So this is a game I never thought I'd be reviewing.. After Black Ops, I was completely against Call of Duty as a franchise. I was completely against their yearly releases that seemed like nothing other than cash ins. They lacked quality. The graphics were sub-par compared to other shooters and the sound design was for the most part... Awful. The multi-player game play was fun sometimes. But it was plagued by the community that played it. Full of sore-losers and campers, little kids, and adults who only knew foul language (not to say I don't enjoy a curse word now and then, but these people take it to the extreme.). Not only that, but I play ps3 and from what I've seen, we get the much inferior version. The graphics are blurry as shit, and we have to wait a whole 30 god damn days to buy their over-priced map packs(No, I never bought one.). Needless to say, I had all but given up on the Call of Duty franchise and was ready to leave it at Call of Duty 2 and try and forget the rest.
My face while watching the Modern Warfare 3 reveal trailer
That is until a couple of weeks ago. My girlfriend and I were sitting doing not much of anything when she reminded me how much I missed online multiplayer fps. I hadn't played one in months after I sold Modern Warfare 2. Battlefield 3 was already out and I certainly didn't have enough for it. So I went in to my local Gamestop and pre-ordered Modern Warfare 3. I instantly regretted it. The night of November 7th at the midnight release I was ready for disappointment. I was wrong. Very very wrong.
A- Atmosphere
G- Gameplay
G- Graphics
S- Sound
A- You by now know the typical war atmosphere. Modern Warfare 3 does it only slightly differently than most. The war is set in (you all know this by now) the United States. Well.. mostly. You travel all over to many different war- ravaged places. But most of the action takes place here in the US. It's a really played out story but is well done none the less. The streets are well designed and characters are interesting enough. The guns and gadgets are the real stars of the show though. And they went with some really interesting choices. Not only that... But.. Now this is my favorite part.. THEY FIXED THE SOUNDS! Oh my god! It actually sounds really really good now! The guns boom with a ferocity like they haven't since CoD2. You can feel the power in your guns and your opponents guns. The buildings falling near by and the dust settling all have their own unique sounds. Hell, you can hear flies from time to time too. The whole political turmoil thing is over done and that's what kind of kills this. But I mean, they're closing the chapter. So they did what they had to do. And they did it better than before. -7/10
G- Gameplay is the typical Call of Duty affair. The missions are full of waves of enemies that you have to work through. The stealth missions are among the best. The last level however.. Is by far the most memerable in a Call of Duty game thus far. It sends the series out in the best way possible and leaves you with quite the adrenaline rush. The multi-player is better than the previous entries as well. Which is not something I expected. With the addition of the Support "Strike package" (killstreak rewards) more of an emphasis is put on helping your team. At first I didn't think many people would go for this package, but the points remaining even after you die and respawn was a major drawing point for players. Which leads to more people calling up UAVs, SAMs, and generally... Y'know, being a team player. Which is something that has been decidedly missing from almost all CoD multiplayer components. Kill Confirmed is also a great addition. The fact that you HAVE to pick up the opposing teams dogtags when you kill them to score points means that it's much harder to effectively camp. All in all, not too many things have changed in regards to multi-player gameplay. Just enough to keep it fresh. I cannot blame them for sticking to the same formula, especially when it works out so well for them. Anyhow, they've tinkered with the engine to the point where it's better than the previous entries. The multi-player is fun, and the campaign is memorable. Also the game is more than different enough to not be able to call it " more of the same" as many have -8.5/10
G- Since Modern Warfare 1 Playstation 3 has gotten the shittier end of the graphics spectrum. In my opinion it was always blurrier, textures weren't as clean, gun models looked lame. They changed that bit around now. The game looks crisp and clear, and the gun models look wonderful. Yeah, it's no Battlefield 3 or Crysis in the graphics department, but it looks decent and runs smoothly. It's nice to see them put more effort into their ps3 port this time around. -8/10
S- This is the department I was expecting the least from. And the part that blew me away completely. The sound design in the Modern Warfare series has been mostly horrible.. Some of the guns sound like lawn sprinklers or snare drums. They completely turned that around this time. Where the guns used to sound like rice crispies crackling, now they sound satisfying and strong! Explosions are loud and satisfying. They did a complete turn around in this department and I'm more than impressed with it. Not only are the guns and explosions better, but they even added plenty of ambient noises, running water, flies. You can tell that they put plenty of effort into the sound this time around. -9/10
The Verdict - 8.5/10
Modern Warfare is a great value. If you've enjoyed any of the other Call of Duty titles, you're sure to enjoy this. It's frantic and fun. If you're more about well thought out tactical shooters.. It may not be for you. But all in all, Call of Duty is a surprisingly great game. The multi player is exciting and surprisingly balanced, and the single player campaign is satisfying and memorable. Not to mention the co-op components which makes this a great game to play with friends. This is the apex of the Call of Duty series if you ask me. What's a shame however, is that many of the previous fans have been turned away because they feel like they're being ripped off by a "yearly glorified map-pack". It's honestly much more than that.
Coming up :
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