Developer: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III – Review
We perhaps arrive a bit late to the party that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, but this probably has to do with the fact that it took us quite some time to get the game up and running. So far, this newest iteration of the rebooted Modern Warfare games is getting quite a few negative reviews due to its extremely short campaign or the fact that it feels more like a DLC for Modern Warfare II. While both are certainly valid points, we, along with many people online, struggled with the game not even working or constantly crashing. If you find yourself in such a scenario, we suggest watching the following clip that shows you several ways to get the game up and running. When the game worked, however, we were treated to satisfying gunplay.
For this review, we’ll be ditching the regular review format, and we’ll focus a bit more on the pros and cons of MWIII. As stated before, the game has been receiving a lot of backlash online for its very short campaign mode, which a lot of players can beat over the course of several hours. It took us roughly four hours to see the end credits roll, which felt a bit too short for our liking. The story value isn’t amazing either, but we also reckon most players are not picking up a title such as this for the captivating narrative. The campaign does feel interesting thanks to the free-form missions, aptly called the Open Combat Missions. While it’s still in many ways the CoD you have come to love (or hate) over the years, MWIII tries to give players a bit more freedom. In this newest title, you’ll be able to tackle the missions the way you prefer, and this can mean playing things safe or going in guns blazing. You can approach objectives from different directions, and we had quite a bit of fun trying out different approaches. When you wish to replay the campaign, you can further tweak the experience by customizing your loadout, and not having to stick with the assigned story character for the mission at hand.
When it comes to the presentation, the game is simply the same CoD experience as always, which isn’t bad at all. While we encountered our fair share of graphical bugs, which mainly consisted of clipping errors, the game still looks great. The levels are decently designed, and there are of course a lot of familiar stages to explore. The guns look great, and there is decent visual feedback when shooting enemy units. The sound design is equally decent, and the guns give satisfying feedback when you start shooting. The campaign features a fair amount of voice acting, and even though the story felt a bit generic at times, the voice acting was of high quality.
In terms of gameplay, there is little to no introduction needed when talking about a modern CoD title. The bulk of the gameplay will be found online, which is perfectly fine. The gunplay remains as amusing as ever, and there is not that much wrong with the gameplay formula of the last few Call of Duty titles. Of course, we encountered a few crashes and a few minor bugs, but this isn’t something new. Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t defending a faulty product, but the overall experience is still enjoyable, and we tend to compare the game to something akin to a yearly FIFA release. You know what you’re getting, you tend to complain about it, but you secretly still enjoy shooting digital people in the face online. A few new modes are added to the mix, and these are generally enjoyable. We did spend most of our time playing traditional matches, with the occasional Cutthroat (3v3v3) match sprinkled in between. Having three teams roam the map did spice things up from time to time. Other than that, the Zombie mode is again quite enjoyable, but the fun wears off slightly quicker than playing authentic regular matches. As always, the controls are very responsive, and things like proper slide cancels are a well-appreciated touch.
Sadly, the game itself is unstable as hell. Both Battle.net and Steam users have been encountering issues where the game constantly crashes, or that it simply won’t boot at all. We encountered the latter, and we were not shown any error as to why the game wouldn’t start, even though our gaming rig is well above the recommended specs with all drivers up to date. After browsing the web, we noticed that so many people are encountering the exact same issues, and it does feel a bit sad that such a high-priced release is sent out into the world barely functioning. Luckily, there are guides online that walk you through several different options to get the game up and running. We noticed most complaints are about the PC client (both Steam and Battle.net) of the game, and console gamers can play the game without any real difficulties.
Conclusion
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III offers more of the same and while we commend the developers for trying to do something different with the campaign mode, there simply was too little substance to it. The online gameplay remains as enjoyable as ever, but we feel like this title is somewhat of a rehash of the previous iteration, with a few small new additions. Even so, with its high price tag, its limited content, and the many bugs, we cannot recommend this new version at its current price tag. If you want more of the same, however, you’ll probably still have a blast with this one.
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