chance too. Activison needs to change up the formula if they don't want this series to die. It needs changes and big ones. It's perfect for die hard fans of the series, but to those that just wants to waste an afternoon you can do worse, but you can do better. It's familiar, but with flashes of greatness. It's just not enough anymore.
