The Call of Duty campaigns have been a hit or a miss. But what sells the games is the multiplayer. So most of the stories take a back seat. However, just like the original Modern Warfare series, the narratives are what stand out. If you remember, the original MW2 had an iconic twist. Now for the remake series, much hasn’t changed. With the remake of Modern Warfare 3 on the horizon, let’s see from this review if the campaign can live up to its legacy.
All roads lead to this
Modern Warfare 3’s story has followed the trend of the later Call of Duty games in that it’s quite dark. However, there are complexities that other games in the series barely touch upon. Such as who are your allies, what the grey area means, and how much one is willing to go to save the world. These things when all packed together, make me and hopefully you invested in the characters and the story. Pointing to characters specifically, the voice acting adds weight. When things go south in certain missions, Price’s anxiety can be felt. This helped me connect better with the character.
On the other hand, the campaign is very short. While a few of them are callbacks to the original, the story itself feels different. This could attributed to the length which causes the pacing of Modern Warfare 3 to be inconsistent. But, on the other hand, the missions do an okay job of making these missions worth it via rewards. Around the second half of the game, I was pulled in, and that me going. However, three missions later, the game is done. So it’s unsatisfying because the game gets you hooked early on.
Warfare has changed
While the story is a one-sitting type of game, the combat does make the time enjoyable. Over the years, Call of Duty has perfected the formula. While playing Modern Warfare 3, I did want to highlight the combat for the review. Each gun from the smallest to the big felt real, and whenever I shot an enemy, the impact of it was known. In general, the guns feel good and that might help you forget the length.
On the bigger scope, it looks like Sledgehammer Games is taking elements from Warzone and DMV over to the story. While these have no bearing on the narrative of Modern Warfare 3, there are just similarities. There are open-world sections (more on that later) and pick-ups that have attributes. Both are taken directly from the battle royale and extraction mode. Certain missions will allow you to change your loadout, so changing how you play can be done on the fly. So if you want to replay the story by doing the missions differently, you can.
An open-world Call of Duty?
Well not fully. Some missions use the open world like Reactor. These missions are probably my favorite, and just like the gunplay, I want to emphasize this aspect for my review of Modern Warfare 3. I did like how when things went loud, meaning I began getting attacked, I could run to a supply drop or weapons and change how I fight. Using open worldish design is quite interesting. I know it puts people off, but treating it like a movie in missions like Highrise made Modern Warfare 3 feel different.
I think the open world and letting you do the missions your way shouldn’t fit in a Call of Duty game. But it does, and it helped me get immersed better in the story. Being able to take the high position in Crash Site and effortlessly snipe, put the biggest smile on my face. If future developers use the open world in future games, they could give new direction to those stories.
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