- Publisher: Activision
- Release Date: Nov 10, 2023
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
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- Critic score
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Nov 21, 2023Like its predecessors, Modern Warfare 3 is a punchy military shooter with few rivals. It’s not a revolution, but the new zombies world spices things up.
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Nov 22, 2023Even with an embarrassingly bad single-player Campaign, the Multiplayer and Zombies experiences are enough to cement this game as one of the franchise's greats.
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Nov 15, 2023If you've been waiting for Modern Warfare 3 to deliver an incredible, never-before-seen campaign, then you'll have to pass, but if you're in it for the Multiplayer, then this Sledgehammer Games title will win you over. Despite a timid campaign that may seem far too short and empty, the Multiplayer and Zombies modes make up for it. We rediscover the sensations we've come to know through previous opuses, and the Zombies experience is a pleasant surprise. Despite our initial skepticism, once we're into Operation Deadbolt, it's hard to stop.
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Nov 14, 2023Reviewing a Call of Duty game today is a bit like reviewing a military theme park: it’s impossible to give a holistic appraisal. You might find the rollercoasters thrilling, the ferris wheel tiresome, and the hotdogs tasty, but consider its murky ties to the US military-industrial complex deeply problematic. Certainly, however, the game has expanded in such diverse and deliberate directions that most players will find at least one diversion to suit their tastes and play styles, and for this the developers are to be commended. Wrangling an annual series into a persistent online framework is obviously an unwieldy challenge for artists, designers and programmers alike, as they seek to marry the past and future of video game delivery. Within those difficult, arguably misguided constraints, MWIII is, campaign aside, a minor triumph of engineering and design.
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Nov 17, 2023Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is likely going to go down as one of the weaker entries in the franchise. Undoubtedly the quality fluctuates from player to player every year but key elements of Modern Warfare III don’t hold a candle to what most expect from a superb Call of Duty game. This is most apparent in the game’s lackluster campaign that injects far too much Warzone influence for its own good. Rather than a classic, bombastic narrative with diverse mission structure, we are left with an all too brief story that leaves players with little to latch onto outside of vaguely experimental open-ended combat. Zombies is as universally weird as ever but may actually be beneficial towards newcomers with its large map and mission-based approach. Thankfully Modern Warfare III‘s exceptional multiplayer feel and suite of popular maps, modes, and customization elevate this rough going. If Call of Duty needed a break, maybe this year should have been the one. But at 20 years old, the old chap still has life left in it.
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Nov 13, 2023Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III turned out to be what many feared: a sort of DLC of the previous chapter developed by Infinity Ward. Although undoubtedly fun for fans of arcade and fast-paced multiplayer shooters, Sledgehammer Games has done nothing but focus only on the nostalgia effect and few notable innovations, also creating an uninteresting and barely sufficient campaign.
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| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Nov 10, 2023Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3's single-player campaign offers effective moments but lacks pace overall. The open missions break the tension of the story and you have more of the sensation of playing a multiplayer experience. The freedom offered from the style of play is a bit illusory and what could have been a good idea does not work well here. It's still very good in terms of gameplay but we don't have the strength of the old solos and we're not carried away in the end, which is a shame. [Campaign Review Score = 65]
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Nov 10, 2023Overall, the Modern Warfare 3 campaign feels like it might have been rushed in terms of new gameplay developments, as well as narrative payoff, although there is a helluva shock in there for fans. It feels like it needed more time to evolve what's there, which is always going to be hard with a yearly franchise, and perhaps not allowing Modern Warfare the customary two years off for development made it harder. [Campaign Review Score = 60]
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Nov 7, 2023I give this single-player campaign 3.5 stars out of five, which is the worst score I’ve ever given a Call of Duty Game. I’ll amend the score after I’ve played more multiplayer combat. [Campaign Review]
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Nov 13, 2023Regardless of your relationship to Call of Duty, your feelings about military shooters, your investment in the rebooted Modern Warfare saga, or how much or little you like to play the new Call of Duty online multiplayer every year, the Modern Warfare III campaign feels more like an indicator of a series in decline than a misstep. Microsoft, which recently completed a purchase of Activision, is banking heavily on the future of Call of Duty, and the annual release schedule is unlikely to slow down any time soon. As a long-time player, though, I find myself thinking that it might finally be time to step away. [Campaign Review Score = 40]
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Nov 6, 2023In short, if boring is one word to describe the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 campaign, “fine” would be another, and only if used generously. If you only buy CoD to play the single-player, don’t spend $70 on MW3. You’ll regret it. [Campaign Review]
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Nov 3, 2023Although its narrative setup is enjoyable, Modern Warfare 3 can't get out of its own way, with nearly half of the missions being the underwhelming Open Combat style. The bumpy pacing and abrupt ending make Makarov's big return a disappointment, dragging Modern Warfare 3 down as the weakest entry of an otherwise strong reboot series. [Campaign Review Score = 50]
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Nov 10, 2023If there’s anything to take away from this year's disappointing release is that now Microsoft owns Activision, I’d like to think that Microsoft wants better for this series and I can only hope that this is the catalyst for ending Call of Duty annual releases, at least for the foreseeable future. Call of Duty deserved much better than this churned-out disappointment. If you’re desperate for a bit of CoD this year, then you’ve probably already picked this game up. Otherwise, give this game a miss or at least hold out for patches to fix some issues. In a year that has brought us so much joy with some amazing video game releases, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III somehow manages to lower the tone. [Campaign Review Score = 50]
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Nov 3, 2023Modern Warfare 3’s campaign commits the biggest sin possible for a globe-trotting action thriller: it's boring. What had the promise to be an intriguingly spun web of mystery instead ends up being a dusty cobweb you'd find at the back of your shed, clinging onto 15-year-old garden toys you once had fun with. It's a pale imitation of the past, made up of underbaked story moments that clash with attempts to introduce new open combat missions designed to encourage player freedom that instead fall flat on their face. Yes, the gunplay is still great and the graphics and sound design are top-tier, but I couldn't help but feel I was playing a shinier, less subtle version of something I've played too many times before. If this is the quality we've come to expect from Call of Duty campaigns, maybe it's for the best if a year or two is taken to reset and raise this low bar back to the heights of old. [Single-Player Campaign Score = 40]
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Nov 7, 2023Modern Warfare 3 has finally succeeded in unmooring the series entirely from history and from meaning. It continues the previous games’ practice of adding political texture to explosive ultra-violence, but it has never been more of a hollow shooting gallery, a ghost of a game and a departure from everything that may have once made the franchise compelling to play. [Campaign Review]
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Nov 8, 2023Modern Warfare 3 2023's campaign fails to replicate the excitement found in the 2011 original that was released twelve CoDs ago. Players still hide behind porta potties and wooden crates for cover from an enemy with a high-caliber machine gun instead of adapting modern advances like destruction physics, which are nearly nonexistent in the twentieth Call of Duty title. While the series continues to be successful with its multiplayer components, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a clear sign that the series' campaigns are struggling to keep up with the innovation that other modern shooters have accomplished. [Campaign Review Score = 60]
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Nov 7, 2023I don’t know about you, but when I was much younger and playing those older games, this is not how I imagined Call of Duty would be in a decade. And yes, it’s strange that I bring up a critique of the entire franchise when I should only be talking about a single entry, but like I said at the beginning of this review, Modern Warfare III appears to embody everything that’s going wrong with this series, whether it be mediocre level design, a barely coherent plot, or Activision’s general insistence to milk the franchise to oblivion. [Campaign Review Score = 50]