Please note: this review contains spoilers for the plots from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. If you have not finished those games in full, I do not recommend that you read this review until you have done so. That is, unless you do not mind spoilers. Consider this your fair warning.Modern Warfare is the first trilogy of games in the Call of Duty franchise to follow the same storyline. The first three titles were independent stories based around World War II, while Ghosts and Advanced Warfare are standalone spin-offs. The Modern Warfare trilogy paved the way for the Black Ops story arc, which began with World at War... but hey, that's an entirely different review. Modern Warfare 3 is the ultimate conclusion to the three part series, and it offers a solid closed ending that wraps up this classic trilogy nicely.
During Modern Warfare 2, we found out (very late into the game, I may add) that Captain Price was indeed still alive and being held captive as a prisoner. At the end, Price and General Shepherd get into a fist brawl, and Soap becomes severely injured in the process; Shepherd had stabbed him with his knife, and left him to die on the ground. Soap finds it in himself to pull the knife out, and he ends up killing Shepherd by throwing it directly through his eye socket. Modern Warfare 3 picks up only a few hours where its predecessor left off, Price and Nikolai have evacuated the area with the still-injured Soap and fled to a Russian loyalist safe-house in Northern India.
The entire plot to this game is set around stopping Makarov, and the story is far more linear than the two preceding titles in the trilogy due to the fact that you do not play as many different characters. Primarily, you will control Yuri, Soap, Price, and Nikolai; all of whom are on the same team and working toward the same goal. It's surprising that the second entry didn't take this sort of linear step when it was released, as it also focused more on the story of Soap and Price rather than any of the others. Though some may disagree, it's good to see the story take a less confusing turn and finally focus on the main characters in full.
It's hard to deny that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the dawn of the franchise's cinematic twist. In all of the titles before, with the exception of Black Ops which released just a year earlier, there was a heavy focus on gun play and shooting, rather than action sequences. While Black Ops did have the cinematic vibe to it, it was truly the revamped MW3 Engine that was used that set Modern Warfare 3 apart from it. The entire campaign is completely dynamic, not only from an aesthetic point of view but more importantly from a gameplay perspective. There is still a small focus on shooting, although it seems to take a backseat to the action sequences that play out this time around. Every level has something different going on, and something new for you to experience. The entire game is a breath of fresh air in the first-person shooter genre.
However, that does not mean that it doesn't come with its fair share of problems. I, for one, found this title to be incredibly difficult, even on Regular difficulty. This is mostly thanks to the revamped grenade damage, which if you're anywhere within the grenade indicator, you're already dead. They go off faster, and have an enormous blast radius in comparison to other Call of Duty titles. Likewise, it seemed like I was constantly dying randomly, my character would just fall over dead. A few times it was an enemy who came up behind me and knifed me, but other times it was literally nothing; I was behind cover, and no enemies were around me.
On the upside, the guns in Modern Warfare 3 feels extremely beefy and heavy. The bullets connect really well to the foes, and the kills are more satisfying than ever before. The controls are really fluid, and overall the play experience is top quality. By looking at this game, you wouldn't guess that it is already five years old; the dynamic lighting and texture quality is completely outstanding, this title has aesthetically blown away every other Call of Duty game that came before it. It's crazy to think that the same platform generation that gave us a very shallow, nearly empty feeling game like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter was also able to bring us the lively, well decked-out Modern Warfare 3.
As for the multiplayer, the entire killstreak and reward systems were revamped for this release. Everything this time around is harder to earn, and there's even a modified ranking and unlock system. Along with this, once the player has gone prestige at least once, the Prestige Shop is unlocked. Gamers can use earned in-game tokens to buy various features such as double experience points and additional custom weapon classes. There's still a community on Steam playing the multiplayer, and this is the first Modern Warfare title to offer the Valve Anti-Cheat feature which does a much better job than Punkbuster at curbing unwanted hackers from ruining the online experience.
Although Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 does have its share of problems, mostly related to grenades and unfair deaths, the solid gameplay and escalated cinematic experience it provides more than makes up for its short-comings. The conclusion to the three-part story is one that players will find deep satisfaction with if they have followed the arc since the initial title was released, and the ending wraps everything up nicely. The diversified, revamped multiplayer system has kept online play fresh from Modern Warfare 3's predecessors, and the inclusion of the VAC system ensures not only cheaters get what they deserve, but also that legitimate players do not get banned for joining a bad server; unlike Modern Warfare 1 and 2. If you've enjoyed the previous Modern Warfare installments, this game is a must play.
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