Summary
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3has been getting a lot of flak since its release earlier this month, and it’s not hard to see why. The onslaught of remasteredModern Warfare 2maps is incredibly nostalgic for long-time fans, but those same fans have already experienced those maps hundreds of times before. And whileModern Warfare 3’s Zombies modecan be fun with friends, it’s a huge departure from the usual round-based formula that doesn’t hit nearly as hard. But the real disappointment ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is its campaign, and mode that’s now widely considered to be the worst in franchise history.
Call of Dutycampaigns have never been long, butModern Warfare 3is insultingly short if fans are playing on any difficulty lower than Veteran, and this short length only ends up making the game feel incredibly rushed. But by far the biggest offender ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaignis its overabundance of Open Combat Missions. While not a terrible idea on paper, this latestCall of Dutygimmick stumbles at every hurdle, makingBattlefield Bad Company- a game from 2008 - look more impressive by comparison.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Open Combat Missions Fail to Execute on a Good Idea
On a conceptual level,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Open Combat Missionssound like a natural next step for the franchise’s campaign. Over the last fewModern Warfareentries, larger-scale stealth missions have begun to creep into the campaign, dropping players into a large sandbox and tasking them with completing various objectives in a variety of different ways.Modern Warfare 3’s Open Combat Missions take this general premise and attempt to replicate it multiple times throughoutModern Warfare 3’s campaign, giving players one key objective and letting them go about it in any way they want.
However, in practice,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Open Combat Missions end up feeling just a little lifeless and repetitive. With lackluster objectives, minimal story content or voicelines from the campaign’s core cast, and overly simplistic level design, these Open Combat Missions are easily the worst part ofModern Warfare 3’s campaign. Their dragged-out length can also really affectModern Warfare 3’s pacing.
Though they aren’t quite comparable one-for-one,Battlefield Bad Company’s missions do share quite a few similarities withCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Open Combat Missions. The general formula of an averageBattlefield Bad Companymission sees players advance through an area gradually with their squad until they reach some kind of arena. From here, players get some kind of objective that essentially requires them to clear the area, and it’s mostly down to the player on how they approach that objective.
Players can go in all guns blazing, or try to use stealth to reach a more advantageous ambush spot. If vehicles are available, then players could use those to their advantage as well, and if the team has any explosives available, thenBattlefield Bad Company’s once-cutting-edge destruction physics could be used to great effect to level the playing field, literally. All of this is improved upon in the 2010 sequel, and unlikeModern Warfare 3’s campaign, there’s genuinely a lot of variety on offer in terms of how players approach the objective.
What really setsBattlefield Bad Company’s campaignapart fromModern Warfare 3is its story and set pieces. In every mission, the titular Bad Company squad accompanies the player, quipping back and forth the entire time. On top of that, each mission inBattlefield Bad Companyactually feels like the player is progressing the story in a meaningful way, with set pieces like a turret or vehicle section at the end of a level really cementing the feeling that major events are happening consistently, whichModern Warfare 3really suffers from.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
WHERE TO PLAY
The war has changed. Call of Duty returns with an all-new campaign, modernized versions of classic Multiplayer maps and an open-world PvE Zombies experience. The campaign, a direct sequel to the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, sees Captain Price and Task Force 141 face off against ultranationalist war criminal Vladimir Makarov as he extends his grasp across the world. In Multiplayer, the 16 maps that launched with Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 return with upgraded graphics, new modes and innovative gameplay features. In Modern Warfare Zombies, team up with other squads for the first time ever as you work together to survive in the largest Zombies map yet
